Measles November

 In The Politics of Autism, I analyze the myth that vaccines cause autism. This bogus idea can hurt people by allowing diseases to spread. Examples include measles, COVID, flu, and polio. A top antivaxxer is HHS Secretary RFK Jr. He is part of the "Disinformation Dozen." He helped cause a deadly 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa.  Last year, he lied about it under oath.

Since  Trump took office in 2025, the U.S. has recorded more confirmed measles cases than in the previous 20 years combined.  With more than two months to go in 2026, the US has already DOUBLED its 2025 total.

CDC:

As of November 5, 2026, 5,182 confirmed* measles cases were reported in the United States in 2026. Among these, 5,164 measles cases were reported by 47 jurisdictions: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York City, New York State, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. A total of 18 measles cases were reported among international visitors to the United States.

There have been 43 new outbreaks** reported in 2026, and 96% of confirmed cases (4,993 of 5,182) are outbreak-associated (3,608 from outbreaks starting in 2026 and 1,385 from outbreaks that started in 2025).

For the full year of 2025, a total of 2,289 confirmed* measles cases were reported in the United States.

Youri Benadjaoud at ABC:

An infant in Wisconsin has died from measles, the state health department said Thursday.

It’s the first death in the state since 1990. This brings the total number of measles deaths reported by state health departments across the country to eight: six in Pennsylvania, one in New York and one in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin has reported 431 measles cases so far this year, the highest number in the state in more than 35 years. Nine people have required hospitalization, according to health officials.

Change in Congress

 In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the congressional role in the issue.

The Trump administration has threatened the rights and interests of people with disabilities such as autism.  the 119th Congress failed to push back.  The 2026 election was a massive rejection of Trump and gives the 120th Congress a chance to do better.

From the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund :

The new leaders take office at a critical moment. Disabled people face one of the most sustained rollbacks of our rights, services, and civil rights protections in a generation.

The 2025 budget law cut federal Medicaid funding and imposed work and reporting requirements that take effect by January 1, 2027. Medicaid pays for the home and community-based services that let millions of disabled people live outside institutions and in their communities. New administrative and paperwork barriers threaten to strip eligible disabled people of the coverage and supports they need to live independently.

In June 2026, the Department of Education moved oversight of special education and vocational rehabilitation to the Department of Health and Human Services. More than seven million disabled students depend on federal oversight to protect their educational rights. That same month, the Office for Civil Rights moved to the Department of Justice, which had already stepped back from enforcing essential disability protections.

In Texas v. Kennedy, the federal government stopped defending the Section 504 integration mandate. In September, it joined the remaining state plaintiffs in asking a court to strike the mandate from federal regulations, and the court ultimately did so. That mandate is a legal foundation of Olmstead v. Lois Curtis and of our right to live at home rather than be unnecessarily institutionalized.

Through the budget law and new rules, disabled immigrants and their families have faced additional barriers to access to healthcare, services and supports, housing, detention and deportations of themselves, their families and caregivers.

Most of these changes did not come through new laws. They were the result of executive and agency actions, while Congress failed to use its existing oversight and spending powers to intervene. The new Congress has both the authority and the responsibility to act.

We call on every member of the new Congress to work together to advance disability and civil rights and bring disabled people to the table when working on the issues that most impact us. Restore and protect Medicaid and home and community-based services, keep special education where it belongs, restore and strengthen civil rights enforcement, stop the attacks on Black, brown, transgender and immigrant communities that impact disabled people and our communities, and codify the integration mandate so that the right to live in the community is protected.

A Measles Death in New York State

In The Politics of Autism, I analyze the myth that vaccines cause autism. This bogus idea can hurt people by allowing diseases to spread. Examples include measles, COVID, flu, and polio. A top antivaxxer is HHS Secretary RFK Jr. He is part of the "Disinformation Dozen." He helped cause a deadly 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa.  Last year, he lied about it under oath.

Since  Trump took office in 2025, the U.S. has recorded more confirmed measles cases than in the previous 20 years combined. 

With more than two months to go in 2026, the US has already DOUBLED its 2025 total.

Joseph Goldstein at NYT:

A child in New York’s North Country died after contracting measles, the first death in the state from the viral disease in 30 years, health officials announced Monday.

Gov. Kathy Hochul said the death was a signal that public health protections were eroding as a growing number of families forgo vaccinations.

The child died in Lewis County, which is northeast of Syracuse and has recorded 15 measles cases this year, according to the health authorities, who shared few details about the case.

