Dear supporters,
We now have 671 supporters and 748 signatures standing with Colorado's family caregivers. Thank you!!!!
This week began with a single link. No commentary. Just a story.
A Texas father detained by ICE while his disabled son's health collapsed. The son died in January. And the father wasn't allowed to acknowledge his child's death.
The Texas Civil Rights Project and American Immigration Council documented it: "His business was with the state now, not his family."
A father who couldn't speak his son's name.
A grief that had no legal place to land.
A system that treated both of them as administrative inconveniences.
That silence is the sound of a country running low on empathy.
The Empathy Recession
This isn't about feelings. It's about structure. It's about governance.
This week made it painfully clear: we are living through an empathy recession.
Not the soft kind - the structural kind.
The Evidence From This Week Alone
A father not allowed to grieve - Texas detention case proves government systems can prevent basic human acknowledgment of loss.
States cutting HCBS - Home and Community-Based Services allow disabled people to live in their communities, work, participate. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities warned about "The 2026 HCBS Cliff" in January. States are proposing to eliminate these services.
Cutting HCBS doesn't save money. It shifts costs into institutions, ERs, and crisis systems that cost more and harm more.
This isn't fiscal responsibility. It's discrimination dressed as budgeting.
455,000 women left the workforce - U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data: Between January and August 2025, 455,000 women left work. Caregiving was the No. 1 reason.
This isn't "opting out." This is being pushed out by systems that refuse to adapt.
Disability watchdogs attacked - A Utah lawmaker called the federally mandated Disability Law Center "anti-family." When oversight weakens, abuse grows in the dark.
Federal guardrails treated as negotiable - Congress debating whether federal agents should have body cameras or limits on enforcement near schools and hospitals. Congressional Research Service documented these debates. Basic protections shouldn't be controversial.
Market "solutions" that don't fix systems - TrumpRx launched as a federal drug-pricing website. KFF Health News analysis: it won't help people with insurance. A workaround offered instead of a systemic fix.
Different Stories. Same Crisis.
A father detained.
A son who died.
Disabled people losing HCBS.
Women leaving the workforce.
Families losing stability.
Watchdogs weakened.
Guardrails debated.
Market workarounds instead of systemic fixes.
These are not separate stories. They are one story.
Why Markets Can't Fix This
Markets don't guarantee due process.
Markets don't prevent discrimination.
Markets don't stabilize HCBS.
Markets don't enforce the ADA.
Markets don't protect families from state power.
Market tools help individuals survive broken systems.
Systemic solutions fix the systems themselves.
HCBS is systemic.
The ADA is systemic.
The Colorado CARE Act is systemic.
They don't offer a workaround. They change the rules.
Why the Colorado CARE Act Matters Now
The CARE Act recognizes caregiving as infrastructure, not inconvenience.
It makes caregiver status a protected class under Colorado's Anti-Discrimination Act.
It requires reasonable accommodations for caregiving responsibilities.
It prohibits constructive discharge.
It mandates documentation for accommodation denials.
And it costs the state nothing - uses existing Colorado Civil Rights Division infrastructure.
Budget-neutral. TABOR-neutral. Systemic.
In a week when:
- A father couldn't acknowledge his son's death
- States proposed cutting HCBS
- 455,000 women were documented as pushed out of work
- Disability protections came under attack
- Basic federal guardrails were treated as negotiable
- Caregivers and disabled people need systemic protections more than ever.
The Flickering Light
This week's reflection closed with an image: an office light flickering.
A reminder that:
The light wasn't the only thing flickering
The country was too
But lights can be replaced.
Systems can be rebuilt.
Empathy can be restored.
If - and only if - we decide to see caregiving as the infrastructure it has always been.
What You Can Do Right Now
1. Read and listen to the full analysis:
This week's reflection connects the threads: from a Texas detention center to HCBS cuts to workforce data to the structural empathy recession we're living through.
2. Share this petition:
We're approaching 750 signatures. Help us reach 1,000. Every signature is a voice. A refusal to accept a system that treats caregiving as invisible.
3. Defend HCBS in your state:
Home and Community-Based Services are under attack nationwide. Contact your state legislators. Tell them: cutting HCBS forces institutionalization, costs more, harms more. It's discrimination, not budgeting.
4. Email your story:
Your experience matters. Personal stories make policy real.
5. Contact Colorado legislators:
Tell them: We're in an empathy recession. Caregivers need workplace protections that recognize caregiving as infrastructure.
Find your legislators: leg.colorado.gov/find-my-legislator
Empathy is Not a Feeling. It's a Governance Skill.
And we are governing without it.
When a father can't acknowledge his son's death.
When disabled people lose the supports that let them live in their communities.
When 455,000 women are pushed out of work for caregiving.
When disability watchdogs are attacked.
When basic guardrails are debated.
That's not compassion failure. That's structural failure.
The Colorado CARE Act is a systemic solution.
It changes the rules. It doesn't offer a workaround.
Caregivers deserve stability.
Disabled people deserve autonomy.
Families deserve systems that recognize their humanity.
And no one - no one - should be prevented from acknowledging the life and death of the person they love.
Kindly and Gratefully,
Mark Fukae
Founder, CASI - Caregiver Advocacy Support Initiative
Director of Advocacy, Professionals Who Care
Registered Colorado Volunteer Lobbyist
671 supporters. 748 signatures. Growing every day.
Sign. Share. Speak up.