Trump, Labor, and Disability

 In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the employment of people on the autism spectrum.  It also discusses the workforce serving people with disabilities.

 From the Pacific ADA Network:

The U.S. Department of Labor is proposing to change its regulations for Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

Section 503 regulations require that businesses with federal contractors use voluntary surveys to track their progress in hiring and employing people with disabilities. The regulations also include a goal for contractors — businesses with federal contracts should try to have a workforce that includes 7% people with disabilities. A new proposal from the Administration would delete these requirements.

To learn more and submit a comment, see the Federal Register notice: Modifications to the Regulations Implementing Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as Amended. Comments must be received by September 2, 2025.

CAP:

The Trump administration has proposed a rule that would get rid of minimum wage protections for upward of 3.7 million domestic workers that work in peoples’ homes to provide care and assistance for children and to allow aging Americans and disabled people to live independently in their local communities.

Home care workers already struggle with low wages: In 2024, the median wage for a home health aide was only $34,900 per year. By exempting these employees from the federal minimum wage law, employers will be free to cut wages for millions of domestic workers to less than $7.25 per hour and avoid paying them time-and-a-half pay on hours worked beyond a 40-hour workweek.

More than a decade ago, the Obama administration closed a long-standing loophole in the Fair Labor Standards Act rules to ensure that more domestic workers had access to minimum wage and overtime protections. These workers were excluded from the federal minimum wage law passed in 1938 in order to win support from southern Democrats, who opposed extending the protections to an occupation that was a major source of employment for Black workers. Now, the Trump administration is opening that loophole again.

The Trump administration will take the next step in rolling back these protections just after Labor Day, when the period for public comments on the proposal closes. However, it has already ordered regional enforcement offices to ignore the existing standard and stop enforcing the federal minimum wage law for domestic workers who gained minimum wage rights under the 2013 rule. The administration claims that the 2013 rule—which has been factored into the cost of domestic services for more than a decade—might discourage use of home care services, but in reality, similar minimum wage policies have had little to no impact on employment.

 

Racial Disparity Data

In The Politics of Autism, I write about the experiences of different economic, ethnic and racial groups.   Inequality is a big part of the story. 

Kara Arundel at K-12 Dive:

The U.S. Department of Education is proposing to remove a requirement for states to collect and report on racial disparities in special education, according to a notice being published in the Federal Register on Friday.

The data collection is part of the annual state application under Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Act. The application provides assurances that the state and its districts will comply with IDEA rules as a condition for receiving federal IDEA funding.

The data collection for racial overrepresentation or underrepresentation in special education — known as significant disproportionality — helps identify states and districts that have racial disparities among student special education identifications, placements and discipline. About 5% of school districts nationwide were identified with significant disproportionality in the 2020-21 school year, according to federal data.

...

Robyn Linscott, director of education and family policy at The Arc, an organization that advocates for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, said that even if in the future there is no longer a data collection for significant disproportionality at the federal level, the information would still need to be collected by states and districts as required by IDEA.

But the loss of the central repository of information on significant disproportionality in schools will make it more difficult for advocacy groups and technical assistance centers to support school and district efforts to reduce racial disparities in special education.

In the absence of the data being available at the federal level, it will be “much more difficult” for people not within a state education agency to be able to access the data, Linscott said.

Threats to Part D Funding

In The Politics of Autism, I write about social services, special education and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

Mark Lieberman at Education Week:

Despite the Trump administration’s broad promises to preserve special education funding, advocates are spreading the word nationwide that up to hundreds of millions of dollars worth of in-progress federal grants for strengthening services for children with disabilities could be cut in the coming weeks.

The Council for Exceptional Children and the Consortium for Constituents with Disabilities warned members last week that they’ve heard the U.S. Department of Education is preparing to soon terminate “hundreds” of special education grant awards under Part D of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

These competitive grants are separate from the IDEA formula funding that directly helps pay for special education services. Instead, they fund academic research, parent supports, technology development, data collection, and training for special educators.

