Disability Rights Watch

News

Week 11 Update
1. More HHS layoffs gut public health and research. HHS fired an additional 10,000 workers this week, shuttering entire departments, ending grants and cutting spending by an additional third across the board.
  
  The closures will impact every American’s safety from infectious disease, foodborne illness, worker safety, HIV, STI and TB programs, maternal health, and vast amounts of research.
  
  Disabled-specific closures include the Administration for Community Living, the CDC’s Office of Health Equity, cuts to HRSA, and several subdivisions of the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities.
  For the full list of HHS departments cut, see this running list.
2. Economy in freefall as Trump and DOGE slash safety nets. On Wednesday, all Low Income Heat and Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) staff were fired. The program helps struggling families with utility bills. Many food banks also reported not receiving expected deliveries of food due to more cuts from the USDA, in addition to the $1 billion in cuts previously announced, though the funding had already been allocated.
  
  This comes as the stock market freefalls in the wake of Trump’s latest tariff plan, prices continue to rise, the GOP targets Medicaid, dismantles public education and libraries, and as DOGE attacks social security as a “ponzi scheme” and threatens to crash the system by recoding the database.
3. Deaf students and researchers lose programs, funding, especially in STEM. Cuts at the NIH this week obliterated programming for deaf people in STEM at the undergrad, graduate, and post doc levels. The RISE and BRIDGE programs out of NTID were impacted, as well as individuals’ postdoc funding.
  
  Gallaudet’s Center for Black Deaf Studies is imperiled by the termination of it’s founder Dr. Joseph Hill’s NEH grant.
  
  The University of Minnesota also shut down their deaf studies program this week, midsemester with no warning– the reason is unclear.
  
  Removing deaf (or culturally-competent) professionals will have a variety of educational and employment impacts, and will allow ableism to run unchecked through deaf-related research.
4. Kidnapped Rümeysa Öztürk suffers asthma attacks in ICE detention, ICE withholds medication. Öztürk, a Turkish PhD student and former Fulbright Scholar, was taken off the street by plainclothes officers in March, likely for having co-written an op-ed in her school newspaper that criticized the school’s response to Gaza-related protests.
  
  Öztürk was being illegally detained in Louisiana, where she suffered several asthma attacks and was denied her medication, one of many dangerous conditions for the chronically ill, disabled, and everyone, inside these prisons. In a hearing Thursday, a judge blocked the DOJ’s attempt to deport Öztürk, and moved her petition to be heard in VT (instead of LA).Öztürk has not been charged with a crime.
5. DoEd threatens to revoke funding from schools who don’t sign an Anti-DEI loyalty pledge. DoEd issued a letter to state education leaders across the country, threatening to withhold funding unless schools eliminate anything that could be construed as “DEI” programming. The letter asked administrators to sign a document promising their adherence to anti-DEI guidance within 10 days.
  
  The directive throws confusion on the administration’s attempts and promises to dismantle DoEd. It’s unclear who will enforce the directive or distribute the funding, which DoEd’s acting assistant Civil Rights secretary called a “privilege,” but is actually taxpayers’ money.
  
  Disabled and multiply marginalized students, particularly those in rural and low income districts, will suffer most from a loss of Title 1 and other funding.
6. Texas v Becerra 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 in conjunction with rescinding of ADA guidance, and the uncertain future of DoEd. The next update is due in the coming days.
7. Early Hearing detection and intervention programs impacted by CDC cuts. Federal EHDI programming gave funding and resources to states to conduct universal newborn hearing screenings, and support deaf and hard-of-hearing babies and their families. Full impacts are still unclear, but these workers were housed at the CDC’s NCBDDD, which saw massive cuts this week. Maternal and Infant Health divisions elsewhere in HHS also saw cuts that may impact EHDI funding.
  
  Without universal hearing screenings for early detection, d/hh children will be at higher risk for language deprivation syndrome–when incomplete access to a first language before approx. age 5, causes pervasive social, emotional, educational and cognitive damage.
8. Local: Several school districts are announcing the removal of special ed programs and students. Without an OSEP director and with the DoEd civil rights division slashed, it’s unclear if there is any recourse for families.
  
  Two districts who made headlines are the South Range Local District, OH, who told 7th and 8th graders with IEPs not to return next year due to “staffing issues,” and Dysart Unified Schools, who notified families they were shuttering their high school students’ special ed program, making plans to send them to a different school without family consultation.
  
