Disability Rights Watch

Category: Weekly Update

  • Week 12 Update

    Week 12 Update

    1. House passes budget framework, paving the way for deep social cuts. The House passed the budget framework that paves the way for Trump’s desired budget, including trillions in tax cuts for rich people, increased defense spending, increased spending autonomy for the President, weakening social security, and an estimated $880 billion in cuts to Medicaid.
      The House and Senate must now work to turn their resolutions into actual legislative text, which will reveal the minute breakdown of their spending plan and cuts. This is typically a months-long process.
    2. Markets roil as Trump plays with global tariffs, threatens more. Trump issued tariffs on multiple countries in a questionably legal process this week, promptly tanking the global market. He paused some of the tariffs for 90 days due to instability, but kept a tax at over 100% on goods from China, who also levied their own tariffs. (Update: as of noon on 4/12, Trump also paused tariffs on electronics like smartphones and computers.)

      Tariff costs are passed down to the buyer, meaning further hikes in a market where food and basics prices are already soaring. This will be a hardship for all Americans, but especially those already struggling with food insecurity, and/or those on a fixed income.

      Trump also announced tariffs on pharmaceutical imports to be implemented “shortly,” with no details yet on which medications will be affected. Medical device and equipment prices are already expected to rise due to current tariffs.
    3. HHS fallout reveals more disability-centric programs lost. Massive cuts at the CDC’s National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities last week left advocates reeling. Now the cuts are coming clear:

      EHDI programming for universal newborn hearing screenings has been eliminated. States have received some funding in 2025, but may not receive the rest.

      The CDC partnership with the Special Olympics has also been eliminated. Trump and DeVos first tried to defund the program in 2017. (4/12, clarifying note: The Special Olympics funding and oversight primarily came from OSERS in the Dept of Ed, but those employees were also laid off in earlier an earlier RIF).

      A department dedicated to sickle cell research is gone.

      The team for national data collection on adults with cognitive disabilities is gone, just before a key report about the rise in cognitive disability in young people was to be released. Some say it’s being blocked so RFK can bury evidence contradicting his own team’s theories about “autism’s origins,” which he’s promised to “reveal” by September.
    4. White House Press Secretary says the administration is seeking a “legal” pathway for deporting US citizens. White House press secretary Leavitt mentioned this week that the administration was looking into whether there is a legal pathway to deport US citizens. (There’s not!)

      Leavitt said the move would only be exercised on “criminals” who commit “heinous” crimes. However, that the DOJ has already been stripping students of their visas for protests and other thought crimes, and 75% of the immigrants who were illegally deported to El Salvador have no criminal record suggest they will continue to use their power for show against anyone they want.

      Legal scholars and historians fear the move will be used to strip the citizenship and/or detain anyone “undesirable,” a frightening a echo from 1930s Germany’s stripping of citizenship from Jewish people and others, the 1940s US internment of Japanese people, and other war crimes.
    5. House passes “Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act” (SAVE Act). The proposed law, which will require people to present proof of citizenship in-person in order to register to vote, passed the House this week, including votes from for Democratic representatives.

      One major concern is that women who changed their name due to marriage won’t be able to use their birth certificates for proof of citizenship, since their surnames no longer match. An amendment was suggested to remedy this, but it was denied.

      People with any name different than what’s issued on their birth certificate will need a passport to register, and everyone will need to present this proof in-person. 50% of Americans have no passport.

      SAVE would place undue hardship and expense, and restrict the right to vote of the elderly, disabled, women and trans folks, those living rurally and more.

      The bill is likely to be voted down in the Senate, but it is still worth calling about.
    6. DOGE accesses Social Security database, falsely begins declaring some recipients “dead” to stop payments. DOGE has shown their inability to understand basic information stored within the SSA’s database over the past months, in part because it is written in an archaic coding language. Previously DOGE said they would rewrite the code, but that is a long-term project.

      In the interim, DOGE has declared some people dead as a way of removing them from the payment system. This has largely attacked immigrants, but some US citizens were also placed into the “death master file.”