Special Ed and School Choice

In The Politics of Autism, I write about social services, special education, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. 

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 7.5 million children 3 to 21 years old received services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in AY 2022-23.

About 980,000 of them were autistic, up from 498,000 in 2012-13.

The Trump administration is halving the staff of the Department of Education, which is proposing to close.

Kara Arundel at K-12 Dive:

The U.S. Department of Education is working with school districts and states to expand school choice models for students with disabilities that will spur innovative and effective learning opportunities, a top federal special education official said during opening remarks Tuesday at the Office of Special Education Programs’ annual conference.

“Our goal is to expand choices for students with special needs so that every family has options to find the best-fit school for their child and not have it be the other way around, where they have to force their child to be a fit in a school that may not be for them,” Diana Diaz-Harrison, deputy assistant secretary of the department’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, told the 1,200 conference attendees.

...

Public school advocates have pushed back on federal and state efforts to increase private school choice options, saying public schools would lose money and resources if taxpayer-supported funding is shared with private schools. They also worry about equitable access to high-quality education programs and accountability for private schools.

Additionally, school choice opponents point out that private schools can choose which students to enroll while public schools must educate all students, including those with disabilities. Private schools do not have to comply with IDEA.

...

Diaz-Harrison said her own struggles to find a right-fit school for her son with autism inspired her to found the Arizona Autism Charter Schools. Opened in 2014, the network now has five schools with more planned, she said.

The Future of Special Education Complaints

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

Lauren Wagner & Beth Hawkins at The 74:

The law that created the state complaint processes, the IDEA, guarantees disabled students’ educational rights. By contrast, the ADA, passed in 1990, outlaws discrimination against people who need accommodations to access public facilities and programs — including schools.

Families of children denied special education services can assert their rights under either law. When states fail to enforce a student’s educational rights under IDEA, families often file a discrimination complaint via the ADA.

In the 2022-23 school year, more than 54,000 state dispute resolution requests were filed in the U.S. and its territories, including due process complaints, written state complaints and mediation requests. The Office for Civil Rights had about 12,000 open cases — half of them involving disability discrimination — when its staff was slashed in March. For fiscal year 2026, which started July 1, the White House’s proposed OCR budget is $91 million, a 35% drop.

At the same time, the administration wants to move $33 million that currently funds state advocacy clearinghouses into block grants that states — cash-strapped as their federal pandemic funds run out — can use for other things. This means families risk losing a second source of leverage: free assistance from experts.

If enacted, both budget cuts would also exacerbate socioeconomic and racial disparities in the services kids with disabilities receive, says Carrie Gillispie, a senior policy analyst at New America. This is because families in states where there’s little appetite for local enforcement depend on OCR to investigate discrimination.

“Those discrepancies that exist will only worsen if these budget changes happen,” Gillispie says. “It’s a choice to continue to underinvest.”

With the federal office a hollow shell of what it was six months ago, advocates say, families are likely to rely more heavily on their states. And how — and how well — each state helps students with disabilities varies widely.

 

Most States Fail to Meet IDEA Requirements

 In The Politics of Autism, I write about social services, special education and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. 

 In The Politics of Autism, I write about social services, special education and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. 

From the US Department of Education:

The U.S. Department of Education (Department) issued its 2025 determinations for States on their implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) for Part B and Part C. The IDEA requires the Department to issue an annual determination, based on the State Performance Plan (SPP) and Annual Performance Report (APR), which evaluates the State’s efforts to implement the requirements and purposes of the IDEA, and describes how the State will improve its implementation. The Part B SPP/APR and Part C SPP/APR include indicators that measure child and family results, and other indicators that measure compliance with the requirements of the IDEA. Since 2015, the Part B SPP/APR and Part C SPP/APR have included a State Systemic Improvement Plan through which each State focuses its efforts on improving a State-selected child or family outcome.  

...