  This trend is likely to continue without DoEd to enforce IDEA, the law that guarantees disabled children’s rights to K-12 education.
9. Do not comply in advance (good news). Immediately after McMahon’s DoEd issued the directive to withhold funding from schools pending receipt of their anti-DEI loyalty pledge, the New York state Dept. of Education replied forcefully declaring that they would not comply, citing a lack of legal standing for the move.
  
  The Mayor of Chicago also threatened that the city would sue the if funding is withheld. Other cities and towns are likely to follow.
Take Action:

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 HHS regarding illegal layoffs.

Contact your school board and state’s education officials, and tell them not to comply with McMahon’s baseless anti-DEI directive.

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.

Attend one of the nationwide protests today, Saturday, 5 April if able. Wear a mask!

Consider how to move toward creative acts of mutual aid, local protest and growing awareness, including offline materials. Make flyers! Warn your neighbors in the presence of ICE. If able, donate or volunteer with your local food pantry or library.
April 5, 2025
Week 10 Update
1. The Department of Health and Human Services laid off 10,000 employees. HHS underwent sweeping layoffs this week, with whole sub-agencies and departments shuttered and grants cut.
  
  This comes as the administration continues to say that special education oversight and services will be moved to HHS. Now the department not only has no educational expertise, but is also stretched thin.
  
  Programs for HIV and infectious disease prevention were abruptly eliminated on Thursday. More clarity on the fallout from layoffs and specific departments lost is expected through the weekend.
2. RFK Jr. begins shutdown of the Administration for Community Living (ACL). On Thursday, HHS began restructuring in the wake of the layoffs, including a move to close the ACL. The ACL supports disabled and elderly people’s right to live and work in-community. It helps ensure programming access is efficient so disabled people can be more independent and financially stable.
  
  Without the ACL, advocates are concerned about economic impacts, an increase in homelessness, and a move back toward forced institutionalization.
3. RFK Jr. taps antivaxxer to lead study about link between autism and vaccines, forces FDA’s Peter Mark’s resignation. RFK Jr. announced a large-scale federal study into the already-debunked theory linking vaccines and autism. He forced the resignation of top FDA vaccine scientist Peter Mark, and has selected noted antivaxxer David Geier to lead the project.
  
  Geier has published numerous false papers on vaccines and autism with his father, Mark Geier, based on research they conduct in their basement.
  
  RFK Jr. himself frequently profits from antivax rhetoric, and has spoken disparagingly of autistic people a “threat” to the American way of life. Geier is not a doctor. He has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland.
4. Deaf community sees tough losses in technology and educational funding. Gallaudet University lost a multi-million dollar grant for deaf technology under the HHS reorganization, while an NIH cut axed an undergraduate STEM program for deaf students out of NTID. (Per internal sources; specific numbers and grant titles pending secondary confirmation.)
  
  Minnesota’s Deaf Community Support Center was also forced to close its doors after a federal COVID-19 related grant was cut.
  
  The Liaison who oversees and advocates for funding for NTID, Gallaudet, and other special institutions, was fired in the DoED layoffs, despite that position being mandated by the 1986 law The Education of the Deaf Act. These remain a small sample of what is likely to come from HHS and DoED layoff fallout.
5. DOGE plans to rewrite Social Security database, threatening delayed payments. In an ongoing effort to prove as yet nonexistent fraud, DOGE has decided to re-program the SSA’s database into an updated programming language.
  
  COBOL, the current language of the database, is legitimately old. However, safely recoding a project of this scale would take years, and DOGE has set a 9-month timeline. Experts are concerned this will put the integrity of the database at risk, and could cause delayed or lost payments, or total collapse.
  
  Simultaneously DOGE cuts have closed 47 field offices, as well as phone verification options, forcing the elderly and disabled to travel long distances to acquire benefits.
6. Texas vs. Becerra 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 in conjunction with rescinding of ADA guidance, and the uncertain future of DoEd. The next update is due in April.
7. Executive Order, “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections.” On Tuesday Trump issued an illegal executive order aimed at sweeping election reform, including: mail-in voting restrictions, requiring a REAL ID or passport to prove citizenship to vote, and the Homeland Security and DOGE creation and “review” of a list of registered voters.
  
