Category: Uncategorized

1. Budget Reconciliation attempts back-door closure of DoED. The GOP proposes to dismantle key programs and change the way IDEA and other special education programming is funded, using “no strings attached” block grants to states, which will be suggested, but not required, for special education use. This is dangerous, as we are already seeing districts pull money from special institutions in light of budget cuts elsewhere.
   
   The budget also leverages “parental rights” rhetoric to funnel money to charter and private schools, which are not required to accept or accommodate disabled students.
   
   Because these changes are incorporated into the budget reconciliation process rather than a separate law, they will only need 51 votes to pass.
   
2. House Roils Over Deep Cuts to Medicaid. The proposed budget seeks to slash $715 billion over 10 years, establish work requirements and more red tape for enrollment, and leave 7.5-12 million people without care. This number could increase as states are forced to bear more program costs with fewer overall federal supports.
   
   The Center for American Progress estimates the move will be directly responsible for the deaths of more than 21K Americans annually.
   
   Disabled ADAPT protesters shut down the hearings earlier this week, and the bill failed to pass a vote on Friday, due to 5 Republican NO votes. However, the majority of them want even deeper cuts. Debates/votes continue next week.
   Call them, and get in the way when possible.
   
3. Budget also takes aim at SNAP, Rent subsidies. The proposed budget will cut $300 billion from SNAP programming, funds that allows families to purchase food at their local grocery stores. The plans also expand work requirements, even for parents and the elderly. 74% (and by some estimates, as high as 89%) of nondisabled, working-age SNAP recipient households already have a job. Approximately 26% of SNAP recipients are disabled.
   
   The budget also proposes a $700 million dollar cut to rent subsidies and homelessness programs that disproportionately serve disabled people and Veterans.
   
4. Dr. Oz: “It is Your Patriotic Duty to Be Healthy” Dr. Oz, Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said on Fox News last Thursday: “70% of the money we spend is on chronic illness, and we’re not getting our money’s worth. So for folks listening right now, it’s your patriotic duty to be as healthy as you can.”
   
   The assertion that chronically ill and disabled people are a burden on society and their lives “not worth it” is eugenicist rhetoric. Tethering health and patriotism was a frequent move in 1930s Germany, both as propaganda to grow support for the eventual murder of 300,000 disabled people, and as a cover-up for declining standards of living. Strict anti-smoking campaigns and “Healthy Woman Healthy Nation” initiatives were a way to hide the worsening health of Germans under N–i rule by placing the blame back on individuals.
   
5. Texas v Kennedy Updates. Thanks in large part to disabled organizers, Count 3 of the original filing, (formerly Texas v. Becerra) “Section 504 is Unconstitutional” has been withdrawn. This is great news! BUT, the lawsuit continues to attack Final Rule, important updates to 504 guidance re: 21st century technology (telehealth, websites), pandemic-era healthcare (ventilator rationing), and protecting disabled people’s rights to live in community.
   
   Kennedy issued a “clarification” weeks ago noting mention of gender dysphoria in the preamble is not an enforceable part of the law, so the transphobic framing against Final Rule is now moot.
6. Hickson v St David’s Healthcare Partnership poses new threat to 504/ADA. Michael Hickson, a 46-year-old disabled Black man died in Texas in June 2020 after contracting Covid and being denied ventilator care and other ICU services. At the time, Texas and 24 other states had policies about rationing care that explicitly discriminated against disabled people. This is one of the things Final Rule updates seek to rectify.
   
   The case is currently before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, a conservative court. If they rule in favor of the hospital, it would set a precedent that guts disabled people’s ability to file medical facility-related discrimination claims under the ADA or Section 504
7. Government Poised to Cut TRIO programs for College Access. Starting in the 1960s, the cluster of programs known as TRIO has supported low-income, first-generation college students, veterans, rural students, and disabled students in accessing higher education. The Administration is now calling it a “relic of the past” and says it should be colleges’ responsibility to recruit and support these populations.
   
   Some of the programs under TRIO are the McNair Scholars Program, Talent Search, Educational Opportunity Centers, Student Support Services and Upward Bound programming.
   
8. Deaf Education under fire at local and federal levels. Faculty at Gallaudet released an open letter this week expressing concern for the university due to recent budget cuts, and the handling of the current situation by administration. The open letter will be linked to read in full on the Dis Rights Watch Site. The faculty are urging the community to take action by contacting the Office of the President at GU.
   