      Beyond stopping social security payments, falsely declaring someone dead will have massive implications on their ability to move through the world, may cut access to their credit cards and more. SSA employees who tried to stop DOGE were ejected from the building.
    7. 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.
    8. Do not comply in advance (good news). Due to pending legal action over McMahon’s DoEd issued directive to withhold funding from schools pending receipt of their anti-DEI loyalty pledge, a judge ordered that schools do not need to sign any certifications until at least April 24, after the legality of the pledge is assessed.

      Previously, the directive required school leadership to sign within 10 days.

      So far NY, MA, PA, MI, WI, IL, MN, CO, OR, and WA officials have declined to sign, while other states have declared their intent to sign or are still in review. (full map of states’ declared intent)

      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, SSA and HHS regarding illegal layoffs.

      Call your Senator and tell them to vote NO on SAVE and any budget cuts to Medicaid.

      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.

      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.

  • Week 11 Update

    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.

  • Week 8 Update

    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.
    • 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.


  • Week 7 Updates

    Week 7 Updates

    1. Linda McMahon confirmed, prepares to gut DoED. The Senate confirmed Linda McMahon to her post as Secretary of the Department of Education. Almost immediately she sent out an email to all employees titled, “Our Department’s Final Mission” detailing her desire to emphasize patriotism and vocational skills in American education, while simultaneously dismantling federal oversight. Trump was due to sign an EO aimed at gutting the dept on Thursday, but delayed due to unpopularity. (Keep it up!)
    2. Musk calls people who receive government assistance the “parasite class.” Musk posted on X referring to people who receive Social Security or government assistance as the “parasite class.” The comment comes as DOGE seeks to gut the Social Security Administration and the GOP sets its sights on Medicaid funding.

      Dehumanizing rhetoric, especially referring to people as animals, is Stage 4 in the Ten Stages of Genocide. In the lead up to the Rwandan genocide, the Tutsis were called “cockroaches”; in Germany, Nazis called Jews “vermin,” disabled people “useless eaters,” and more.
    3. Executive Order “Designating English as the Official Language of the US”. The EO declares English the US’s official language and revokes the Clinton EO, “Improving Access to Services for Persons with Limited English Proficiency,” Individual agencies can now choose whether they want to provide materials in other languages.

      The changes may have dangerous impacts for those needing medical and legal interpreters, as well as educational impacts for English language learners. Section 504 and the still ADA protect the right to ASL interpreters, but procuring funding may be more complicated, (and the 504 lawsuit even more consequential).
    4. DOGE Takes Aim at Social Security Administration. Workers inside the Social Security Administration (SSA) said DOGE have been controlling their computer access for weeks, including internet access to outside news websites. A new plan aims to cut 12% of the workforce, or about 7,000 people, though more are expected to be driven out by stressors. The SSA workforce was already stretched thin, operating at a 50-year low.

      Musk called social security a “Ponzi scheme” and alleged massive fraud. However, American workers pay into Social Security to receive their retirement benefits, and there is no evidence of widespread fraud. 70 million retired and disabled Americans depend on Social Security benefits. They layoffs may cause payment delays and make it harder to access SSA offices, helplines, and more.
    5. More Attacks on Veterans Affairs, Employment. The Department of Veterans Affairs announced a major overhaul this week, with a goal to lay off approximately 80,000 workers. The plan is sure to disrupt veterans’ healthcare, hospitals, mental health services, and other benefits, as well as lay off many veterans in the process–the federal government is also the number one employer of disabled veterans across many agencies.

      In discussing the potential layoffs, Alina Habbas, one of the President’s lawyers, said, that those veterans affected may not be “fit to have a job at this moment.”
    6. RFK Jr. waffles on vaccines as US Sees 2nd measles death. RFK Jr. Released an Op-Ed on Fox News that appeared to encourage people to get vaccinated against the measles as the outbreak surged in Texas and cases appeared on the east coast. Others say RFK’s views are unchanged, and his mention of “therapeutic treatments” in addition to vaccines is a dog-whistle to antivax followers.