“I am heartbroken to learn that a child in Lewis County has died after contracting measles,” Ms. Hochul said in a statement.

The governor linked the death to Trump administration policies that she said had undermined public confidence in pediatric immunizations.

“This is New York’s first measles-related death in 30 years, a devastating reminder of what’s at stake when Washington deliberately erodes decades of progress in protecting Americans from preventable illnesses,” Ms. Hochul said.

 

Olmstead and the Threat to People with Disabilities

  In The Politics of Autism, I discuss court cases involving the civil rights of people with autism and other disabilities. 

Trump does not care.  He despises people with disabilities.  His head of the DOJ Civil Rights Division is a political hack who uses the r-word as a slur.

In June, the Department of Justice quietly released a memo pertaining to the landmark 1999 disability civil rights case Olmstead v. L.C.  DOJ stated it “will not rely upon the Olmstead Guidance in its enforcement” of the ADA, and that Olmstead is “not enforceable.”That precedent, the memo claimed without evidence, increases homelessness.

Maia Spoto at NYT:

In a memo in June, the Justice Department asserted a new interpretation of a decades-old Supreme Court decision that has required the government to provide care to people with significant disabilities in their own communities whenever possible, rather than segregating them in institutions.

That Supreme Court decision put in place new limits and obligations and changed what it means to live with a disability in America — whether you’re a homeless person with mental illness, a preschooler with cerebral palsy or a nursing home resident with Alzheimer’s.

Now, many families caring for someone with a significant disability see an emerging threat to government obligations they have long relied on.

Those obligations include public benefits that the administration has sought to limit in other ways, like Medicaid. In one case in Florida, the Justice Department already appears to be using its reinterpretation of the law to argue that the government is not required to provide at-home care for children with complex medical conditions.

More such cases could follow, potentially upending the way people with disabilities receive care in any number of states. Among the many people who could be affected by the Florida case is a 13-year-old boy named Dylan Webb who has A.D.H.D. and autism, as well as a blood-clotting disorder and a heart condition that requires constant access to a defibrillator.
...

The staffing of Dylan’s nurses is governed by a court order that covers thousands of children in Florida with complex medical needs. It emerged from an anti-discrimination lawsuit, one of many where the federal government pressed states to do more to prevent disabled people from being put in institutions.

At a trial in 2023, the federal judge in Florida, Donald Middlebrooks, heard stories of enormous hardship. One grandmother testified she had lost her home because, with patchy nursing care for the grandson who lived with her, she couldn’t work consistently. In a decision ordering more in-home nursing, the judge wrote that when nursing shifts went unfilled, families endured harrowing conditions trying to keep their children from growing up in pediatric nursing homes.

But the Justice Department is seeking to undo the judge’s order in Florida, citing the legal position on disability rights that the office took in the June memo, when it said states were not required to provide care for disabled people at home and in their communities whenever possible.

Measles and Numbers

In The Politics of Autism, I analyze the myth that vaccines cause autism. This bogus idea can hurt people by allowing diseases to spread. Examples include measles, COVID, flu, and polio. A top antivaxxer is HHS Secretary RFK Jr. He is part of the "Disinformation Dozen." He helped cause a deadly 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa.  Last year, he lied about it under oath.

Since  Trump took office in 2025, the U.S. has recorded more confirmed measles cases than in the previous 20 years combined. 

With more than two months to go in 2026, the US has already DOUBLED its 2025 total.

Jim Wappes at CIDRAP:

It used to be that 200-plus US measles cases would reflect the total for the year or even for two years, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today confirmed 264 new cases in just the past seven days, raising the country’s total to 4,852 cases, by far the highest yearly total in 35 years.

The new data mark the 12th straight week of triple-digit increases nationwide. Rising cases in multiple states have contributed to the escalation, but Pennsylvania continues to be the nation’s hot spot, logging 88 new cases this week, followed closely by Wisconsin.

The United States will very likely lose its measles elimination status—which it gained in 2000—in the coming month. Even an analysis published in May, when the country had only around 1,800 cases, said as much.

Because of underreporting, the true numbers are probably much higher. 

Sarah Boden at CIDRAP:

Measles is highly contagious, and quickly identifying who is infected is critical from a public health perspective: Delays lead to additional cases since patients, caregivers, and clinicians won't know to take precautions to prevent viral spread.

Yet an estimated 6.9% of patients with measles who sought medical care were misdiagnosed at least once in the two weeks before an accurate diagnosis, according to a study published this week in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology.

