Author Archives: DREDF

Laguna Honda Residents Have Rights

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July 14, 2022
In April, Laguna Honda Hospital (LHH) was decertified by the federal government because of a finding that LHH violated quality of care standards. This means that LHH will stop receiving Medi-Cal and Medicare payments after September 13, 2022. LHH also had to create a closure plan to show the federal government how it would transfer and relocate all of its patients and residents. Our colleagues at Disability Rights California have created a fact sheet for LHH residents to explain their rights during the closure process.

DREDF Statement on Recent Gun Violence

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May 31, 2022
DREDF is deeply saddened by the recent deadly shootings in Buffalo, NY; Laguna Woods, CA; and most recently Uvalde, TX. Our hearts go out to the survivors, the loved ones of those lost, and the communities in mourning across our country. These acts of violence have also been particularly hard for those who fear violence because of their race, nationality, or simply because they attend or work at a school. Gun violence has remained a national crisis for far too long. More than 45,000 people are killed by guns each year in the US, a figure which includes over 1,000 people killed by law enforcement and over 100 unintentionally shot by children. These deaths represent a rate far higher than exists in other developed countries. Many more than these enormous numbers killed are survivors of gun violence. Survivors often have physical and psychological disabilities that are caused or worsened by their encounters with gun violence. [...]

Thoughts on the Leaked DRAFT of the Supreme Court Opinion Overturning Roe v. Wade

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May 4, 2022
People with disabilities know what it means to be denied control over our own bodies. We have been told what is good for us and what we can and cannot do, including in the area of reproductive decision-making. Abortion bans continue this legacy. Abortion bans rob all people who can become pregnant of control over their bodies and the loss is even greater for disabled BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and low income people. We stand in solidarity with reproductive rights and justice advocates who fight against the overturning of Roe v. Wade. [...]

DREDF Opposes Elimination of Fundamental Protections in California’s End of Life Options Act

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April 14, 2022
Assisted suicide doesn't exist in a vacuum. It must be considered against the backdrop of the United States' tragic history of state-sanctioned discrimination against people with disabilities and chronic illnesses in health care settings. This sordid history includes nonconsensual experimentation, forced sterilization, the denial of essential medical care based on biased and/or inaccurate quality of their life assessments, issuing of "Do Not Resuscitate" orders without patient consent, and most recently, employing COVID crisis standards of care and health care rationing systems that explicitly, openly devalue disabled lives. [...]

DREDF Opposes HIV Criminalization

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March 29, 2022
DREDF opposes the criminalization of people based on their HIV-positive status. In addition to being harmful to public health, laws and prosecution targeting HIV-positive people constitute discrimination on the basis of disability. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits disability discrimination by state and local governments. [...]

USDOT March 24th Public Meeting on Air Travel by Wheelchair Users

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March 22, 2022
The Department of Transportation (DOT) says it wants to improve air travel for wheelchair users and is hosting a virtual public meeting on Thurs, Mar. 24 from 10:15 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. EDT to talk about the problem. During this meeting, there will be an opportunity to hear directly from DOT representatives, as well as disability rights organizations and their members about the difficulties encountered during air travel. It will also be a chance for airlines to discuss the challenges they face in providing accessible air transportation and the actions they are taking (or plan to take) to improve air travel. [...]

Contra Costa Superior Court Affirms Right for California’s Black, English Learners, and Disabled Students to an Equal Education

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March 16, 2022
Martinez, California — On March 9, 2022, the Contra Costa County Superior Court issued a ruling confirming, as Plaintiffs argued, that the State of California has a duty to protect the right to a basic education for students of color, with or without disabilities, and fix racial segregation. The ruling also affirms, for the first time ever, that disabled students have a constitutional right to a Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) on the state level. Previously this was expressed in statute only. [...]

DREDF and the Community Living Policy Center submit comments on CMS Proposed Rules on Integration for People Dually Enrolled in Medicare & Medicaid

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March 7, 2022
DREDF, in collaboration with the Community Living Policy Center at the Lurie Institute for Disability Policy at Brandeis University submitted comments to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on proposed changes to regulation of Dual-Eligible Special Needs Plans (D-SNPs) as part of a larger rulemaking on Medicare Part C & D. We support the direction of CMS’s proposals and appreciate the efforts to tighten and clarify requirements and the focus on enrollee experience and needs. Our comments primarily explore areas where we believe that CMS could include further specificity in the regulations such as advisory committees, network adequacy, durable medical equipment, and home health care. These regulations are important given the rapid growth of D-SNPs across the country. [...]

EE v. State of California

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March 4, 2022
On February 28, 2022, the federal court for the Northern District of California ruled that disabled students in California must have access to a virtual education program equivalent to what non-disabled students receive. If a parent decides that their disabled child’s health would be put at risk by in-person instruction, school districts must permit enrollment to the district’s independent study program with access to the student’s IEP service or provide a reasonable modification in the form of virtual access to student’s typical instruction and special education services. [...]