Advocacy Updates

The US Department of Labor (DOL) is hosting an online dialogue right now that ends this Friday, April 10 to gather ideas it will use in developing its guidance, resources, tools, and outreach related to changes in paid leave made by the Families First Act in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We encourage everyone to please comment! Instructions and template comments, drafted together with our friends at The Arc, are below.

Today, CPR and 18 Massachusetts disability and legal services organizations urged Governor Baker to immediately adopt and disseminate mandatory statewide guidelines to ensure that life-saving care is not illegally withheld or removed from disabled residents due to discriminatory resource allocation or altered standards of care.

The Center for Public Representation, Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program, The Arc, and partners filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Civil Rights (OCR) today regarding illegal disability discrimination in treatment rationing protocols being developed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. A similar complaint was filed in Washington state yesterday.

The Center for Public Representation, Disability Rights Washington, The Arc, and partners filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Civil Rights (OCR) this morning regarding illegal disability discrimination in treatment rationing protocols being developed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. CPR and our partners call on HHS OCR to take immediate action to provide guidance on what health care providers must do to comply with federal laws protecting the rights of all patients, including those with disabilities, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We need to make our voices heard NOW to ensure the coronavirus response package currently being negotiated addresses disability community priorities. We need you to contact your members of Congress and Congressional leadership now to tell them that their response must address the needs of people with disabilities. This cannot wait.

Now is the time for Congress to act to protect people with disabilities, who are particularly at risk as the coronavirus pandemic spreads. Late yesterday, Congress passed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act and President Trump signed it into law. The bill is an important first step, with increased Medicaid funding, emergency paid leave, increased funding for food assistance, and free coronavirus testing. But more must be done to support people with disabilities throughout this crisis. We need to make our voices heard NOW to ensure future legislation already in the works responding to the COVID-19 crisis addresses the needs of people with disabilities.

The Center for Public Representation submitted comments in opposition to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s proposed rule weakening regulations that help remove barriers to fair housing for people with disabilities and other protected groups. In response to those barriers, in 2015, HUD issued the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) Rule to strengthen the process for developing plans to address housing barriers, but HUD is now trying to weaken that rule, by, among other things, removing important language about community integration for people with disabilities.

The outbreak of COVID-19 is having a disproportionate impact on people with disabilities. Take action today to ensure Congress acts quickly to ensure essential supports are available to the disability community.

Today the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a long-awaited final rule banning the use of electrical stimulation devices (ESDs) on people with disabilities to control self-injurious or aggressive behaviors, finding that the devices present an “unreasonable and substantial” risk of serious harm to the people subjected to them. Today’s landmark victory is the culmination of years of advocacy by the disability community to end this dangerous and harmful practice.

The Supreme Court has granted certiorari in the Affordable Care Act case, formerly known as Texas v. US and now known as California v. Texas, meaning that the fate of the ACA is in its hands. However, a decision is not expected until next year, as the Court declined to expedite its decision and hear the case this term.