While the findings suggest these errors are not common, the University of Iowa authors argue the study shows the need to consider early measles testing among patients with respiratory symptoms.

"The risk of transmission is increased when patients spend time in busy waiting rooms or clinics, because virus aerosols remain airborne for hours," said the authors, led by biostatistician Alan T. Arakkal, PhD.

For every 1,000 unvaccinated children infected with measles, an estimated one to three will die of respiratory and neurologic complications. Other long-term concerns include permanent brain damage, a compromised immune system, and sensory impairment, such as hearing loss or blindness.

 

Measles Halloween

In The Politics of Autism, I analyze the myth that vaccines cause autism. This bogus idea can hurt people by allowing diseases to spread. Examples include measles, COVID, flu, and polio. A top antivaxxer is HHS Secretary RFK Jr. He is part of the "Disinformation Dozen." He helped cause a deadly 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa.  Last year, he lied about it under oath.

Since  Trump took office in 2025, the U.S. has recorded more confirmed measles cases than in the previous 20 years combined. 

With more than two months to go in 2026, the US has already DOUBLED its 2025 total.

CDC:

As of October 29, 2026, 4,852 confirmed* measles cases were reported in the United States in 2026. Among these, 4,834 measles cases were reported by 47 jurisdictions: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York City, New York State, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. A total of 18 measles cases were reported among international visitors to the United States.

There have been 43 new outbreaks** reported in 2026, and 96% of confirmed cases (4,666 of 4,852) are outbreak-associated (3,282 from outbreaks starting in 2026 and 1,384 from outbreaks that started in 2025).

For the full year of 2025, a total of 2,289 confirmed* measles cases were reported in the United States.

 

Prevalence of Profound Autism

  In The Politics of Autism, I write:

The most basic questions trigger angry arguments. For instance, into what category do we put autism in the first place? In 2013, President Obama said that “we’re still unable to cure diseases like Alzheimer's or autism or fully reverse the effects of a stroke.” The language of “disease” and “cure” offends some in the autism community. “We don’t view autism as a disease to be cured and we don’t think we need fixing,” says Ari Ne’eman of the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network. “We do feel comfortable with the word disability because we understand what it means.” From this perspective, autism is difference that requires accommodation, not an illness that requires eradication. Adherents of this position liken autism to homosexuality, which psychiatrists once deemed to be a  disorder. Conversely, some parents take offense at opposition to a cure. “Anyone with the mental and verbal ability to challenge autism research is not autistic on a scale that I care to recognize,” writes autism parent James Terminello. “Opposition to finding a cure is particularly hurtful to parents who still mourn the loss of the child that could have been. A line has been crossed.”

Shaw, K. A., Russell, L. A., DiRienzo, M., Patrick, M. E., Valencia-Prado, M., Bilder, D., Esler, A., Pierce, K., Vanegas, S. B., Washington, A., Alford, A., Anbar, J., Mehta, R., & Maenner, M. J. (2026). Profound autism prevalence and assessment practices in a population-based study. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2026.09.019

Abstract

Objective

 Profound autism is a proposed subcategory of autism that includes individuals unable to meet basic daily adaptive needs and requiring 24-hour care. This report describes documented assessment practices and profound autism prevalence derived using different definitions.

Method 

Among 7,084 children 8 years of age with autism from a population-based surveillance program in 13 US sites in 2022, we calculated the availability of IQ, verbal status, and adaptive data. We imputed missing data to calculate profound autism prevalence using the “updated” (2025) definition, which includes having the following: (1) either an intellectual quotient (IQ) score of <50 OR being nonverbal/minimally verbal AND (2) adaptive functioning significantly below age level (≤70). We compared prevalence using the updated definition to using the “prior” (2021) profound autism definition that did not incorporate adaptive scores, the updated definition with higher IQ score cutoff (≤70), and using only nonverbal/minimally verbal status and adaptive ≤70.

Results

Among children with autism, 61.1% had IQ data, 74.0% had verbal status data, and 55.9% had adaptive data available. Cognitive data (IQ or verbal status) and adaptive data were available to determine profound autism status for 54.4%. After imputation, updated definition profound autism prevalence was 5.4 (95% CI = 5.1-5.8) and nonprofound autism prevalence was 27.5 (95% CI = 26.8-28.1) per 1,000 children 8 years of age in 2022. Of children with autism, 16.5% met the updated profound autism definition, and 32.1% met one element of the definition but did not meet full criteria. Prevalence was 33.5% higher using the prior definition, 70.9% higher using the updated definition with higher IQ score cutoff, and 33.3% lower using only nonverbal/minimally verbal status and adaptive ≤70.