   Indiana School for the Deaf and NJ School for the Deaf (MKSD) are threatened with local cuts as their state budgets seek to recall funds to use across public education more broadly. MKSD may lose their remaining residential facility with the cuts. (Per internal sources. This is a developing story.)
   
9. Cuts at SSA Eliminate Funds for ASL Interpreters. Previously, pay cards at the Social Security Administration, used by employees for things like paper, printer ink, and work-related travel, had been frozen at a $1 limit to prevent any purchases.
   
   However, those cards were also used to pay ASL interpreters within field offices, who operate on local rather than national contracts. SSA employees have reported having to cancel appointments and turn D/HH clients away after already long wait times. This is a violation of Section 504 and the ADA.
   
   Take Action:
   Share this info! Disability is often lost in mainstream coverage.
   
   Call your Representative and tell them to vote NO on this dangerous budget. Choose 1 or 2 programs important to you–Medicaid, SNAP, IDEA, etc.–and mention them by name.
   
   Contact the Gallaudet Office of the President and demand action to prevent the dismantling of the University. Support your local deaf school.
   
   If your state is involved, ask your Attorney General to withdraw from Texas v. Kennedy. If able, donate to organizations like DREDF, ACLU, and NAD who are fighting in the courts.
   
   Contact medical providers requesting they do not share yours or your child’s autism diagnosis or records with the government registry. Letter template in “Take Action” story highlight on Instagram.
   
   Consider how to move toward creative acts of mutual aid, and protest, including offline materials. Make flyers! Call out misinformation. Warn your neighbors in the presence of ICE. If able march, boycott, donate and/or volunteer with your local food pantry or library.

1. IDEA funding and enforcement threatened by block grants. In keeping with Project 2025, the White House’s budget requests called for a shift of how funding for special education is disbursed. Currently, DoEd provided formula grants calculated by a variety of data points and given to states with the requirement that they be used for special education.
   
   The White House has requested a shift to a “no strings” block grant, meaning that the money will be given to the states with the suggestion that it be used for special education, but no requirements. In already cash-strapped districts, this will likely not be the case, and with limited DoEd or DOJ oversight, families will have limited recourse.
   
2. RFK Jr.’s autism registry is back. The NIH announced that they will move forward with plans to create a registry of autistic people, though they did not refer to it as such. It is instead being called a “real world data platform” which NIH and CMS will create together.
   
   According to an NIH press release, the platform will access Medicaid and Medicare “claims data, electronic medical records, and consumer wearables.” Several autistic-led advocacy groups have invited RFK and other HHS leaders to a round table to discuss community concerns, but received no response.
   
3. Trump targets public broadcasting, DoEd grant cut ends funding for PBS Kids. While the White House’s budget proposal attacks PBS and NPR, the Dept. of Ed also ended the $23 million “Ready to Learn” grant, calling PBS Kids shows like Sesame Street and Work it Out Wombats “woke propaganda”.
   
   With only 50% of US children in preschool, PBS kids shows, developed by educators and psychologists, are a crucial source of early learning for many. The PBS Kids app for tablets is also a rare free, and commercial-free, safe space for kids on the internet.
   
   PBS Kids is also the only streaming service to offer several full series with ASL interpretation, providing access to deaf and hard-of-hearing kids before they have learned to read closed captions.
   
4. National Endowment for the Arts grants cancelled. Hundreds of arts organizations across the US have had their grants cancelled after being informed via email that their work “does not align with [the administration’] priorities”….of “projects that reflect the nation’s rich and artistic heritage and creativity as prioritized by the President”.
   
   Small presses, arts and film festivals, theaters, arts education programs, journalistic outlets, and many others have lost funding. Some organizations, like Detroit’s nonprofit arts space PASC, were informed that their grants were pulled specifically because they were supporting the careers of artists with disabilities, which “did not align with NEA priorities.”
   
   The loss of NEA funding will harm arts, journalism, and education across the country, especially marginalized students, artists, and communities.
   
5. Texas v. Kennedy, formerly Texas v. Becerra, updates. Thanks in large part to disabled organizers, Count 3 of the original filing, “Section 504 is Unconstitutional” has been withdrawn. This is great news!
   
