California COVID-19 Vaccine Resources
COVID-19 Advocacy & Resources
November 10, 2021
CVS Partners with Disability Community
in Commitment to Affordable and
Equitable Access to Health Care
November 3, 2021
Disability and HIV Leaders
Call on CVS Board to Drop
Supreme Court Bid to Gut Civil Rights
November 1, 2021
What is CVS v. Doe? Take Action
to Stop the Supreme Court Case
Threatening Disability Rights
October 7, 2021
Kaiser and DMHC Face Lawsuit
for Discriminatory Failure
to Cover Wheelchairs
September 23, 2021
Report: QALYs in Pharmaceutical
Decisionmaking Violate
Nondiscrimination Law
Latest News
CVS Health Partners with Disability Community in Commitment to Affordable and Equitable Access to Health Care
November 10, 2021
CVS Health, the American Association of People with Disabilities, the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, and the National Council on Independent Living today announced that they are working together to seek policy solutions to protect equitable access to health care for all Americans and continue to protect the fundamental rights of people with disabilities. [...]
CVS Health, the American Association of People with Disabilities, the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, and the National Council on Independent Living today announced that they are working together to seek policy solutions to protect equitable access to health care for all Americans and continue to protect the fundamental rights of people with disabilities. [...]
Disability and HIV Leaders Call on CVS Board to Drop Supreme Court Bid to Gut Civil Rights
November 3, 2021
Signatories demanding that CVS cease and desist include: the Honorable Dr. Judith Heumann, who served in the Clinton and Obama administrations, and is featured in the Oscar-nominated documentary Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution; Jeff Crowley, who served as director of the Office of National AIDS Policy for President Obama, the Honorable Tony Coelho, former member of Congress and a primary sponsor of the Americans with Disabilities Act; and the leadership of more than one dozen national disability and HIV organizations. [...]
Signatories demanding that CVS cease and desist include: the Honorable Dr. Judith Heumann, who served in the Clinton and Obama administrations, and is featured in the Oscar-nominated documentary Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution; Jeff Crowley, who served as director of the Office of National AIDS Policy for President Obama, the Honorable Tony Coelho, former member of Congress and a primary sponsor of the Americans with Disabilities Act; and the leadership of more than one dozen national disability and HIV organizations. [...]
Letter to the Board of Directors of CVS Health
November 1, 2021
Disability and HIV leaders sent an urgent letter to the CVS Board of Directors calling on the pharmaceutical giant to drop its Supreme Court bid to gut disability civil rights in a case called CVS v. Doe. [...]
Disability and HIV leaders sent an urgent letter to the CVS Board of Directors calling on the pharmaceutical giant to drop its Supreme Court bid to gut disability civil rights in a case called CVS v. Doe. [...]
CVS v. DOE Explained
November 1, 2021
CVS is trying to gut section 504 of the rehabilitation act, a key federal law that protects people with disabilities from discrimination. [...]
CVS is trying to gut section 504 of the rehabilitation act, a key federal law that protects people with disabilities from discrimination. [...]
DREDF Applauds President Biden's Plan To Increase Essential Support for Disabled Americans
October 29, 2021
DREDF applauds President Biden for delivering on his campaign pledge to make government work better for disabled people in yesterday's announcement of the Build Back Better Framework which would go a long way to improve the lives of disability communities, and the individuals who live in them, across our entire nation. Systemic change doesn't happen by accident. It requires the allocation of deliberate, strategic resources as President Biden's plan does. [...]
DREDF applauds President Biden for delivering on his campaign pledge to make government work better for disabled people in yesterday's announcement of the Build Back Better Framework which would go a long way to improve the lives of disability communities, and the individuals who live in them, across our entire nation. Systemic change doesn't happen by accident. It requires the allocation of deliberate, strategic resources as President Biden's plan does. [...]
Disability Rights Groups Urge Supreme Court to Uphold Protections Against Disability Discrimination in CVS Prescription Drug Case
October 29, 2021
WASHINGTON — Disability rights organizations filed friend-of-the-court briefs today urging the Supreme Court to uphold disability rights by rejecting CVS's attempt to dismantle non-discrimination protections under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. [...]
WASHINGTON — Disability rights organizations filed friend-of-the-court briefs today urging the Supreme Court to uphold disability rights by rejecting CVS's attempt to dismantle non-discrimination protections under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. [...]
Read More News
The DREDF Blog
Britney is Free, Now What?
December 1, 2021
I first saw Britney Spears on a jumbotron video screen, taking Tokyo by storm with her bouncy pop music and sexy school uniforms. Britney was like a tsunami wave, coming out of seeming nowhere, and peaking to submerge us all in her catchy tunes. [...]
I first saw Britney Spears on a jumbotron video screen, taking Tokyo by storm with her bouncy pop music and sexy school uniforms. Britney was like a tsunami wave, coming out of seeming nowhere, and peaking to submerge us all in her catchy tunes. [...]
I Shouldn’t Have to Wait to Live Independently
November 15, 2021
Like many young adults, I was eager to move out of my childhood home as soon as I could. At age 15, I had dreams of taking NYC by storm and backpacking across Europe as soon as I got out of college. It wasn’t until I realized that living independently is way harder for people with disabilities when you live in a state that has a waitlist for Community Home Care services that can last as long as 15 years. Forty-one states have Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) waiting lists totalling more than 800,000 people, according to a February 2020 report by the Kaiser Family Foundation that surveyed state waiting lists. Texas, where I currently reside, leads the way with 385,000 people waiting on independence. [...]
Like many young adults, I was eager to move out of my childhood home as soon as I could. At age 15, I had dreams of taking NYC by storm and backpacking across Europe as soon as I got out of college. It wasn’t until I realized that living independently is way harder for people with disabilities when you live in a state that has a waitlist for Community Home Care services that can last as long as 15 years. Forty-one states have Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) waiting lists totalling more than 800,000 people, according to a February 2020 report by the Kaiser Family Foundation that surveyed state waiting lists. Texas, where I currently reside, leads the way with 385,000 people waiting on independence. [...]From Peanuts to Progress: How the American Jobs Plan Can Go Beyond the "Four F's"
by Meriah Nichols, Unpacking Disability, and DREDF Board Member
My mind wandered all over the map after reading Andrew Pulrang's recent article for Forbes, outlining four keys ways President Biden's proposed American Jobs Plan could benefit the disability community. I encourage you to read his article, because he dives deep into some excellent disability-related applications for Biden's plan. [...]
by Meriah Nichols, Unpacking Disability, and DREDF Board Member
My mind wandered all over the map after reading Andrew Pulrang's recent article for Forbes, outlining four keys ways President Biden's proposed American Jobs Plan could benefit the disability community. I encourage you to read his article, because he dives deep into some excellent disability-related applications for Biden's plan. [...]
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California will be among 17 states in which the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) plans to initiate a 5 year project to review all claims submitted for inpatient rehabilitation facility (IRF) services. IRFs provide intensive rehabilitation and care coordination that people may need to recover after a medical event such as a heart attack, a stroke, or a traumatic brain or spinal cord injury. Just as importantly, people with chronic conditions and disabilities may need IRF services to maintain their functional capacity and prevent or slow down functional deterioration experienced over time. A temporary IRF stay can mean a faster and more efficient return to the community. CMS has provided little evidence of the fraud that is cited as justification for the demonstration, and we already know that IRF services can be denied to people with disabilities even when they are of medical benefit, especially people with chronic progressive conditions who are already too often "written off" because they cannot be cured or "fixed." In our comment letter, DREDF opposed gatekeeping measures that stop people with disabilities from getting the care they need to live fully and independently in their communities. [...]