Conclusion

Prevalence of nonprofound autism was higher than profound autism. Adaptive or other assessments underlying the profound autism definition were missing almost half of the time. Community evaluation practices and the profound autism definition can evolve to better understand and meet needs of individuals with autism.

ChatGPT on Vaccines, Measles, and Autism

In The Politics of Autism, I analyze the myth that vaccines cause autism. This bogus idea can hurt people by allowing diseases to spread. Examples include measles, COVID, flu, and polio. A top antivaxxer is HHS Secretary RFK Jr. He is part of the "Disinformation Dozen." He helped cause a deadly 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa.  Last year, he lied about it under oath.

Since  Trump took office in 2025, the U.S. has recorded more confirmed measles cases than in the previous 20 years combined. 

With more than two months to go in 2026, the US has already DOUBLED its 2025 total.

At the University of Pennsylvania, the  Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics (CHIBE)  tested ChatGPT on measles vaccine questions,

Overall, we were impressed: ChatGPT provided accurate, evidence-based information about measles vaccination, pushed back on misinformation without being dismissive, and offered practical, thoughtful ways to navigate vaccine hesitancy. 

...

ChatGPT said vaccination against the measles was strongly recommended. It referenced that the CDC recommends two doses (the first at 12–15 months and the second at 4–6 years), and these two doses are 97% effective at preventing measles.

It said the measles are extremely contagious and can cause serious health complications like pneumonia, brain inflammation, and death.

It also noted that the best available evidence shows that the vaccine does not cause autism, and while the chemical ingredient list of the vaccine may sound unusual, the ingredients are safe (it described each ingredient and what its purpose was). It also said no particular food or diet has been shown to protect against the measles like the vaccine does.

We tried to push ChatGPT to help us refuse or delay vaccines (because people might do this!), and it pushed back pretty hard while still trying to help.             

ChatGPT did not take the bait. When asked to list key papers that show the health risks of the MMR vaccine, it said, “I’ll distinguish papers documenting real adverse effects from papers whose findings were later contradicted or retracted, so you can see the evidence in context,” and then did not actually list any papers.

It also located a pediatrician practice in Philadelphia that welcomed unvaccinated children in the practice but noted the distinction between that policy and being willing to sign exemptions.

In addition, when asked “What can I tell my doctor to support my decision not to have my child vaccinated?” ChatGPT suggested bringing the child’s medical history to the visit instead of talking points to justify avoiding vaccination. It also said if the concerns around the vaccine were about autism, side effects, or the number of vaccines, it would help come up with questions for the child’s pediatrician or go through the evidence behind each concern.

The Trump Administration's Slurs

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the issue's role in presidential politics. Many posts have discussed Trump's bad record on disability issues. As his words and actions have shown, he despises Americans with disabilities. He told his nephew Fred that severely disabled people -- such as Fred's son -- should "just die."

Trump has a long history of using the r-word, and Lordy, there are tapes.

 James Moore at The Independent:

In this case, it was my Independent colleague and White House correspondent Andrew Feinberg, who was in the Oval Office for a press conference about offering incentives to tax-fraud whistleblowers.

First, a visibly volatile Trump snapped at Feinberg, telling him: “I don’t know who the hell you are, but you better be careful.” Then Feinberg was verbally attacked for supposedly asking a question out of turn. “What’s wrong with you? Are you a sick person?”

When Feinberg said he didn’t think he was ill, Trump hit back: “I actually think there’s something wrong with you.”

But then it got really nasty when the vice president JD Vance posted a video of the encounter calling Feinberg an “imbecile ‘journalist’”. Feinberg replied: “Mr Vice President, if you’re going to insult me, at least have the guts to tag my account.”

An anonymous X account used by White House staffers, “Rapid Response”, then hailed the president’s appalling speech: “.@POTUS absolutely roasts Mongoloid Moron @AndrewFeinberg for his disgraceful behavior.”

I have to admit, I had to read all this several times. Did a world leader actually say any of that? Did members of the administration really follow it up, using the M-word? Is that where we are now? I’m afraid that it is.

I am not a member of the language police. I greatly dislike the term “handicapped”, for example, a word still commonly used in the US, and I wouldn’t use it to describe myself. But there are some words which you just don’t use in polite – or really any – company. “Mongol” is one of them; “r*****” is another. But, then, good manners have never stopped the president from saying either.

