Audrey Vernick

@audreyvernick.bsky.social

Epilepsy surgery mom, patient & family advocate, dog person. Former teacher and journalist. I support access to healthcare, equal rights, and a safe, clean environment. I love my family most of all. 🐶🏂🚴‍♂️🎭 (posts are my opinion only)

Some of the nation’s first statewide voucher programs were created specifically for students with disabilities. But most legislatures haven’t required private schools that take this public money to accept even a few kids with such needs.

Vouchers Promise Students With Disabilities a Path to Private School. Parents Say That’s Not the Reality.

To give voucher programs a toehold in state legislatures, politicians touted how students with disabilities would gain access to private education. But those students’ families often have the hardest ...

propublica.org

You can't make this up: the Trump administration is arguing in court that even a cancer diagnosis isn't enough to claim an exemption from his draconian new Medicaid work requirements. Sickening — and all to fund even more tax cuts for the ultra-rich.

"More than 80 children and adolescents have been hospitalized this year for measles complications like pneumonia or brain swelling, which can cause lasting damage, including blindness, deafness and intellectual disabilities. There are no treatments for measles..." www.nytimes.com/2026/07/24/w...

Measles Cases Hit New Record in U.S., as Vaccination Rates Wane

More measles cases have been reported in the United States in the last two years than in all the years from 2000 through 2024 combined.

nytimes.com

"It is important to resist the commodification of basic human needs. Food, water and healthcare cannot be subordinated to market considerations or geopolitical interests. Access to adequate food is a fundamental human right grounded in the dignity of every person."

Meet Crumb, Button, and Clover. A friend in the Bay Area found them behind a gas station. Unfortunately, she isn't able to keep them, so if she can't find someone to adopt them, they will be going to a shelter. Can you help me find them a home? They are in good health and very tame.

Three kittens in a small cage. Two are orange; one is black. The black cat wearing a blue scarf.The two orange cats in a blanket and wearing blue scarves.The two orange cats laying next to each other while wearing blue scarves.

Those of us doing research related to women’s health have been hit particularly hard by the govt’s sabotage of the NIH. I spoke to WaPo for this piece, as painful as it was to discuss the reality my lab is facing. www.washingtonpost.com/science/2026...

Where U.S. science has been hit hardest after Trump’s first year

The Trump administration has slashed the number of grants from the National Institutes of Health, with far fewer focused on women, cancer and mental health.

washingtonpost.com