DREDF Files Joint Amicus Brief Defending the Rights of Voters with Chronic Conditions

October 6, 2020
DREDF, along with the American Diabetes Association, AARP, and other leading disability rights organizations, filed an amicus brief in Merrill v. People First of Alabama defending a federal court decision that blocked the State of Alabama from banning curbside voting and implementing stringent vote-by-mail documentation requirements. The brief argues that Alabama's onerous measures would force many Alabamians with diabetes and other chronic conditions to violate social distancing guidelines and put themselves at risk of contracting COVID-19 in order to exercise their constitutional right to vote. On October 21, the U.S. Supreme Court granted Alabama a stay, eliminating curbside voting for disabled Alabama voters. Justice Sotomayor dissented with Justices Breyer and Kagin in an opinion citing the amicus brief.

Comments on CDSS Draft ACL on Disaster Preparedness for IHSS Recipients

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October 13th, 2020
DREDF and Justice in Aging sent comments to the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) on their Draft All County Letter (ACL) entitled Modifications to the Disaster Preparedness Screen in the Case Management, Information and Payrolling System (CMIPS) and the Disaster Preparedness Data Download (DDL) File. Following an unprecedented number of disasters including planned power outages, county program staff, the County Welfare Directors Association of California (CWDA), and CDSS collaborated to expand the disaster preparedness information collected in the IHSS system and reported to Counties. Our comments made additional recommendations to further assist the counties to effectively identify and respond to In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) recipients' needs in the event of emergencies and disasters. [...]

People with Disabilities Not Counted in Guidance Aimed at Equitable Allocation of a COVID-19 Vaccine

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October 15, 2020
On October 2, a month after releasing the preliminary draft framework for public comment, the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) released its final Framework for Equitable Allocation of COVID-19 Vaccine.

DREDF’s Comment Letter on the NASEM COVID-19 Vaccine Allocation Framework

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October 1, 2020
The Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund ("DREDF") appreciates the opportunity to provide comment to the National Academies Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) on its Discussion Draft of a Preliminary Framework for Equitable Allocation of COVID-19 Vaccine (draft). DREDF is a national cross-disability law and policy center that protects and advances the civil and human rights of people with disabilities through legal advocacy, training, education, and development of legislation and public policy. In the more than 40 years that have passed since our founding, we have persistently fought for the right of people with disabilities to be fully integrated within all aspects of community life. DREDF's work is based on the knowledge that people with disabilities of varying ages, racial and ethnic backgrounds, genders, and sexual orientations are fully capable of achieving self-sufficiency and contributing to their communities with access to needed services and supports and the reasonable accommodations and modifications enshrined in U.S. law. [...]

DREDF Files Amicus Brief to Protect the ACA’s Anti-Discrimination Provision

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September 17, 2020
DREDF, the National Health Law Program, and Justice in Aging submitted an amicus brief in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of themselves and 47 partners. The brief supports the State of New York and 22 other states' motion for partial summary judgment against implementation of the Trump administration's recently finalized rule restricting the reach of Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the ACA's ground-breaking anti-discrimination provision. The brief argues that the new rule ignores the plain language of the ACA and harms the very people that the its reforms were designed to protect—people with disabilities; women; LGBTQ+ individuals; older adults; Black, Indigenous, and people of color ("BIPOC"); and individuals with limited English proficiency ("LEP").

DREDF’s Comments Opposing HUD’s Anti-Transgender Shelter Rule

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September 22, 2020
The proposed rule change would create a significant barrier to transgender people seeking shelter, many of whom are people with disabilities. Access to safe and secure housing is sometimes all that stands between transgender people and deadly violence. And people with disabilities already face high rates of chronic homelessness, heightened difficulty securing accessible shelter, and heightened risk from the COVID-19 global pandemic. The proposed rule change needlessly reinforces harmful stereotypes and promotes discrimination. Making these changes at a time when the country is facing its greatest public health crisis in over a century is unthinkably cruel. We strongly recommend that HUD completely withdraw the proposed rule change and instead focus on addressing longstanding housing barriers. [...]

DREDF Comments on Georgia 1332 Waiver Proposal

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September 16, 2020
In August, Georgia completed submission of a Section 1332 "State Innovation" waiver to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, requesting substantial changes to the state's individual insurance market that would take effect in 2022 if approved. CMS accepted public comment on the submission until September 16. DREDF's comment speaks against Georgia's proposal to completely pull out of the federal marketplace without providing any state equivalent for getting unbiased information on finding, comparing and purchasing health insurance. Instead, consumers will have to go through insurance companies and brokers who receive commissions, while short term plans that do not have to meet Affordable Care Act (ACA) standards for comprehensive coverage and limited out-of-pocket costs and deductibles will be sold alongside ACA plans. Georgia's stated goal for the waiver is to reduce the state's high number of uninsured individuals, yet the state will not implement Medicaid expansion which would provide the best insurance for currently uninsured individuals. DREDF's comment highlights how both working and unemployed individuals with disabilities and preexisting conditions and their families will likely be caught in the confusion and reduced choices imposed by Georgia's waiver proposal, and left uninsured or underinsured. [...]

DREDF Condemns ICE’s Involuntary Sterilization of Immigrant Women

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The Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund ("DREDF") is horrified by reports of coerced hysterectomies being performed on women in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE") custody. On September 14, 2020, Project South filed an administrative complaint on behalf of immigrants detained at a Georgia detention center. Among other allegations of medical neglect, inadequate protection against COVID-19, and hazardous living conditions, the complaint alleges that women in the facility have been sterilized en masse without proper consent or medical necessity. Numerous women described being coerced into surgery and confused as to why the procedure was performed. Some described being yelled at by medical staff when they resisted the procedure. Many explained that they felt as if ICE was "experimenting with [their] bodies."

Across California, Hospitals Are Making Matters Worse for Patients with Disabilities and Older Adults During Covid-19

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August 27, 2020
Disability rights and older adult advocates from the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund, Disability Rights California, Justice in Aging, Independent Living Resource Center San Francisco, and Justice in Aging filed several complaints with the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) over widespread policies and practices that put hospital patients with disabilities including older adults at increased risk in medical facilities across the state. The complaints seek the enforcement of federal and state disability discrimination laws and existing CDPH guidelines to ensure that persons whose support is essential to disabled hospital patients are granted admission to health facilities during COVID-19. In addition, the complaints demand that hospitals publish lawful visitation policies prominently on their websites, and guarantee that staff are familiar with existing legal requirements. [...]

Complaints of Disability Discrimination – California Hospital Visitation Policies

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August 27, 2020
DREDF and co-counsel Disability Rights California, Justice in Aging, and Independent Living Resource Center San Francisco filed five administrative complaints this morning with the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) against five California hospitals who are disregarding the rights of patients with disabilities including older adults with disabilities during Covid-19. [...]