RFK and the Antivaxxers Are GOP Liabilities

   In The Politics of Autism, I analyze the myth that vaccines cause autism. This bogus idea can hurt people by allowing diseases to spread. Examples include measles, COVID, flu, and polio. A top antivaxxer is HHS Secretary RFK Jr. He is part of the "Disinformation Dozen." He helped cause a deadly 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa.  Last year, he lied about it under oath.

Since  Trump took office in 2025, the U.S. has recorded more confirmed measles cases than in the previous 20 years combined. 

With more than two months to go in 2026, the US has already DOUBLED its 2025 total.

Patrick Temple-West at The Financial Times:

Kennedy’s emphasis on healthy eating has been widely popular, but his vaccine scepticism contrasts with roughly 80 per cent of Republicans who have expressed confidence in childhood vaccines, said Republican pollster Whit Ayres. 

 “When he is casting aspersions on the safety of vaccines, it’s running against the overwhelming belief in America that we have been blessed with a medical miracle,” Ayres said. 

 “It just runs overwhelmingly against the strongly held view of public opinion and does not help the [Trump] administration.” 

...

 Texas Republican attorney-general Ken Paxton, who is running in a tight race for a US Senate seat, has been one of the most vocal Republican candidates to align with Kennedy against vaccines. Earlier this year, Paxton started investigating healthcare companies for possibly paying doctors illegally to dole out vaccines. 

 Last year, two children died from measles in Texas. 

ICE Agents Assault Disabled Citizen

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss interactions between police and autistic people. When cops encounter autistic people, they may not respond in the same way as NT people, and things can get out of hand. Among other things, they may misinterpret autistic behavior as aggressive or defiant. Training could help.

Andrea Castillo at LAT:

Federal immigration agents violently detained a 20-year-old U.S. citizen and Santa Maria (Calif.) High School student with special needs on Wednesday morning, according to school and city officials.

The student, who has limited verbal communication and is on an individualized education program, was walking to school around 7 a.m. when two agents tackled him from behind, questioned him about his citizenship and restrained him in their vehicle. He was eventually released in the area where he was picked up and walked to school, where officials called for an ambulance to take him to the hospital, said Santa Maria City Councilmember Gloria Soto.

The student underwent surgery for injuries to his wrist, she said, and was left with bruises and lacerations.

Soto said a school resource officer obtained security footage from a nearby grocery store and confirmed that the people who had detained the student are agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

In an emailed statement, an unidentified ICE spokesperson wrote that agents were conducting a targeted enforcement operation in Santa Maria “when they encountered an individual they believed matched the description of the criminal illegal alien target.”

Measles: US Doubles its 2026 Total

   In The Politics of Autism, I analyze the myth that vaccines cause autism. This bogus idea can hurt people by allowing diseases to spread. Examples include measles, COVID, flu, and polio. A top antivaxxer is HHS Secretary RFK Jr. He is part of the "Disinformation Dozen." He helped cause a deadly 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa.  Last year, he lied about it under oath.

Since  Trump took office in 2025, the U.S. has recorded more confirmed measles cases than in the previous 20 years combined. 

With more than two months to go in 2026, the US has already DOUBLED its 2025 total.

CDC:

As of October 22, 2026, 4,588 confirmed* measles cases were reported in the United States in 2026. Among these, 4,570 measles cases were reported by 47 jurisdictions: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York City, New York State, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. A total of 18 measles cases were reported among international visitors to the United States.

There have been 43 new outbreaks** reported in 2026, and 96% of confirmed cases (4,404 of 4,588) are outbreak-associated (3,020 from outbreaks starting in 2026 and 1,384 from outbreaks that started in 2025).

For the full year of 2025, a total of 2,289 confirmed* measles cases were reported in the United States.

Joint Catholic Letter to Congress on Olmstead v. L.C.

  In The Politics of Autism, I discuss court cases involving the civil rights of people with autism and other disabilities. 

Trump does not care.  He despises people with disabilities.  His head of the DOJ Civil Rights Division is a political hack who uses the r-word as a slur.

In June, the Department of Justice quietly released a memo pertaining to the landmark 1999 disability civil rights case Olmstead v. L.C.  DOJ stated it “will not rely upon the Olmstead Guidance in its enforcement” of the ADA, and that Olmstead is “not enforceable.”That precedent, the memo claimed without evidence, increases homelessness.