Following is a list of each State’s performance in meeting the requirements of IDEA Part B, which serves students with disabilities, ages 3 through 21:  

MEETS REQUIREMENTS  Connecticut  Illinois  Indiana  Kansas  Kentucky  Massachusetts  Maryland  Minnesota  Missouri  North Dakota  Nebraska  New Hampshire  New Jersey  Ohio  Pennsylvania    Republic of the Marshall Islands  Texas  Virginia  Wisconsin  Wyoming 

NEEDS ASSISTANCE (one year) Alabama Florida Georgia Washington 

NEEDS ASSISTANCE (two or more consecutive years)  Alaska  Arkansas  American Samoa  Arizona  California  Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands  Colorado  Delaware  Federated States of Micronesia Guam Hawaii Iowa  Idaho  Louisiana  Maine  Michigan  Mississippi  Montana  North Carolina  New Mexico  New York Nevada Oklahoma Oregon  Republic of Palau  Rhode Island Puerto Rico  South Carolina  South Dakota  Tennessee  Utah  Virgin Islands  Vermont  West Virginia 

NEEDS INTERVENTION Bureau of Indian Education District of Columbia 

ADA 35

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

On this day in 1990, George H.W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act:

 Barbara Merrill and Tony Coelho at TIME:

Yet, as we celebrate the ADA's enduring legacy this year, the future for people with disabilities looks less certain. The ADA’s vision is not self-sustaining. Its promise is fulfilled through an ecosystem of vital support services, many of which rely on Medicaid funding. For millions of Americans living with disabilities, Medicaid is a lifeline that provides access to essential home- and community-based services (HCBS). These services include the most basic activities of daily living like bathing, dressing, eating, and more, as well as the residential programs, employment supports, and assistive technologies that allow people with I/DD to live with dignity in their own homes and communities. These services are at the heart of the ADA and crucial to making inclusion a reality.


Following the passage of President Donald Trump’s tax bill, which will cut aproximately $1 trillion from Medicaid over the next several years, these support systems are in jeopardy. This attack on Medicaid threatens to unravel decades of progress toward equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities, as access to these services will undoubtedly become more limited.

 

Trump wants to criminalize and institutionalize the unhoused while slashing funding for housing, mental health care, and veterans’ services. You don’t get to gut the social safety net AND cage the fallout.

This executive order is just cruelty masquerading as policy. https://t.co/bnh0MGmzus

— Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (@repcleaver) July 25, 2025

Medicaid Cuts and People with Disabilities

The Politics of Autism includes an extensive discussion of insurance and Medicaid services for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.  Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) are particularly important. Congress has voted to slash Medicaid.

Maggie Astor at NYT:

Federal law deems most home- and community-based services as optional, so they are often targeted when states have to tighten their belts. When temporary Great Recession increases in Medicaid funding expired in the early 2010s, for example, every state reduced home care by limiting enrollment or lowering spending on existing recipients.

...

Health care experts anticipate cuts to home- and community-based care in some states because the new law limits provider taxes. Almost every state taxes hospitals, then uses the revenue to pay the hospitals for treating Medicaid patients. That increases Medicaid spending on paper and triggers more federal matching funds, which states use to cover various Medicaid services.

The 22 affected states where provider taxes are higher than the new law’s cap — 3.5 percent of net patient revenue — will lose federal money. The White House argued that this would not affect home- and community-based care because states could make up the difference by paying hospitals less for Medicaid services, reducing the rates to match those of its sister program, Medicare.

Experts said the White House’s argument was unrealistic. Not all states pay higher prices for Medicaid than for Medicare, and even for those that do, the numbers don’t add up, Dr. [Benjamin] Sommers said. Many states will have to find money somewhere else, too, and each state will have to choose whether that somewhere is home- and community-based care or another part of their budget.

...