   BUT, the lawsuit continues to attack Final Rule, important updates to 504 guidance re: 21st century technology (telehealth, websites), pandemic-era healthcare (ventilator rationing), and protecting disabled people’s rights to live in community. Kennedy issued a “clarification” weeks ago noting mention of gender dysphoria in the preamble is not an enforceable part of the law, so the transphobic framing against Final Rule is now moot.
   
   Note that going forward this case will be known as Texas vs. Kennedy.
   
6. Hickson v. St. David’s Healthcare Partnership poses new risk to ADA, 504 enforcement. Michael Hickson, a 46-year- old disabled Black man died in Texas in June 2020 after contracting Covid and being denied ventilator care and other ICU services. At the time, Texas and 24 other states had policies about rationing care that explicitly discriminated against disabled people. This is one of the things Final Rule updates seek to rectify.
   
   The case is currently before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, a conservative court. If they rule in favor of the hospital, it would set a precedent that guts disabled people’s ability to file medical facility-related discrimination claims under the ADA or Section 504.
   
7. Customs and Border Patrol end policies that protect pregnant, elderly, ill and disabled people. Under the Biden Administration, CBP had established policy about how to best support those in custody with extenuating medical circumstances. Policies included providing diapers to babies, and expediting the release and medical care of those with serious medical conditions, or who are about to give birth.
   
   The polices were originally put into place after the deaths of several detainees, including 8-year-old Anadith Reyes who had sickle cell anemia and a heart condition. CBP ignored her complaints of pain and her parents’ pleas to go to the hospital.
   
8. More HHS cuts kill research as White House threatens to implement Schedule F. This week’s HHS attacks saw additional layoffs at the NIH, though the organization had previously been told there wouldn’t be further cuts, including employees at the National Cancer Institute. The CDC’s Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee, who created policy for hospitals on things like handwashing and masks, was also shut down.
   
   Meanwhile, in keeping with Project 2025 the administration continues its attempt to implement Schedule F, a rule that would replace civil servants with political loyalist appointees, threatening the neutrality of science and research.
   
9. Take Action.
   Share this info. Disability is often lost in mainstream coverage.
   
   Call your Representative and tell them not to accept the White House’s requested budget cuts. Choose 1 or 2 programs important to you personally and mention them by name when you call.
   
   Call your Senator and tell them to take meaningful action against illegal deportations and ideological-based arrests.
   
   Add a public comment to the federal registry to urge keeping scientific research independent and prevent Schedule F.
   
   If your state is involved, contact your Attorney General and ask them to withdraw from Texas v. Beccera. If able, donate to organizations like DREDF, ACLU, and NAD who are fighting these and other attacks in the courts.
   
   Consider how to move toward creative acts of mutual aid, and protest, including offline materials. Make flyers! Call out misinformation. Warn your neighbors in the presence of ICE. If able march, boycott, donate and/or volunteer with your local food pantry or library.

1. Department of Justice rescinds key Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) guidance. On Wednesday night, the DOJ removed important guidance on accessibility in businesses, hotels, gas stations, regarding service animals, and more. The DOJ used an EO about the cost of living to justify the move, suggesting disabled people are the reason things are so expensive, a nod to eugenicist rhetoric.
   
   While the ADA remains federal law, rescinding guidance makes it harder and more confusing for businesses to follow. The US Access Board, who is supposed to be in charge of reviewing guidance, had their meeting cancelled in January with no cause. The DOJ is charged with enforcing, not weakening, ADA protections.
   
2. Executive Order, “Improving Education Outcomes by Empowering Parents, States and Communities.” On Thursday, Donald Trump issued an EO attempting to dismantle the Department of Education. Abolishing the Department would take an act of Congress, so the order contains only a vague directive to McMahon, “to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law, take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department.”
   
   While the directive is illegal, Congress and/or legal action will be required in order to hold the administration to Constitutional rule.
   
3. Trump announces DoEd’s “Special Needs” programs to move to HHS. On Friday afternoon, Donald Trump announced the move of “special needs” to the Department of Health and Human Services as soon as possible, in order to expedite the dismantling of DoEd. It’s unclear which programs he was referring to, or if it is legal for them to be moved without Congressional approval.
   
   If IDEA oversight and other programs were relocated to HHS, they would fall under the direction of RFK Jr, a eugenicist who has spoken extensively about his distain for autistic people, and his desire to create “wellness farms” to treat neurodivergence. Kennedy has no experience in education.
   
4. Social Security Administration to remove phone identity verification options. Due to DOGE’s ongoing obsession with Social Security fraud (allegations that have remained unproven), SSA will end their telephone processes for identity verification.
   
