Supreme Court Ruling Leaves ACA Intact

The Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund applauds the June 17, 2021 Supreme Court decision in California v. Texas, which upheld the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and its critical nondiscrimination and healthcare expansion provisions. The ruling by the nation's highest Court rejected a significant challenge to the constitutionality of the ACA. In 2020, DREDF and a number of allied organizations filed an amicus brief opposing attempts to dismantle the ACA provisions that people, including many with disabilities, rely on to receive the healthcare services and supports they need. [...]

DREDF Supports Discussion Draft of Legislation Making Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services Mandatory

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April 27, 2021
Senators Hassan, Brown and Casey, and Representative Dingell, released a discussion draft of the Home and Community-Based Services Access Act (HAA) in mid-March, seeking broad stakeholder comment. The federal HAA is in an early form but addresses a long-sought goal of the disability community to require states to offer home and community-based services and not only institutional nursing home care under Medicaid. This requirement would help eliminate the waiting lists and patchwork of eligibility and services that Medicaid beneficiaries with long-term care needs currently have to navigate. The HAA also tries to establish living wages and working conditions for the HCBS workforce that will help ensure stable HCBS for all eligible Medicaid enrollees who want HCBS. DREDF worked with the Consortium of Citizens for Disabilities to submit a detailed set of joint comments and also a shorter DREDF set of specific additional comments.[...]

DREDF and LAAW Urge the California Bar to Protect Testing Accommodations for Bar Applicants

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March 12, 2021
DREDF joined Legal Aid at Work in writing a comment to the State Bar of California opposing a revision to State Bar Rule 4.90. The revision would give bar applicants less time to appeal accommodation denials and less opportunity to have accommodation denials reviewed. DREDF and LAAW described the harmful impact this would have on bar applicants with disabilities, imposing more difficulty in an already frustrating process. The comment further urges the State Bar to instead adopt meaningful reforms to its testing accommodation process, adhering to guidance from the Department of Justice which has already been implemented by the Law School Admissions Council. [...]

DREDF and DRC Reply Comments on Phase 3 of CPUC Power Outage Proceeding

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March 29, 2021
On March 29, 2021, DREDF and DRC filed reply comments as part of the third phase of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) regulatory proceedings on Investor Owned Utility (IOU) decisions to shut off power to consumers during extreme weather events. With this phase of the proceeding, the CPUC has begun to develop their regulations on providing backup power resources to people who utilize medical equipment during these emergencies. DREDF and DRC make recommendations on this proposal and others, and continue to advocate for the needs of the disability community during all stages of these disaster events. DREDF and DRC continue to be involved in a multi-prong approach to address effective mitigation of the life-threatening consequences to our community from these planned power outage emergencies. [...]

Together We Must Stop Asian Hate

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March 26, 2021
The horrific, tragic killing of 8 people – including 6 Asian and Asian American women by a white man in Atlanta Tuesday, March 16 – shines an uncomfortable, necessary spotlight on anti-Asian racism and violence in the United States. Both the shooting and its aftermath – in which a first responder attributed the shootings to "a bad day" rather than white supremacy, or the shooter placing the blame on his victims – shows the lengths to which many will go in an attempt to avoid facing difficult but necessary truths. [...]

Coalition Comment Urges Protection for Clients With Disabilities in Legal Representation

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February 16, 2021
DREDF and other California legal services offices continue work to ensure that clients with cognitive or mental health disabilities are not stripped of their right to make decisions based on paternalistic stereotypes. Past advocacy, which began in 2009, has focused on the American Bar Association (ABA) Model Rules of Professional Conduct. Model Rule 1.14 addresses clients with “diminished capacity.” The coalition has repeatedly and successfully argued that Rule 1.14 is too vague and too broad, and would allow attorneys to inappropriately compromise clients’ personal autonomy and confidentiality in situations where it is not warranted. Model Rule 1.14 has not been adopted in California. However, the California State Bar ethics committee is now considering issuing an advisory opinion that would be similarly and inappropriately restrictive. [...]

DREDF and Others Press HHS OCR to Strengthen Nondiscrimination in Healthcare

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February 11, 2021
DREDF, with partners Not Dead Yet and the Patients Rights Action Fund, have assembled a total of 30 disability rights and racial justice organizations to support further regulatory action by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights. In particular, the groups want to see the formal HHS release of the recently issued but not yet published Request for Information (RFI) on "Discrimination on the Basis of Disability in Critical Health and Human Service Programs or Activities" (RIN: 0945-AA15). [...]

Elevated COVID-19 Mortality Risk Among Recipients of Home and Community-Based Services: A Case for Prioritizing Vaccination for This Population

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February 11, 2021
H. Stephen Kaye, Ph.D., published a paper setting out his analysis of mortality risk among recipients of home and community-based services. He finds that HCBS recipients between 45 and 64 years of age appear to be at greater mortality risk than the general community-resident population between 65 and 74 years of age. He concludes that this elevated mortality risk justifies increasing the vaccination priority for HCBS recipients under age 65 to equal that of the general population age 65 and older. [...]

C.B. v. MVUSD, et al.

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February 4, 2021
On behalf of an 11-year-old Black disabled student (C.B.) who was repeatedly handcuffed and restrained by school police, DREDF and co-counsel Disability Rights California and Barajas & Rivera APC filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging that Moreno Valley Unified School District and Riverside County discriminates against students with disabilities with a demonstrated bias toward Black students in its disciplinary practices. [...]

Injunctive Relief and Damages Sought for Black Student with Disabilities Who Was Handcuffed, Forcibly Detained by Moreno Valley Campus Security Officers and Riverside County Sheriffs

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February 4, 2021
Disability Rights California, Barajas & Rivera APC, and Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking an injunction and damages against the Moreno Valley Unified School District (MVUSD), District Superintendent Martinrex Kedziora, Riverside County, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco for harm caused to an 11-year-old Black student (C.B.) injured by school police. The initials of the child and his parents have been abbreviated to protect their identities. [...]