What's Love Cot to Do with It? An Argument Against Institutionalizing People with Severe Physical Disabilities

This article, based on the author's experience, takes a critical look at the basis for the bias toward nursing home placement for people with severe physical disabilities. The author writes that the roots of such institutional bias lie in anti-Black racism and ableism. She lists parallels in the federal responses to Hurricane Katrina and the COVID-19 pandemic as examples of a "politics of disposability" for vulnerable and invisible communities. She longs to end her fear of being placed in a nursing home, and places hope in the work of disabled activists and allies committed to the community presence and participation of disabled people.