   Requiring recipients to come into the office in-person places an undue burden on the elderly or disabled, many of whom receive benefits because of limited mobility. DOGE also plans to close 47 SSA field offices this year, meaning folks will have to travel farther.
   
5. Department of Labor removes PEAT, longstanding digital and AI accessibility tool. The Department of Labor has removed PEAT, a major digital accessibility resource, previously housed at PEATWorks.org. PEAT was used by thousands in technology to make sure their designs were accessible for disabled people. It was also one of the few resources on accessible AI.
   
   PEAT had been funded by the Dept of Labor (DOL) for 13 years. The Trump administration has prevented the renewal of a contract under the guise of a “funding pause.”
   
6. Texas vs. Beccera lawsuit continues. Attorneys General continue to use transphobic rhetoric to attack Final Rule and Section 504. Participants continue to say they do not want to dismantle disabled people’s rights, but have not revoked the original filing, which explicitly asks for 504 to be declared unconstitutional (p 37-42).
   
   504 protects disabled people’s rights in all spaces that receive federal funding, but could have major implications for those needing interpreters in hospitals in light of the new English EO, the rescinding of ADA guidance, and uncertain future of DoEd protections. The next update is due in April.
   
7. Fox commentator says the quiet part out loud with respect to special education. Last night, while discussing the EO to dismantle the Dept. of Education, commentator Jessica Tarlov said, “When I hear Republicans out there talking about their plan for education in America, I don’t hear them talking about making sure disabled kids have access to a public education,” Gutfield interrupted her, saying, “Because we’re against it!” followed by laughter.
   
   Gutfeld previously caused controversy in 2023 with comments suggesting that the Holocaust had provided survivors with skills that made them more useful. His comments are a reminder of the surging popularity of eugenic pseudoscientific thought. The show has 4 million viewers.
   
8. Ohio State Senator George Lang says disabled students are too expensive, unloved. Lang joined a virtual meeting for a proposed voucher program in Ohio and botched an attempt at nuance(??), explaining that while he supported vouchers, there are additional considerations in public schools: “We know for a fact that it costs more to teach a student with severe disabilities. I’m gonna make a number up, let’s say that cost is $50,000 a year … compared to a student who comes from a family with a loving mom and a loving dad who put education at a high level. It costs a lot less to educate those students.”
   
   Concern about the expense of educating disabled people is a often a eugenic talking point. Further, propaganda about euthanasia as the best way of expressing love for disabled people was a key method of garnering support in the leadup to Germany’s programmatic murder of the disabled, which first targeted children.
   
9. University of Texas at Austin to hold eugenics and “race science” conference next week. The 2nd annual “Natal Conference” will take place at University of Texas at Austin’s AT&T Conference Center on March 27-28th.
   
   “Natalism” is philosophy that believes in the importance of childbearing for social (or religious) reasons, and thus advocates for a high birthrate. Eugenics and “race science” are strains of pseudoscience founded in the belief that humanity can be “improved” through selective breeding. Typically, these ideas are used to reinforce racist stereotypes and ableism.
   
   Various neofascist influencers are slated to speak. Musk has also been invited.

---

Action items:

Share this info. Disability is often lost in mainstream coverage.

Call your Representative and tell them to intervene on behalf of the Dept of Education and the ADA.

Call the Senate Finance Committee members and tell them to vote NO on Dr. Oz

Protest U of T’s hosting of the upcoming racist and eugenicist conference.

Make sure your vaccines are up to date, especially if you may have received an inactive virus version of the MMR vaccine from 1963-67.

If your state is involved, contact your Attorney General and ask them to withdraw from Texas v. Beccera. Tell them you stand in solidarity with disabled people, and trans folks.

Consider how to move toward creative acts of growing awareness offline, including local protest and mutual aid.

Per internal sources providing info on condition of anonymity: The Department of Labor has removed PEAT, a major digital accessibility resource, previously housed at PEATWorks.org.

PEAT was used by thousands in technology to make sure their designs were accessible for disabled people. It was also one of the few resources on accessible AI.

PEAT has been funded by the Dept of Labor (DOL) for 13 years. The Trump administration has prevented the renewal of a contract under the guise of a “funding pause.”

This comes one day after the Department of Justice removed key guidance and resources relating to the ADA compliance.