      Under Kennedy, the CDC announced a new large-scale study into vaccines and autism on Friday. The topic has already been thoroughly studied, with no link found. Increased rates of autism in children are attributed to better screenings.
    7. Eugenics and “Race Science” conference to convene in Texas. 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 far-right and neofascist influencers are slated to speak. Musk has also been invited.
    8. Texas v. 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.

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

    • Call your Rep. and tell them NO cuts to Medicaid/SNAP and Veterans’ care, and YES to the Dept. of Education Protection Act.
    • Call your Rep. and Senators and remind them that Social Security is *our* money, not Musk’s.
    • 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, which was found to be 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.

  • Week 5 Update

    Week 5 Update

    1. Linda McMahon’s DoED Nomination Advances
      • The HELP Committee voted along party lines, advancing Linda McMahon to the full Senate for her confirmation as Secretary of DoED.
      • Trump has promised major cuts to the department via Executive Order once McMahon is in place.
      • 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 full explainer on DoED here.
    2. Funding Cuts for DoED Now at $502 Million and Counting
    3. Mass Layoffs Hit Disabled Veterans Hard
    4. Texas vs. Beccera Lawsuit on Hold; AGs Refuse to Come Clean about Scope of the Complaint
      • On Wednesday, involved parties wrote to the judge asking for more time to evaluate their case, and claiming they did not seek to declare Section 504 unconstitutional.
      • The letter still takes aim at 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. See all our Texas v. Beccera resources here.
    5. House Budget Takes Aim at Medicaid, SNAP
      • The House presented a budget bill that would require $880 billion in cuts from the Energy and Commerce Committee, who oversees Medicaid. Medicaid provides healthcare for 70 million disabled and low-income Americans,
      • On Wednesday, Trump endorsed the bill, after previously saying he wouldn’t touch the program.
      • SNAP, the program that provides financial assistance specifically for buying food, is also under threat.
    6. Executive Order “Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies”
      • Consolidates power under the President by taking it away from independent agencies. Says the President has the final say, including budgetary, over all parts of the Executive branch.
      • From a disability perspective, the future of the Federal Communications Commission is of concern. The FCC currently oversees and disburses funds for things like closed captions, captioned phone calls and text and video relay.
      • This move is a key tenet of Project 2025. Expanding the powers of the President and weakening checks and balances is dangerous for the health of any democracy.
    7. Threats to Special Education at the State Level
      • Indiana HB 1136 appoints state governing boards over local community boards, and targets schools for charter conversion, which could harm disabled students’ services and weaken IEP oversight.
      • Alabama State HB197 seeks to “investigate” and fine parents who file complaints under IDEA’s due process procedures, and makes it harder to recover legal fees if a family wins their case.
      • See our friends at Fighting for My Voice for a state-level education policy tracker
    8. Some Good News
      • After feedback from advocates, Indiana’s SB473 was revised to include ASL and all language options for deaf children’s early intervention programming. Previously the bill protected spoken language only.
      • Connecticut’s State Legislature is expected to approve $40 million in additional funds for special education in a vote next week

    Take Action

    • Share this info. Disability is often lost in mainstream coverage.
    • Call your Senator and ask them to vote NO on the McMahon nomination and protect DoED.
    • If your state is involved, contact your Attorney General and ask them to drop out of Texas v. Beccera. Tell them you stand in solidarity with all disabled people, as well as trans folks. If your state isn’t involved, you can still call and ask them to protect Section 504.
    • Write/call your Congresspeople and tell them to fight for Medicaid, Medicare, SNAP, and Social Security. Entitlements are taxpayer money!
    • Keep an eye on your state legislatures and make sure they are not complying in advance!

    #ProtectADA for community sharing, news, letter templates and more

  • Week 4 Update

    Week 4 Update

    Battles in the courts, Congress, and the labs this week, but the outcry against Texas v. Beccera shows the pressure still works, with some AGs backing away from the suit. Keep it up!

    PS–Trans rights are human rights. This lawsuit shows us they will try to pit us against one another with misinformation, and we’re not falling for it, dudes. We fight together.

