Tag: disability

Executive Order Expands Access to Community Living Services, Supports Family Caregivers

On April 18, 2023, President Biden will sign an executive order (EO) that includes more than 50 directives to federal agencies to increase access to affordable, high-quality care, and provide support for care workers and family caregivers.

The EO directs actions to improve job quality for the professionals who provide the critical services that make community living possible for millions of people. It includes actions to improve support for the 53 million family caregivers who provide the overwhelming majority of long-term support to older adults and people with disabilities. It also directs actions to expand availability of home and community-based services, including those funded by Medicaid and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

This exciting EO creates new momentum for ACL’s work to strengthen the care infrastructure that helps people with disabilities and older adults live and fully participate in their communities, including our work leading the National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers and to strengthen and expand the direct care workforce, our partnership with the Veterans Health Administration on the Veteran-Directed Care program, and more.

This White House fact sheet has more of the highlights. (We will share a link to the full text of the EO on our social channels and on ACL.gov as soon as it is available.)

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Suicide Among People with Disabilities

We may make assumptions about people with disabilities’ risk for suicide. A 2021 report published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found people with disabilities are more likely to think about, plan or attempt suicide than people without disabilities.

Please click the link below to learn more about:

  • Risk factors.
  • What you can do as a caregiver.
  • What to look for.
  • When to get help.

To see all other Care Provider Bulletins click here.

Suicide Among People with Disabilities

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‘Impending Intergenerational Crisis’: Americans With Disabilities Lack Long-Term Care Plans

Thinking about the future makes Courtney Johnson nervous.

The 25-year-old blogger and college student has autism and several chronic illnesses, and with the support of her grandparents and friends, who help her access a complex network of social services, she lives relatively independently in Johnson City, Tennessee.

“If something happens to them, I’m not certain what would happen to me, especially because I have difficulty with navigating things that require more red tape,” she said.

Johnson said she hasn’t made plans that would ensure she receives the same level of support in the future. She especially worries about being taken advantage of or being physically harmed if her family and friends can’t help her — experiences she’s had in the past.

“I like being able to know what to expect, and thinking about the future is a bit terrifying to me,” she said.

Johnson’s situation isn’t unique.

Experts say many people with intellectual and developmental disabilities do not have long-term plans for when family members lose the ability to help them access government services or care for them directly.

Read the full article from KHN.

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Letter from Dept. of Education: Accommodations to ensure safe in-person learning for students with disabilities

March 25, 2022

A new letter to educators and parents from Education Secretary Miguel A. Cardona addresses ways that schools and parents can work together to ensure that students with disabilities — who are at higher risk of severe complications due to COVID-19 — can safely attend school in-person.

In addition to summarizing current CDC guidance and identifying existing federal guidance and resources available for layered prevention strategies — including vaccination, testing, masking, and improved ventilation – the letter also makes clear that, depending on the circumstances, Section 504 of the Rehab Act and the ADA’s reasonable modification obligation could require some degree of masking of students and staff when necessary to ensure that students with disabilities have equal access to in-person learning without incurring an elevated risk of hospitalization or death due to COVID-19.

The letter and other relevant resources are available on the Department’s COVID-19 disability rights page. The letter also was covered by U.S. News and World Report.

In addition, Sec. Cardona and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra announced a joint-department effort to expand school-based health services and ensure children have the health services and supports necessary to build resilience and thrive. On Wednesday, March 30 at 3 pm ET, the two departments will co-host a webinar highlighting successful models of health center service delivery in schools, as well as approaches, needs, and opportunities to support partnerships between schools and health centers.

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Pandemic Medical Innovations Leave Behind People With Disabilities

Divya Goel, a 35-year-old deaf-blind woman in Orlando, Florida, has had two telemedicine doctors’ appointments during the pandemic. Each time, she was denied an interpreter.

Her doctors told her she would have to get insurance to pay for an interpreter, which is incorrect: Under federal law, it is the physician’s responsibility to provide one.

Goel’s mother stepped in to interpret instead. But her signing is limited, so Goel, who has only some vision, is not sure her mother fully conveyed what the doctors said. Goel worries about the medical ramifications — a wrong medicine or treatment — if something got lost in translation.

“It’s really, really hard to get real information, and so I feel very stuck in my situation,” she signed through an interpreter.

Telemedicine, teleworking, rapid tests, virtual school, and vaccine drive-thrus have become part of Americans’ routines as they enter Year 3 of life amid covid-19. But as innovators have raced to make living in a pandemic world safer, some people with disabilities have been left behind.

Those with a physical disability may find the at-home covid tests that allow reentry into society hard to perform. Those with limited vision may not be able to read the small print on the instructions, while blind people cannot see the results. The American Council of the Blind is engaged in litigation against the two dominant medical testing companies, Labcorp and Quest Diagnostics, over touch-screen check-in kiosks at their testing locations.

Sometimes the obstacles are basic logistics. “If you’re blind or low-vision and you live alone, you don’t have a car,” said Sheila Young, president of the Florida Council of the Blind, pointing to the long lines of cars at drive-thru testing and vaccination sites. “Who can afford an Uber or Lyft to sit in line for three hours?”

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HHS Issues New Guidance for Health Care Providers on Civil Rights Protections for People with Disabilities

February 4, 2022

Today, the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) has issued new guidance to health care providers on civil rights protections for people with disabilities. The guidance, issued by HHS’ Office for Civil Rights, makes clear that in light of the continuing public health emergency, when resources can be scarce, it is vital that individuals with disabilities are not prevented from receiving needed health care benefits and services as this violates federal civil rights laws.

“Our civil rights laws stand no matter what, including during disasters or emergencies, and it is critical that we work together to ensure equity in all that we do for all patients,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. “The pandemic has shone a light on the disparities in our health care system and provided us with a new opportunity to address them in a meaningful way. Protecting people with disabilities from being discriminated against in crisis situations is a critical part of this work, and we are continuing to evaluate our operations Department-wide to ensure accessibility.”

Read the full article from the Administration for Community Living.

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