Since 2007, the number of people collecting social security disability benefits, or SSDI, has grown by 3.4 million. Two new studies, one co-produced by the Obama administration, document a direct relationship between those seeking SSDI after their unemployment benefits run out. With 10.6 million Americans receiving payments of roughly $1,000 a month plus access to Medicare and Medicaid, there are concerns that the Social Security Trust Fund will be completely depleted by 2017.

"Wretches and Jabberers" is a buddy movie, a road trip movie and a moving adventure. But this new film is different than your typical mainstream fare. The documentary stars two autistic friends and advocates who do most of their communicating through typing. The story follows Larry Bissonnette and Tracy Thresher, as well as their assistants Pascal Cheng and Harvey Lavoy, as they travel around the world, meet other autistic people, and advocate for autism rights.

Today, President Obama signs into law the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act. For the millions of Americans who are deaf or hard-of-hearing, the new law will require all videos first broadcast on television and then distributed on the internet to come with closed captioning. The people who will make closed captioning possible are court reporters, who transcribe conversations in real time.

As the economic climate continues to suffer, the number of former workers seeking Social Security disability benefits has spiked.

Ten years ago, roughly five million disabled workers collected Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). Today, more than eight million ex-workers do. And as the economic climate of America continues to suffer, the number of SSDI applications continues to rise. This year, they’re up 21 percent over last year.

In the same week we celebrated the 20th year anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act I learned that writer and cartoonist John Callahan passed away. He was a cartoonist who said what other wouldn’t about the experience of disability. His cartoons were hysterically funny. His book “Don’t Worry He Won’t Get Far On Foot,” was both a caption to a drawing that everyone who uses a wheelchair has seen, and a collection of daring explorations of myths and stereotypes. Callahan probably had as much to do with the empowerment of people with disabilities with his universally funny work as the ADA itself.

According to the 2000 U.S. Census, one in five Americans is considered disabled. As of this month, the unemployment rate for people with disabilities is nearly 14 percent, significantly higher than the 10 percent unemployment rate for the general population. How can we narrow the gap?

A quadriplegic mother is at risk of losing her five-month-old son in a custody battle with the baby's father, who cites her quadriplegia as a reason to deny her custody. Should the courts be involved in such cases? If so, where does ADA regulation end and family law begin? Lisa Belkin introduces us to various custody cases involving parents with disabilities, and Dr. Corinne Vinopol, president of the Institute for Disabilities Research and Training and a hearing officer in disability disputes, shares her insights about parenting, disabilities, and the law. 

Follow along with New York Times' readers at Lisa Belkin's blog post on this story.

A new report by the ACLU and Human Rights Watch says that children with disabilities are more likely to face corporal punishment in school than their peers. We talk to Alice Farmer, a lawyer with the ACLU, and Anna Moore, the mother of a 10-year-old boy with autism.

The Takeaway talks with legendary bluesman Henry Butler. Butler has been blind since birth but that hasn't stopped him from playing to packed houses or from taking up a new craft: photography. Also joining the conversation on art and ability is Charlie Washburn, the Executive Director of VSA Arts of Massachusetts, an organization dedicated to including everyone in the arts.

Watch Henry Butler perform "High Heeled Sneakers" in the video below.

H1N1, commonly known as “swine flu," has now been found in 45 states in the U.S., with over 3,300 confirmed cases across the nation. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced this week that pregnant women should be treated with Tamiflu, even though the drug isn't normally recommended during pregnancy, because of the risks that the virus poses. One of the three H1N1-related deaths in the U.S. was a pregnant woman in Texas. Tim Uyecki joins us to talk about sensible protections. He’s a medical epidemiologist at the CDC who’s been shaping the center's guidelines for vulnerable populations like pregnant women and young kids.
For more of The Takeaway's coverage of H1N1, click here.

Other Flu Resources
Map: State-by-state swine flu infections (The Takeaway)
Read and listen to more about swine flu (The Takeaway)
Times Topics: Swine Flu (The New York Times)
Q&A: Swine Influenza and You (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Understanding Swine Flu (The New York Times)
Key Facts (CDC)
Swine Flu (CDC)
Swine Flu Alert Map (HealthMap.org)
Consults Blog (The New York Times)
Follow CDCemergency on Twitter

View a state-by-state chart of estimated stimulus bill allocations for selected education services »

The Paralympics began this week in Bejing and we’re checking in with some of the athletes representing the United States. Scott Rodgers, captain of the US Paralympic Wheelchair fencing team, parries with John.