  The law clearly says that states have the power to oversee and regulate their own elections, so this executive order will be difficult to enforce. However, we may see conservative states comply in advance. Limiting mail-in access or requiring in-person registration would infringe on disabled and elderly people’s ability to vote.
8. Illegally fired DoED employees pack up; Senate sees new bill to abolish department. DoED employees laid off in a massive gutting of the department two weeks ago returned to pack their things on Friday. Many of those firings were illegal, as certain positions within DoED are mandated by educational law. People lined the sidewalks to cheer the former employees in a “clap-out” event as they left.
  
  21 States are currently suing to have DoEd employees return to work. A timeline of the suit is unclear, as is whether the current administration will follow a judge’s orders.
  
  Rand Paul (KY) introduced a new bill, S 1148, to eliminate the department on Wednesday.
9. Reminder: Our liberation is intertwined. It’s difficult to keep up with the pace of the news, but important to keep sight of the fact that all marginalized people’s rights are intertwined.
  
  Just as the Section 504 lawsuit sets precedent for the destruction of other civil rights clauses, so too does the arrest and deportation of immigrants without due process affect disabled people’s, and everyone’s, rights to a functioning judicial system with the power to roll back illegal overreaches, and an overall government that adheres to the Constitution. Solidarity is our only way through.
Action:
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, the ADA, the Administration for Community Living (ACL) and other HHS programs.

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.

Deaf folks and allies–contact the Gallaudet and NTID Boards of Trustees and urge them to be proactive about the futures of these universities.

Consider how to move toward creative acts of growing awareness, including offline materials, local protest and mutual aid.
March 29, 2025
NEW: Former Gallaudet Employee Speaks Out Against “Deceitful, Fanciful Thinking” in University’s Response to DoEd Layoffs

The following post provides information specific to Gallaudet University, the world’s only liberal arts university exclusively for D/HH students, in the wake of the Department of Ed’s layoffs last week.

For a general overview of that news, click here. For more information and action items specific to Gallaudet University, click here.

For an ASL version of this material, see Amy Cohen Efron’s vlog below.

Note- the author of the letter below is a source with knowledge of the federal government, writing on condition of anonymity:

I don’t usually comment on Gallaudet, but as a former employee of the university, this is too important to not discuss because of the university’s significance to the Deaf community. Someone sent me the message from Gallaudet’s president yesterday, which I read with consternation. The language used implies either sheer ignorance about the reality on the ground or, worse, an intentional misleading of the community as to what has happened with the Department of Education (ED) and its liaison for the special institutes, including Gallaudet.

As a result, the community does not understand the facts or the seriousness of the situation, and the university administration risks creating further confusion and division among the community when it is crucial for the community to understand how to advocate most effectively for the preservation of Gallaudet and its future.

From the president’s message:

“The Department of Education has implemented significant layoffs, affecting nearly 50% of its workforce, including our liaison. While the Department of Education is required to assign a new liaison, it is unclear how and when this will happen. The Department of Education has confirmed that our funding is secured.” [Read/View full message here]

This message mischaracterizes what has happened and is blatantly disingenuous about how it can be fixed. Let’s walk through this:

1.    OFFICE/POSITION ELIMINATED: The position of Director/Liaison of the Special Institutes is in the Office of Policy and Planning (OPP), within the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS). OPP was eliminated completely (see link for org chart). This means that the liaison position is gone … as in it no longer exists. A new liaison cannot be designated when the position does not exist anymore.

2.    POSITION NOT TRANSFERRED: Reduction in force procedures allow for transfer of functions and make it clear that employees performing these functions “have the right to move with their work to another organization if the alternative is separation by RIF” (OPM guidance). There is no indication that the duties and functions of the liaison have been or will be transferred to another department or agency. All evidence indicates this position is fully eliminated with no plans for continuity of functions.

3.    NO TRANSITION PLANNING: Because of attrition, deferred resignation, and VERA, numerous vacancies existed before the layoffs began (see org chart). With these preexisting vacancies, the vacancy rate at ED is effectively over 65%, not 50%; within OSERS’ Office of the Assistant Secretary, the only person left is the assistant secretary. On top of that, ED employees who took retirement were immediately put on leave March 11, and the layoffs were equally as abrupt. This means it would have been impossible to conduct any level of transition planning to ensure continuity of institutional knowledge and understanding of how to perform functions … precisely because the intention was to not have these positions anymore. If the liaison position is restored but the employee not reinstated, this lack of transition planning will hamper any new employee in being able to do the job effectively.