Reductions could come in several forms. States could place further restrictions on who qualifies for coverage, cover fewer hours of care or lower pay for home health workers. Or they could eliminate waiver programs altogether. Even at existing funding levels, hundreds of thousands of people are on waiting lists for waivers, and those lines could get longer.

Slowing Civil Rights Enforcement

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

At AP, Collin Binkley reports on civil rights enforcement at the Department of Education. McMahon says personnel cuts have not slowed it down.  

By several measures, however, the output of the Office for Civil Rights appears to have fallen sharply in comparison with previous years. A public database of the office’s resolution agreements — cases in which schools or universities voluntarily agreed to address civil rights concerns — suggests the office’s work has slowed.

The database lists just 65 resolutions so far this year, on pace to fall far below previous years’ totals. Last year the office logged 380 resolutions in total, following 561 in 2023. During President Donald Trump’s first term, the office averaged more than 800 resolutions a year, including 1,300 during his first year in office.

Other internal data obtained by The Associated Press show a similar trend. Since Trump took office, the total number of resolved cases is down about 40% from the same time frame last year — including cases that were dismissed, mediated or reached a voluntary resolution. Compared with last year, there also has been a 70% decrease in the number of cases resolved through resolution agreements or action taken by a school to comply with federal law, the internal data shows.

Meanwhile, new complaints have increased 9%. The total number of cases has now climbed beyond 25,000.

...

Adrienne Hazel filed a complaint in April after her 20-year-old son Ricky, who has autism, was placed in a public school program without a certified teacher and was not given an individual learning plan. Hazel, of Southfield, Michigan, has not heard from the federal office after receiving an automatic reply when she filed the complaint.

Things moved faster last year when Hazel filed a separate complaint for her son. The office notified Ricky’s school, which Hazel says spurred the district to reach an agreement with her within about three months. This time, she said, it feels like she’s on her own.

“There has been zero response to this,” she said. “He’s basically going into a babysitting situation. He’s not getting the things that he needs to grow into independence. And he’ll just be aging without getting an education.”

Marcie Lipsitt, a special education advocate in Michigan who worked with Hazel, said such stories are common. She helps families file complaints but warns it could take at least a year before an investigation opens. Some schools have backtracked on previous agreements, she said, yet parents can’t get a response from the federal office.

“It’s horrible. I’m watching children suffer like they’ve never suffered,” she said. “There is no accountability.”

Medicaid Cuts and HCBS

The Politics of Autism includes an extensive discussion of insurance and Medicaid services for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.  Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) are particularly important. Congress has voted  to slash Medicaid.

Dr. Zachary Rossetti at The Fulcrum:

Mandatory services, which are required by law, consist of healthcare services like doctor visits, medical care in hospitals, and long-term services and supports that are provided in nursing homes or institutions. Non-mandatory services, which are optional and vary by state, consist of dental care, some therapies, and most home- and community-based services (HCBS) provided through Medicaid waiver programs.

Many non-mandatory services are lifelines to individuals with IDD and autism to remain in their communities, allowing them to live safely and with dignity in their own homes and to engage meaningfully in lives of their choosing. Although they are labeled “non-mandatory,” these supports are absolutely critical for people with IDD and their families. Yet, because they are optional, non-mandatory services are most likely to be affected by any cuts to Medicaid. Mandatory services, meanwhile, are required by law and thus less likely to be affected by cuts to Medicaid. As a result, families may have no other options besides institutional care.

Additionally, many individuals with IDD and autism gained access to healthcare through the Affordable Care Act’s option for states to expand Medicaid coverage. But proposed cuts to Medicaid in the reconciliation bill would be more likely to affect those with Medicaid expansion coverage because the federal government covers 90% of costs for Medicaid expansion compared to 50% for traditional Medicaid. This would hit especially hard in states like Massachusetts where long waitlists already limit access to home- and community-based care.

Nationally, the best available data indicate over 700,000 people across 38 states are on waiting lists for home- and community-based care. Any cuts to Medicaid would mean that even fewer people with IDD and autism receive the services they need.