    1. The Research Arm of DoED is Dismantled: The Institute of Education Services (IES) is an office within DoED that funds education research grants. Most of their grants were suddenly cut by Musk’s DOGE team this week.

    AEM Education Services, an analysis vendor, also had their contracts suddenly cancelled on Tuesday. AEM’s data analysis helps decide where funding for IDEA (the law that protects disabled students rights in school) goes. Without this data, states may not receive their IDEA-related grants, making it hard to fund or execute IEPS and 504 plans and services.

    2. Linda McMahon’s HELP Committee hearing begins: Trump nominated former Pro-Wrestling Executive McMahon to be the Secretary of DoED as part of his ongoing desire to abolish the agency. Inside sources say Trump will not issue his EO to gut the department until she is confirmed. While it would take an act of Congress to fully close the Department, the proposed EO will take it down to the studs. The HELP committee began their hearing on Thursday, and they are expected to vote next week.

    The committee is 11 GOP-12 Dem, with Murkowski, Collins, Husted (has supported disability rights in the past) and Paul (has a deaf nephew, has signed ASL on the Senate floor) as potential pressure points. See our full DoED explainer on what the department does, current threats, sources, and action items.

    4: Probationary Employees are Laid off; Deferred Resignation Program Moves Forward: Thousands of “probationary employees” across agencies, including the Department of Ed, were fired this week. “Probationary” means a person usually has less than 1 or 2 years on the job, depending on department.

    Insiders saw the move as another step in the sweeping purge of federal employees to replace them with loyalists, and to shrink the civil service overall. A judge also allowed OPM’s deferred resignation offer to move forward, though the deadline to accept is now passed.

    5. National Institutes of Health Slash Funding for Medical Research: The NIH announced funding for research hospitals’ and universities’ operating budgets will be reduced to 15%. Most are currently about 70% NIH funded.

    Researchers and universities say this could stall or stop groundbreaking medical research and the creation of treatments and cures for a variety of disorders, diseases, and genetic conditions.

    6. Center for Disease Control, National Science Foundation, and Others’ “Banned Words” List: Agencies are purging their websites and rejecting grant applications based on lists of “banned words” related to DEIA. This will ensure any research projects meant to serve marginalized people aren’t funded and known info is less accessible.

    Some of the disability-related words flagged include disability, advocacy, inclusion, barrier, bias, discrimination, equality, sociocultural, social justice, equity, prejudice, multicultural, and more.

    7: RFK Jr. Confirmed as Secretary of Health and Human Services: The Senate confirmed RFK Jr. to lead HHS despite his anti-scientific, anti-vaccine, and eugenicist views. His leadership will put the public health of all Americans in danger, and will be especially harmful to disabled people.

    An Executive Order released immediately after his confirmation established a “Make America Health Again” commission, and included neurodivergency in a list of things that pose “a dire threat to the American People and our way of life. “

    Project 2025 and S 5384 propose that in the event of DoED’s closure, IDEA oversight goes to HHS, giving RFK Jr. control over disabled children’s educational rights and funding.

    8. Advocates concerned new House budget will take aim at Medicaid. The GOP proposed 2 trillion in cuts to mandatory spending, leaving many advocates concerned about the future of Medicaid.

    No official numbers about where cuts will come from are available, but Medicare and Medicaid make up some of the largest pools of money over which Congress has jurisdiction. It would be difficult to approach a 2 trillion cut without some impact. Budget-related information will be a developing story as the proposal reaches the House floor for debate.

    9. Texas vs. Beccera Attempts to Dismantle Section 504 Section 504 is a statute in the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 that says entities who get federal funding or grants cannot discriminate on the basis of disability. It protects disabled people’s rights to be treated at a hospital, attend public school, and receive accommodations in these and other federally-funded places.

    The lawsuit seeks to roll back 2024 updates to the law, and also asks a judge to declare Section 504 in its entirety unconstitutional. 17 states are signed on.

    If the statute is repealed, it will have national effect. It also sets legal precedent with which to attack the Civil Rights Act.

    Involved parties are due to release a status update next week, 25 February. Read our full explainer, with links to more sources and action items.