1. The full Senate voted along party lines to advance McMahon’s nomination. The final confirmation vote is Monday, 3/3.
   • Trump has promised major cuts to the department via Executive Order once McMahon is in place, and three active bills to abolish the department are also currently in Congress.
   • DoED funds and oversees a variety of disability-specific programs and grants, and protects disabled students rights to attend public schools.
   • Read our Department of Education explainer, or check out state and federal educational policy tracker tools.
2. “End DEI” Snitch Portal Opens at DoED. The portal asks people to report K-12 schools that are supporting sex or race-based DEI initiatives, which the program frames as “discriminatory.”
   • The end to inclusive efforts in public schools hurts all students, with BIPOC disabled and/or LGBTQ disabled students at the highest risk of being bullied by peers, and not receiving full access to their education
3. Airlines petition to overturn DOT rule holding them accountable for wheelchair damage. In Airlines for America vs. DOT, the group has filed a petition to roll back a Biden/Buttigieg era update that would hold airlines accountable for damage caused to wheelchairs and mobility devices on flights.
   • More than 1 in every 100 wheelchairs or mobility devices are damaged in transit, often rendering them unusable and leaving passengers stranded in their new destination.
   • Delta, American Airlines, JetBlue, Southwest, and United are all involved.
4. Texas vs. Beccera lawsuit continues. An update last week attempted to shift focus to Final Rule’s spending guidance for independent living, which could affect disabled people’s rights to live in-community. They also continue to use transphobic rhetoric to attack Final Rule.
   • Despite reassurances, the original filing does explicitly ask for 504 to be declared unconstitutional (p 37-42). We also should not make concessions on basic rights for any humans.
   • A South Dakotan AG was removed from the case, but the state itself did not withdraw from the suit.
   • The next update is due in April. Stay vigilant. See our lawsuit explainer and resources here.
5. Budget Resolution with deep cuts to Medicaid, SNAP clears the House. The House passed a budget resolution requiring $880 billion in cuts, likely from the Energy and Commerce Committee, who oversees Medicaid and SNAP. Medicaid provides healthcare for 70 million disabled and low-income Americans, SNAP provides financial assistance for families who need food.
   • The money would instead go to tax cuts for the very wealthy, as well as to the Dept. of Defense for border programs. Changes for tax on tips and overtime was not included, despite campaign promises.
   • The budget now moves to the Senate, where they can propose changes. Congress will also work on the bill in committees.
6. RFK Jr., Rubio and DOGE attack vaccines, global health programs. The FDA meeting to plan next year’s flu shots was cancelled this week, alongside a meeting for developers of a Covid vaccine pill. A Long Covid committee was also disbanded. The move comes amid an ongoing measles outbreak, in which an unvaccinated schoolchild was the first death.
   • DOGE and Rubio’s defunding of USAID has removed Ebola protections during an outbreak, shuttered global TB, HIV, polio, and malaria treatment supply chains, and fired Avian flu researchers, among others.
   • Both pandemics and vaccine refusal are bad for everyone, and disproportionately harm disabled and immunocompromised folks, as well as babies too young to receive their vaccines.
7. Eugenicists get promoted. Conspiracy theorist Darren Beattie is now serving as an acting undersecretary at the Dept. of State. He was fired from a first Trump administration speechwriting role after attending a white nationalist conference.
   • Beattie is known for bigoted comments, especially his desire to sterilize “low-IQ trash.” His advocacy for “population control” frequently targets BIPOC and disabled people.
   • Right-wing ideologue Bari Weiss used her platform to advocate for subminimum wage for disabled people this week. Biden’s Labor Dept had previously sought to phase out the sheltered workshop certification loophole that makes it legal.

---

Action Items:

• Share this info. Disability is often lost in mainstream coverage.

• Call your Senator and ask them to vote NO on the McMahon nomination, and on any budget that cuts Medicaid/SNAP

• Call your Rep. and tell them to bring back funding for public health, and vote YES to the Dept. of Education Protection Act.

• Contact involved airlines and ask them to drop their suit, and be accountable for destruction of passengers’ wheelchairs.

• If your state is involved, contact your Attorney General and ask them to withdraw from Texas v. Beccera. Tell them you stand in solidarity with disabled people, and trans folks.

• Make some good trouble and spam the DoED Anti-DEI portal 😉

• Be on the lookout for an incoming Executive Order about English as the national language, which could have many educational impacts.