Leading journalists and disability advocates said reporters and editors have a responsibility to identify and push back on policies and actions that contribute to a \u201cresurgence\u201d of eugenics<\/a> \u2013 a scientifically inaccurate theory<\/a> that humans can be \u201cimproved through selective breeding of populations.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cDisability is a lived experience. When you think about writing stories about disabled communities, we really encourage you to talk to disabled people themselves; not their caregivers, not their interpreters, not their doctors.<\/p>\n Ericka A. Dixon Ericka A. Dixon, a senior national organizer with the Disability Project at the Transgender Law Center<\/a>, said their organization offers resources to help journalists<\/a> report on marginalized disabled communities more effectively. They said that involves identifying two core concepts that can contribute to the presence or growth of eugenics-based ideas and policies: ableism<\/a> and healthism<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ableism refers to discrimination towards people with physical, intellectual or psychiatric disabilities based on a belief that non-disabled bodies and minds are superior. Healthism can accompany or inform ableism by framing \u201chealth\u201d as an individual responsibility, which then leads to a belief that disability or sickness is a result of personal failures.<\/p>\n Both concepts are rooted in systems of oppression and perpetuate ideas like transphobia and anti-black racism, according to Dixon.\u00a0<\/p>\n Panelists at the HJ26 session \u201cSurvival of the fittest: Covering the resurgence of eugenics-coded health policies and products.\u201d From left to right: Megan Molteni, Ericka A Dixon, Cara Reedy, and Julia M\u00e9traux. Photo by Zachary Linhares<\/p>\n Cara Reedy, founder and director of the Disabled Journalists Association, laughs as fellow panelist Ericka A. Dixon speaks at HJ26. Photo by Zachary Linhares<\/p>\n Moderator Megan Molteni of STAT News on the HJ26 panel \u201cSurvival of the fittest: Covering the resurgence of eugenics-coded health policies and products.\u201d Photo by Zachary Linhares<\/p>\n HJ26 attendees listen to the session \u201cSurvival of the fittest: Covering the resurgence of eugenics-coded health policies and products.\u201d Photo by Zachary Linhares<\/p>\n Julia M\u00e9traux, a disability reporter for Mother Jones, said some recent actions from federal health agencies, like the Trump Administration wanting to \u201cfind the cause\u201d of autism, are terrifying to disabled communities.<\/p>\n \u201cA large function of eugenics is to get rid of disabled people,\u201d M\u00e9traux said.<\/p>\n Panelists said eugenics-based policies can feel like a thing of the past \u2014 but that\u2019s not entirely true.<\/p>\n For example, the United States sterilized thousands of people in the 1900s<\/a>, but the last known sterilization of a person with a disability<\/a> was just 10 years ago, according to Cara Reedy, founder and director of the Disabled Journalists Association<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Reedy and other panelists warn that Medicaid funding, criminal justice reform and medical advancements can be informed or inspired by ableist ideology \u2013 which means reporters should be able to identify when a policy is based on ableist ideas.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Senior national organizer
Disability Project at Transgender Law Center<\/p>\n![\"Panelists](\"https:\/\/healthjournalism.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Survival-of-the-fittest_-Covering-the-resurgance-of-eugenics-coded-health-policies-and-products-052926_ZL-016.jpg\")
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