    Take Action:

    • Share this info. Disability is often lost in mainstream coverage
    • Contact Senators Collins, Murkowski, Husted, and Paul, and ask them to vote NO on McMahon’s nomination. You can contact a Senator who isn’t yours in their capacity as a committee member, as long as you are honest that you are not their constituent.
    • Contact your Attorney General and ask him to drop out of Texas v. Beccera if involved. If your state isn’t involved, you can still call your AG and ask them to protect Section 504 by filing an amicus brief.
    • Write/call your Congresspeople and tell them to fight for the Department of Education and Medicaid.
    • Keep an eye on your state legislatures and make sure they are not complying in advance!
    • Use #ProtectADA on social media for community sharing, news, letter templates and more

  • Week 3: What Happened?

    Week 3: What Happened?

    Some good news, some bad news this week, and an important reminder that putting pressure on elected officials still works.

    1. Three Current Bills in Congress Seek to Dismantle the Department of Education
      – HR 899 “To Terminate the Department of Education” Rep. Massey (KY)
      – HR 369 “To Provide for the Elimination of The Department of Education, and for Other Purposes” Rep. Rouzer (NC)
      – S 5384 “Returning Education to our States Act” Sen. Rounds (SD)

      Eliminating DoED would have devastating consequences in funding and oversight for all students, but especially at underfunded (Title 1) schools, and for disabled children everywhere who require the protection of IDEA law to attend school and receive accommodations.
    2. Date Set for Linda McMahon’s Senate HELP Committee Hearing. Trump nominated former Pro-Wrestling Executive McMahon to be the Secretary of DoED. A draft of his EO ordering the dismantling of the department from within was floated last week. Inside sources say it is on hold until McMahon is confirmed.

      The HELP committee is 11 GOP-12 Dem, with Murkowski and Collins as potential pressure points The hearing is 13 February at 562 Dirksen Senate Office Building.
    3. Memorandum “Further Guidance Ending DEIA Offices, Programs and Initiatives” The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued a 5 February memorandum doubling down on Trump’s previous anti-DEIA executive orders within the federal workforce.

      One notable exception was OPM directed the bare minimum must be done to comply with the Rehabilitation act of 1973, which should protect some accommodations for disabled employees. However, the memo continues to dismantle DEIA programming, affinity groups, Special Emphasis Programs and directs agencies ignore the rights of protected classes in favor of Executive demands.
    4. States Take Dismantling Education into Their Own Hands
      Alabama HB197 seeks to “investigate” and fine parents who file complaints under IDEA’s due process procedures, and makes it harder to recover legal fees if a family wins their case.

      Indiana SB 0473 includes changes to operations of the state’s Center for Deaf/Hard of Hearing Education, prioritizing spoken language over bilingual ASL/English, and all communication modalities and options for families. The bill text is currently being revised, so keep an eye on this.
    5. Congresspeople, Advocates and Others Locked out of the Department of Education. On February 7, members of Congress and other advocates attempted to enter DoED, but the doors were locked and security refused them entry. Reports are conflicting on who the security agents report to. At one point, armed federal agents appeared on-scene.

      Sources inside DoEd say the doors are not supposed to be locked and people are typically free to approach the front desk. Authorized contract workers were also barred entry.It remains unclear at the time of this writing why access has been restricted.
    6. Healthcare Head Start Organizations Experience Funding Delays as Congress Floats More Cuts. Community healthcare centers, “safety net” hospitals, and Head Start providers failed to receive their funding due to a lag in the system after last week’s freeze. Some were forced to close their doors.

      This comes as the House Budget Committee seeks to cut hundreds of billions of dollars from the domestic budget and reallocate it to the defense budget, to support Trump’s deportation and border enforcement escalations. Medicaid and SNAP, healthcare and food assistance programs for low-income and/or disabled folks, are targeted for the deepest cuts.
    7. Senate Committee Advances RFK Jr. in the Nomination Process. RFK Jr’s anti-scientific, anti-vaccine, and eugenicist views put everyone in danger, and will be especially harmful to disabled people.