Some States Have Ended the Subminimum Wage

 In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the employment of people on the autism spectrum. Trump's Labor Department withdrew a proposed rule that would have ended the subminimum wage nationwide.

USGAO:

In the last 10 years, 16 states have eliminated subminimum wage employment. And legislation to eliminate this type of employment nationwide has been proposed several times. Ending subminimum wage employment can be part of a shift to integrate people with disabilities into competitive work environments. In these settings, workers can earn wages at or above the federal minimum and work alongside those without disabilities.

States That Have Enacted Legislation Eliminating 14(c) Certificates as of January 2025 

The Subminimum Wage Survives

 In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the employment of people on the autism spectrum.

 Ryan Golden at HR Dive:

• The U.S. Department of Labor on Monday withdrew a Biden-era rule that aimed to phase out a section of the Fair Labor Standards Act that allowed employers to pay certain workers with disabilities wage rates that fall below the federal minimum wage.
• DOL’s rule, announced last December, would have ceased issuance of new certificates that allow employers to pay subminimum wages to workers with disabilities, while giving those with existing certificates a period of three years to gradually end the practice. At the time, the agency said subminimum wages were no longer necessary to preserve employment opportunities for participating workers.
• On Monday, the agency said it received more than 17,000 public comment submissions in response to the rule. It ultimately concluded that “a nonzero population” of workers rely upon the subminimum wage certificate program, and the department lacked authority to end the program because it had been mandated by an act of Congress.

In sharp contrast to the administration's many assertions of executive authority, DOL is now citing legal constraints From the Department of Labor:

The Department takes seriously the concerns expressed by Members of Congress and others that it lacks statutory authority to unilaterally and permanently terminate the issuance of section 14(c) certificates. Section 14 of the FLSA includes both permissive and mandatory provisions. For example, section 14(d) provides that the Secretary of Labor “ may by regulation or order” exempt certain student workers from FLSA wage-and-hour requirements. By contrast, section 14(c) states that the Secretary “ shall by regulation or order provide for the employment, under special certificates, of individuals . . . at wages which are . . . lower than the minimum wage” when the individual's disability impairs their earning or productive capacity. Where, as here, “a statute distinguishes between `may' and `shall,' it is generally clear that `shall' imposes a mandatory duty.” Kingdomware Tech., Inc. v. United States, 579 U.S. 162, 172 (2016) (citation omitted). Thus, section 14(c) imposes a mandatory duty on the Department to provide for the issuance of subminimum wage certificates “to the extent necessary to prevent curtailment of opportunities for employment.”

OCR Is MIA

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

 Bianca Quilantan at Politico Weekly Education:

The Education Department’s civil rights arm is dismissing complaints at a rapid clip, prompting concern from former officials and advocates about its function amid staffing cuts.

— In court documents filed last week, the department disclosed that its Office for Civil Rights dismissed 3,424 complaints between March 11 and June 27 “consistent with OCR’s Case Processing Manual.” The documents state that 96 complaints were “resolved” because of insufficient evidence during an investigation — and another 290 complaints with voluntary agreements, settlements or technical assistance.

— OCR also received 4,833 complaints, opened 309 for investigation and opened 26 directed investigations, according to a court declaration filed by department chief of staff Rachel Oglesby as part of a case that challenged the agency’s decision to conduct a sweeping reduction in force.

— This all comes as seven of the department’s 12 regional civil rights offices across the country were eliminated during the massive reduction in force in March. A federal judge in Massachusetts, however, ordered those workers be called back, saying the mass layoffs “leaves OCR with the capacity to address only a small fraction of the complaints that it receives.”

Work Reporting Requirements

The Politics of Autism includes an extensive discussion of insurance and Medicaid services for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.  Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) are particularly important. Congress is about to slash Medicaid.

Bram Sable-Smith at KFF:

Republicans have touted Medicaid work requirements both as a way to reduce federal spending on the program and as a moral imperative for Americans.

