CPR uses legal strategies, advocacy, and policy to promote the integration and full community participation of people with disabilities and all others who are devalued in today’s society.

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    Litigation

    Expanding and protecting the rights of people with disabilities.

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    Advocacy

    Stay current on disability issues, educate yourself about the impact of proposed policy changes, and learn how to take action.

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    SSI/SSDI

    Representing individuals in western Massachusetts (Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin counties) who have been denied Social Security disability benefits.

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    Supported Decision-Making

    Learn about SDM, read how SDM transforms lives, and become a participant, supporter or advocate.

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    COVID-19
    Get up-to-date resources on COVID-19 and its impact on people with disabilities, including information on the latest policy developments, medical rationing, and Medicaid.

News

  • CPR Submits Comments Opposing Proposed Rule that would Weaken Nursing Facility Regulations
    May 21, 2020
    Keeping people out of nursing facilities is especially important now, with COVID-19 ravaging nursing facilities around the country, yet the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed weakening the Preadmission Screening and Resident Review (PASRR) rules designed to help keep people with mental illness or intellectual or developmental disabilities from being unnecessarily placed in Medicaid-funded nursing facilities and to help nursing facility residents transition back to the community. CPR submitted comments on May 18 opposing the proposed rule and created templates to help organizations and individuals submit comments opposing the rule.
  • CPR Appeals Termination of Court Monitoring and Reporting in Children’s Mental Health Case
    May 18, 2020
    On May 18, 2020, CPR and its co-counsel asked the full Court of Appeals for the First Circuit to grant a new hearing in the appeal of the District Court’s decision in Rosie D. v. Baker. On May 4, 2020, a panel of the First Circuit allowed the termination of all court monitoring and reporting obligations in the case, despite continuing federal Medicaid law violations.
  • CPR and Partners Release a Hospital Visitor Policy Evaluation Tool to Assist Stakeholders
    May 15, 2020
    Around the country, hospitals and other health care facilities have enacted strict no-visitor policies to contain the spread of COVID-19 that don't include exceptions for people with disabilities who need support from family members or staff to have equal access to medical treatment. To help combat the discrimination people with disabilities are facing as a result of these policies, CPR, together with CommunicationFirst, The Arc, Autistic Self Advocacy Network, Bazelon Center, and DREDF, has released Evaluation Framework for Hospital Visitor Policies.
  • CPR and Partners File Amicus Brief in the Supreme Court Defending the ACA
    May 13, 2020
    Today CPR, along with 18 other national disability rights organizations, filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court defending the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which provides important protections for people with disabilities. In March, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in the case, formerly known as Texas v. US and now known as California v. Texas, which it will hear next term.
  • Comment by May 20 to tell CMS not to weaken nursing facility rules that keep people with disabilities in their homes and communities and out of nursing facilities vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic
    May 11, 2020
    Keeping people out of nursing facilities is especially important now, with COVID-19 ravaging nursing facilities around the country. But right now, in the middle of this pandemic, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is proposing a rule that would weaken PASRR, making it easier for people to be admitted to nursing facilities and harder for them to transition from these facilities back to the community. Comment by May 20 to oppose the proposed rule!