      Additionally, Project 2025 and S 5384 propose that in the event of DoED’s closure, IDEA oversight goes to HHS, giving RFK Jr. control over disabled children’s educational rights and funding.

      Antivax movements have been spending a lot of time and money on RFK’s advancement, and opponents are being outspent and outcalled.
    8. A Little Good News: Oklahoma’s SB 1017 is Withdrawn. Oklahoma’s SB 1017 attempted to remove “related services” for disabled students from IEPS and school grounds. This would have included Speech Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, and other educational and medical and therapeutic supports.

      Due to pressure from the community, this bill was withdrawn! Calling and writing your reps can still work, and is especially effective at local levels.

    What to Do?
    Share this info. Disability is often lost in mainstream coverage.

    • Contact Senators Collins and Murkowski and ask them to vote NO on McMahon’s nomination. Deadlocking the committee or blocking the nomination may slow down attacks on DoED. You can contact a Senator who isn’t yours in their capacity as a committee member, as long as you are honest that you are not their constituent.
    • Write/call your Senator to vote NO on confirming RFK Jr. Senators are hearing loudly from the other side on this, and we need to even the count.
    • Write/call your Congresspeople and tell them to protect the Department of Education and Medicaid.
    • Keep an eye on your state legislatures and make sure they are not complying in advance!

    #ProtectADA for community sharing, news, letter templates and more

    Tools and Resources:

    Find my House Representative

    Contact my Senator

    Use the 5 Calls App for easy phone call contact and scripts

    Text, fax, or email using Resist.bot

    For D/HH Folks: Call Senators by VP, or try the Nagish App for captioned calls, text relay or VCO calls.

  • Week 2: What Happened?

    Week 2: What Happened?

    ID: A CDI signs the below information in ASL with slides in the background presenting that information in text.

    1.  Some ASL interpreters and accommodations divisions were fired in Anti-DEIA sweeps. The White House Press Office interpreter is gone. Providers housed in DEIA divisions were laid off, despite the violation of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Since it’s illegal, departments are being told to reverse course on this, with some complying and some not. Trump’s previous administration was sued over failure to provide interpreters at press conferences and lost, but has again removed the interpreter from briefings.
    2. Some resources regarding disabled children’s rights have been deleted from the Dept of Ed’s website. FAQs about Section 504 and other resources went missing during Musk’s DOGE external server takeover, which also seems responsible for a spate of press releases and Facebook posts not in keeping with DoEd’s materials. Due to inconsistencies, verify information with multiple sources when possible.
    3.  Funding freeze of federal payment system creates chaos. A judge blocked the freeze but some programs are still being targeted. Contact elected officials to ensure a new head of OMB recognizes that appropriation powers belong to Congress, not the President. Many essential health, medical and research programs remain frozen from previous orders. Investigations into potential “DEIA” programs continue.
    4.  Current Programs “Under Review” for potential defunding under anti-DEIA orders.

      Deaf and hard of hearing-specific programs:
      Training Interpreters for Individuals who are Deaf and Deaf-Blind (DoED), Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders (HHS), National Deaf Services (DOJ)

      Special Education-related programs Research in Special Ed, Special Ed Technology, Media, and Materials for Individuals with Disabilities, Special Ed Grants for Infants and Families, Special Ed Grants to States, Special Ed Parent Info Centers, Special Ed Preschool Grants, Special Ed Studies and Evaluations; Special Ed Technical Assistance and Dissemination to Improve Services and Results for Children w/ Disabilities; Special Ed Technical Assistance on State Data Collection; Special Ed Personnel Development to Improve Services for Children with Disabilities; Special Olympics Education Programs; State Personnel Development (DoED)
      A searchable spreadsheet of all programs and grants under review is available from Politico here.
    5. RFK Jr.’s Nomination Hearing for HHS Secretary begins. RFK supports a variety of racist, ableist and scientifically inaccurate conspiracy theories. His stances on vaccination put the immunocompromised, and everyone, at risk. He has proposed sending folks to “wellness camps” in lieu of taking ADHD medication, boosts hateful rhetoric about autistic people, and holds many other eugenicist beliefs.
    6.  Donald Trump blames DC plane crash on disabled FAA workers and DEIA. In a press conference, Trump quickly capitalized on the tragedy to deride the FAAs DEI hiring initiatives, specifically listing off various disabilities, then insinuating that disabled and/or BIPOC people aren’t smart enough to do Air Traffic Control. Trump’s first administration had originally been behind the 2019 program to hire disabled people at the FAA. Thursday, he issued an official memorandum ordering the removal of DEI from the aviation sector.