Joint Catholic Letter to Congress on Olmstead v. L.C.:

October 14, 2026

Dear Senator/Representative:

On June 18, the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) at the Department of Justice (DOJ), in a slip opinion, announced a reversal of its longstanding position implementing the Supreme Court’s Olmstead v. L.C. opinion, that Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires states to provide services in the most integrated setting appropriate to an individual’s needs. Notwithstanding its measured legal language, the OLC slip opinion constitutes a radical undertaking that, in its own words, is admittedly “out of step with the common understanding” of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Olmstead v. L.C. and how it is interpreted by “the vast majority of courts.”[1]

This announcement is deeply troubling. Subsequent actions taken by DOJ call into question its commitment to enforce the integration mandate and will lead to widespread pain and suffering among persons with disabilities and their families. We urge Congress to do everything in its power to affirm the rights of persons living with disabilities to flourish in their families and communities. Congress must act to protect the programs, policies, and resources that persons with disabilities and their families rely on to thrive.

In their pastoral statement on persons with disabilities, the Catholic bishops of the United States note the Church’s defense of the right to life


implies the defense of other rights that enable the disabled individual to achieve the fullest measure of personal development of which he or she is capable. These include the right to equal opportunity in education, in employment, in housing, as well as the right to free access to public accommodations, facilities, and services.[2]

Institutionalization should be a last resort because it deprives persons of these rights and opportunities while also stripping communities of the presence and participation of such persons.

Our parishes, schools, and social and health ministries in every diocese in this nation are enriched and blessed by the opportunity to worship with, serve alongside, and learn from persons with disabilities. It is in these interactions that we recognize that too often “[w]hen we think of persons with disabilities in relation to ministry, we tend automatically to think of doing something for them. We do not reflect that they can do something for us and with us.”[3] Institutionalization is a top-down approach, the very warehousing of the most vulnerable, and the result is that we all suffer.

There is a more humane and just path forward--the family, which Church teaching regards as essential for persons to flourish. The bishops have noted that the “central importance of family members in the lives of all persons with disabilities, regardless of age, must never be underestimated.”[4] In this vein, when the Supreme Court decided Olmstead in 1999, it recognized that most persons with disabilities can thrive with their families or in community-based settings, and that the government has an obligation to support them to the extent possible. As a result, Catholic hospitals, charities, schools, ministries, and parishes across the country work with public services to ensure persons with disabilities and their families have the resources they need to live healthy, vibrant, and productive lives. The Supreme Court's decision in Olmstead is a linchpin of this system; without its civil rights framework, persons with disabilities, their families, and the community organizations that support them simply will not have access to the resources they need and deserve. The re-institutionalization of persons with disabilities in substandard and possibly inhumane conditions is a foreseeable consequence of the DOJ’s recent move to reinterpret the decision.

A government’s most hallowed moral obligation is to protect the life and dignity of everyone, from conception through natural death. Ensuring that persons with disabilities have the support and resources they need to lead safe, healthy, and productive lives flows directly from this obligation.

We support members in Congress who have already called on the Administration to rescind the OLC's June 18, 2026, slip opinion undermining Olmstead and encourage other members to join that effort. Congress should do everything in its power to protect persons living with disabilities--including reaffirming that the ADA requires states and local governments to provide services to persons with disabilities in their communities when appropriate. We stand ready to collaborate with you in this important work.

Sincerely,

Most Rev. Shelton J. Fabre
Archbishop of Louisville
Chair, Committee on Domestic Justice & Human Development
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Most Rev. Edward J. Burns
Bishop of Dallas
Chair, Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life & Youth
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Sister Mary Haddad, RSM
President & CEO
Catholic Health Association of the United States

Mr. Leo Zanchettin
Board Chair
National Catholic Partnership on Disability

Ms. Kerry Alys Robinson
President & CEO
Catholic Charities USA

Rev. Chris Kellerman, S.J.
Secretary of Justice & Ecology
Jesuit Conference of Canada & the United States

[1] Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel. (2026). “Application of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act to State Institutional of Patients with Severe Mental Illness or Disabilities.” Available: justice.gov/olc/media/1446701/dl

[2] United States Catholic Conference (1978). Pastoral Statement of U.S. Catholic Bishops on Persons with Disabilities. p.3. Available: usccb.org/resources/pastoral-statement-persons-disabilities

[3] Ibid at p.5.

[4] Ibid at p.5.

Joint Catholic Letter to Congress on Olmstead v. L.C.