4.    HIRING FREEZE: Even if the liaison position still existed, the administration has implemented a hiring freeze for all but immigration enforcement, national security, and public safety. In addition, the EO prohibits the creation of new positions. Without significant pressure on the administration, it is very unlikely an exception will be granted to hire someone into the restored liaison position.

5.    LENGTHY HIRING PROCESS: Even if an exception is granted to hire someone into OSERS for the Secretary to designate (appoint) as the liaison, the federal hiring process is extremely long. It can take four months to a year to fill a vacancy—and four months is considered “speedy”! The escalating disruptions to human resources staffing and processes government-wide threaten to make this process even longer.

6.    REEMPLOYMENT PRIORITY LIST REQUIREMENT: Assuming the layoffs were done in accordance with legal requirements for reduction in force, as described on OPM’s website, ED is required to give reemployment priority to anyone they laid off through RIF. Therefore, the person who was laid off when the liaison position was eliminated has priority to return to the position, making it disingenuous for Gallaudet to call for a new liaison to be appointed.

7.    GAP IN FUNDING MECHANISM: While the continuing resolution does appropriate funding for Gallaudet, as the president’s message states, there is an additional critical step of obligating funds, which is how the funds land in Gallaudet’s bank account. Congress grants legal authorization to spend funds (appropriations), the authorized person signs the paperwork to spend the funds (obligations), and then the funds are disbursed to the recipient. In short, obligation is like opening a door to allow funds to go through. Generally, authority to obligate funds is given to the secretary of a department, who then can delegate that authority to a subordinate. The Secretary of Education likely delegated authority to the liaison, who would then have been trained and certified in obligating funding – i.e., the liaison signs the paperwork authorizing the funds to be disbursed to Gallaudet. Without that paperwork signed by an authorized person, ED’s financial office cannot release (i.e., disburse) the funding. Since the liaison position was eliminated, who has the authority to obligate the funding for Gallaudet?

8. FUTURE OF DEPT OF EDUCATION: The overarching issue the university administration misses is that the goal here is to dismantle and terminate the Department of Education. With ED gone, where will the liaison position reside?

With all these factors at play, for the university president to say all that needs to be done is for a new liaison to be assigned is beyond deceitful. It’s fanciful thinking that fails to grasp the full picture of what is happening.

It also demonstrates a clear lack of understanding of how the government works and the legal constraints in which it operates. The easiest, fastest, and legal route to fix this is for the liaison position to be restored at ED or its functions transferred to another department.

The Gallaudet administration needs to understand that restoration of the liaison position means reinstatement of the person laid off from the position—the focus needs to be on the position, not on replacing the person. Designating a “new” liaison, as they are calling for, would be an illegal action on the federal government’s part and likely would be challenged in court, resulting in further delays. In addition, reinstatements have been happening quickly across the federal government as the administration backtracks after finding out that certain positions are critical or required by law (example: National Nuclear Security Administration) or a judge orders reinstatements (example: probationary employees).

For the best interests of Gallaudet and its funding, the university administration needs to focus on advocating for the full restoration of the liaison position, at ED or another department, and reinstatement of the employee.

The Deaf and Gallaudet communities need to band together to (1) push the Gallaudet Board of Trustees and administration to acknowledge these facts and lobby—and sue, if necessary—for this restoration and reinstatement, and (2) write to senators and representatives to advocate.
*

To contact your elected official about this issue, use the letter template available here.

March 22, 2025
Week 9 Updates
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.
March 22, 2025
Breaking: Dept of Labor Dismantles PEAT, Key Digital Accessibility Resource

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.

March 21, 2025
Breaking: Department of Justice Begins Rollback of ADA

Yesterday the Department of Justice began removing guidance related to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the law that protects disabled people’s rights to access and accommodations in public.

While the law itself remains on the books, the definition of legal “access” is developed by guidance from the US Access Board. The Board, comprised of at least half disabled people, is supposed to meet annually, but their meeting was cancelled in January. Now the law is being hollowed out by the DOJ.

The DOJ is using a January Executive Order aimed at “lowering the cost of living” as the justification for the rollback.