      There is no evidence for the President’s claims re: this or any crash. Physical requirements for ATC employees are stringent, and the FAA has long been understaffed. Before the crash, Trump had gutted a key aviation safety committee, and Elon forced the FAA chief to quit over a personal vendetta for having been fined at SpaceX.
    7. Executive Order: “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 schooling” This order threatens to defund schools for a variety of perceived “violations” including respecting trans and nonbinary students, and teaching about racism and honest US history, which it labels “discriminatory equity ideology.” This is defined as “an ideology that treats individuals as members of preferred or disfavored groups, rather than as individuals, and minimizes agency, merit and capability.”

      The Dept. of Ed has never dictated curriculum or content; this is left to states and districts. Defunding schools hurts all students, especially the marginalized, and preventing teachers from discussing discrimination only perpetuates it. The emphasis on “merit” and “capability” given recent-disability rhetoric is also concerning here.
    8. Executive Order: “Expanding Educational Freedom and Opportunity for Families” This order directs a variety of federal agencies to prioritize ways to expand “school choice” and voucher programs at the federal level.

      Sending money meant for public schools to private and religious ones is of concern for disabled students, because private schools are not required to accommodate, or even accept, disabled students, leaving them stranded at underfunded schools and/or with limited support and no recourse.

    What to Do:

    1. Share this info. Disability is often lost in mainstream coverage.
    2. Write/call your congress people and demand that they continue fighting for their duty to make appropriations. Advocate for programs you value. It is taxpayer money, not an executive decision.
    3. Write your senator to vote NO on confirming RFK Jr.
    4. Contact your state legislature and school board and ask that they not comply in advance with voucher expansion or directives for indoctrination. An EO cannot control state funds or educational content areas–states and districts decide their curriculums. 
    5. #ProtectADA on social media for community sharing, news, letter templates, and more

    Tools and Resources:

    Find my House Representative

    Contact my Senator

    Use the 5 Calls App for easy phone call contact and scripts

    Text, fax, or email using Resist.bot

  • Week 1: What Happened?

    Week 1: What Happened?

    Things are happening quickly. We’ll include a weekly round up of disability-related concerns, events, and polices on this site.

    ASL Version of the below information. English voiceover also provided.
    1. Removal of the “Accessibility” page, and all ASL content from the White House Website The White House page indicates the administration’s values (and potential targets). Accessibility is now a 404 error, concerning in the wake of right wing cultural attacks on the presence of interpreters at emergency press briefings.
    2. Executive Order “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Spending” This order seeks to terminate all DEI related programs and work within the federal government. In the text, DEI sometime includes accessibility as DEIA.
    3. Executive Order: “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Order” This order expands the Reach of anti-DEIA tasks, including investigating private sector businesses that have DEIA initiatives.
    4. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division Frozen “Until Further Notice” The DOJ’s OCR is responsible for fielding complaints and cases to protect against discrimination based on race, sex, gender, class, age, religion, disability, national origin and more. It is also one of the main mechanisms for enforcing the ADA and Section 504.
    5. The US Access Board’s Annual Meeting Postponed Indefinitely. The board is legally mandated to meet annually and maintain federal access standards. Their meeting was canceled with no reason or reschedule date given. If access standards are significantly revised, this could be a backdoor way of dismantling the ADA without repealing the law.

    What can I do?

    Share this information.

    Write or call your representative to let them know you are concerned about the targeting of disability protections. If possible explain why they are important to you, your family, or community on a personal level.

    Tools and Resources:

    Find my House Representative

    Contact my Senator

    Use the 5 Calls App for easy phone call contact and scripts

    Text, fax, or email using Resist.bot