That accommodating disabled people is too expensive is age-old rhetoric favored by eugenicists and Nazis, and has been used to justify segregation, institutionalization, neglect, forced sterilization, and murder of disabled people here and abroad.

So far, 11 guidance documents have been removed, with protections ranging from self-service gas stations, customer communication, hotel accessibility, general public-facing businesses, and several pandemic-era additions. (Links are to archived content; pages have since been removed.)

This is an ongoing story.

March 20, 2025
Action Item: Protect Deaf and Special Education!
1300 Department of Education employees were laid off last week, some of them illegally, including workers in the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS), who provide a variety of special education funding and programs, oversee IDEA, and fund and support special institutions like Gallaudet, NTID, the American Printing House for the Blind, Helen Keller National Center for the Blind, and more. Take action!

Two options:
1. Write to your Representative in the House. Find your Representative here.
2. Write to a Senator on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. Here is the full list of the committee. If your Senator serves, write them! If not, you can still choose a Senator to write to in their capacity on the committee, as long as you are honest about where you live. Here are some suggested contacts for the four Republicans most likely to stand up for special and deaf education:
  - Senator Jon Husted–Husted has been an advocate for disability rights in Ohio in the past.
  - Senator Rand Paul–Paul has a Deaf nephew, and has used ASL on the Senate floor.
  - Senators Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins–both are self-declared “moderates” who occasionally break with party line votes.
The template below can be tailored to contact a Representative or Senator, by mail or email– or one of each!

Dear [Senator or Representative + Last Name]:

[If writing your congressperson, or if your Senator serves on the HELP committee: “I am a constituent from zip code [insert yours]”].
OR
[If writing to a Senator on the HELP committee not from your state: “I am a resident of writing to you in your capacity on the HELP committee.”] I am writing to express my grave concern that Linda McMahon, President Trump, and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are taking steps to abolish the Department of Education and eliminate educational opportunities for millions of students across the country, especially this impact has on students who are deaf, hard of hearing, and deafblind. This includes the termination of over 1,300 workers at the Department of Education. Linda McMahon inappropriately included in this termination of the Liaison to the Special Institutions, who works in the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS).

The Liaison to the Special Institutions position within the Department of Education is mandated by the law The Education of the Deaf Act (EDA) 20 U.S.C. 4356 Section 206 Liaison for Educational Programs. Through this law, Gallaudet University and the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) receive direct appropriations from Congress to provide education and employment services to individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, and deafblind. The EDA designates the Liaison to serve between the Department and Gallaudet University, NTID, and other postsecondary educational programs for individuals who are deaf under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and other Federal or non-Federal agencies, institutions, or organizations involved with the education or rehabilitation of individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing. The law also stipulates that the person in this position must be from the deaf community.

Without the Liaison, the Department will be unable to fulfill its critical functions as mandated in the EDA. In order to keep operations at both Gallaudet and NTID continued without disruption, I ask that you take immediate action to have Linda McMahon correct her mistake and reinstate the employee who serves in this position.

Sincerely,

[Your name]

[Your Contact information]
March 19, 2025
Week 8 Update
1. Hundreds of Illegal Layoffs at the Department of Education. DoED laid off over 1300 employees Tuesday night, nearly half the department. Secretary McMahon made a statement that layoffs would not affect special ed, nor any legally-mandated positions, but that was a lie.
  
  Layoffs were conducted without review via a generic, “Dear colleague” letter, including eliminating workers in mandated positions that are not allowed to be vacant by law. Many workers who were supposed to continue on until the end of the month or longer cannot consistently access their emails and computers due to DOGE control.
  
  The layoffs spanned a variety of departments, cutting large swaths of the Office of Civil Rights (OCR).The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) was also impacted.
  
  The entire office providing funding for Gallaudet, NTID, the American Printing House for the Blind, Helen Keller National Center, and other special institutions has been laid off.
  
  There is also currently no director at the head of OSEP, the office overseeing IDEA. McMahon sparked anger in an interview after the layoffs, in which she revealed she did not know what “IDEA” stands for.
2. Regional DoEd Offices Shuttered. In addition to the layoffs, seven regional Department of Education offices have also been closed down: Cleveland, Boston, New York, Dallas, San Francisco, Chicago, Philadelphia.
  
  Among many impacts, this will further delay already long wait times for students and families dealing with discrimination complaints.
3. DOGE Continues to infiltrate Social Security Administration (SSA). The DOGE team continues to grow at SSA, in what journalists believe to be the largest presence at any agency. Musk and friends have alleged “mass fraud” at the agency, but have not produced any evidence of the claim.
  
  DOGE is currently considering cancelling benefits for nearly 200,000 people who receive social security benefits without a SSN; however the majority of those are disabled children whose benefits are redirected to a “designated payee” in their parent or guardian.
4. DOGE takes aim at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Under Musk, DOGE targeted HUD for layoffs of around half of the department, which oversees housing vouchers, rental assistance, public housing and a variety of anti-homelessness initiatives, including rebuild grants for communities after disaster.
  
  HUD also oversees fair housing laws and fields discrimination complaints.
  
  At least 50% of the US’s unhoused population is disabled.
5. Senate Finance Committee holds hearing for Dr. Mehmet Oz. TV personality “Doctor Oz” was tapped to be Administrator of the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services, and began his hearing Friday.
  
  He is poised to oversee Medicaid, Medicare, and administrative duties related to the Affordable Care Act as Republicans vow to make deep cuts to the former two programs. Oz sidestepped questions about whether he would protect Medicaid from cuts during Friday’s hearing.
6. Senate passes a Continuing Resolution for the GOP’s budget bill. Republicans, with the help of 10 Democrats, voted to pass a continuing resolution that avoids a government shutdown until September.
  
  A coalition of anti-Trump organizers, including the federal workers union, had rallied to encourage Democrats to vote NO, in an effort to bring Republicans to the negotiating table and include language to reign in DOGE’s unfettered slashing of federal programs and employment. Instead, a small group of Democrats helped push the bill through.
  
  Now that Democrats have ceded their leverage it will be difficult to stop further implementation of Project 2025 or DOGE cuts, beyond lawsuits after the fact.
7. 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 next update is due in April.
8. Good News… 21 Attorneys General have banded together to sue the administration regarding the illegal firings of Department of Education employees. This comes alongside previously established suits and union actions already in-play for other firings and freezings across the federal workforce.
  
  A judge also ordered Thursday that probationary employees across multiple agencies who were laid off should be reinstated.
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.
- Call the Senate Finance Committee members and tell them to vote NO on Dr. Oz.
- Protest University of Texas at Austin’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, which was ineffective
- 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 you can pivot to creative and local acts of resistance now that elected officials have ceded negotiating power. Here are some ideas.
March 15, 2025
New: Internal DoEd Document Show Full Reorganization After Tuesday’s Illegal Layoffs

DoED reorg

March 13, 2025
Call Scripts for 13 March Regarding Budget Resolution and Illegal DoED Layoffs

Script for Calling Your Senator (*Time Sensitive*–they must vote by Friday, 314)

Find your Senator’s phone number here

Hello Senator [last name],

My Name is [full name] and I’m a constituent calling from zip code [your zip code] to ask you to vote NO on the budget bill until there are firm guardrails in place that take financial control from DOGE and return it to Congress, as stipulated by the Constitution.

The executive overreach of freezing Congressionally-approved spending and firing federal workers is illegal and dangerous.

I understand concerns about the impacts of a temporary government shutdown, but the government is not currently functioning by the rule of law. Giving Republicans free reign to gut Medicaid and SNAP will harm even more Americans. Please use this moment of leverage to stand with the American people and the Constitution, and vote NO unless enforceable protections are implemented. Thank you.

Script for Calling Your House Representative

Click to find your Representative

Hello Representative [last name],

My Name is [full name] and I’m a constituent calling from zip code [your zip code] to ask you to stop the Trump administration from harming students and families by dismantling the Department of Education. By closing key offices and conducting illegal layoffs, Trump and DOGE are trying to bypass Congress to gut the department.

[Personal statement here] Ex: In particular, I’m a [parent / student / teacher / community member], concerned about about the impact that these cuts will have on students with disabilities, including funding and oversight for programs like [IDEA, 504, Gallaudet, American Printing House for the Blind, Helen Keller National Center, Special Olympics. If applicable, restate importance of program to you or your family.]

This is an overreach by the executive branch. Please act to protect the students and the federal workers who serve them. Thank you.

March 13, 2025