“Go out there. Do entry-level jobs. Get into the workforce. Prove that you matter. Get agency into your own life,” Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, said in a recent interview on Fox Business.

Democrats, meanwhile, have cast the requirements as bureaucratic red tape that won’t meaningfully increase employment but will cause eligible people to lose their health insurance because of administrative hurdles.

Indeed, the vast majority of Americans enrolled in Medicaid expansion are already working, caregiving, attending school, or have a disability, according to an analysis by KFF, a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News.

And while the Congressional Budget Office estimates the work requirement included in the House bill would cause 4.8 million Americans to lose their insurance, only about 300,000 of those people are unemployed because of lack of interest in working, according to the Urban Institute, a nonprofit research group. Recent history in states that have tried work requirements suggests technical and paperwork problems have caused a substantial portion of coverage losses.

Kim Gallagher had to give up guardianship of her son so she could receive pay for being his caregiver.

Gallagher worries about her coverage, because she recently was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s disease, an autoimmune disorder that attacks the thyroid gland. She said she had to search for her Medicaid card to fill the prescription that followed, having barely used it in the year in a half she’s been covered.

She also worries about her son’s Medicaid. A nursing home is not a realistic option, considering his needs. His coverage doubles as Gallagher’s only source of income and also pays for other caregivers, when she can find them, who give her breaks to tend to her own health and to her aging parents.

But nearly all in-home services like those Daniel receives are optional programs that states are not required to include in their Medicaid programs. And the magnitude of the cuts being proposed have prompted fears that the optional programs could be chopped.

“It would destroy our lives,” Gallagher said. “The only income we would have would be Daniel’s Social Security.”

Medicaid Cuts

The Politics of Autism includes an extensive discussion of insurance and Medicaid services for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.  Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) are particularly important. Congress is about to slash Medicaid.

Margot Sanger-Katz and Emily Badger at NYT:

Instead of explicitly reducing benefits, Republicans would make them harder to get and to keep. The effect, analysts say, is the same, with millions fewer Americans receiving assistance. By including dozens of changes to dates, deadlines, document requirements and rules, Republicans have turned paperwork into one of the bill’s crucial policy-making tools, yielding hundreds of billions of dollars in savings to help offset their signature tax cuts.

...

Decades of evidence show that administrative barriers prevent vulnerable families from receiving benefits, while simplifying programs can increase use. In the first Trump administration, more frequent Medicaid eligibility checks led to losses in health coverage for more than a million poor children. Studies of student aid applications have shown that programs that help families fill out the forms boost college participation.

At the same time, there is no evidence that work requirements in food or health care programs actually cause more people to work — a consistent finding that the budget office folds into its estimates of the policy’s savings.

“Study after study after study, year after year after year have pointed out we really need to call them work reporting requirements, not work requirements,” said Heather Hahn, an associate vice president in the family and financial well-being division at the Urban Institute.

 The American Association of People with Disabilities:

The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) strongly condemns the budget reconciliation bill passed by the Senate, which includes an alarming $930 billion in cuts to Medicaid. These proposed cuts are even more severe than those passed by the House of Representatives and represent a direct threat to the health, independence, and lives of millions of Americans with disabilities.

Medicaid is a lifeline for people with disabilities. It provides essential services such as home and community-based services, employment supports, and critical medical treatments that enable individuals to live independently, participate in their communities, and maintain their well-being. The deep cuts proposed in this Senate bill would dismantle these vital supports, forcing many people with disabilities into institutions, limiting access to necessary medical care, and ultimately jeopardizing their ability to live full and meaningful lives.

The bill also includes stricter work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which helps millions of people with disabilities, older adults, and their families buy food each month. Furthermore, it goes beyond proposing SNAP cuts and also shifts the cost onto states, which would significantly impact their budgets and hit rural communities the hardest.

“The Senate’s budget reconciliation bill is a cruel assault on disabled people and other marginalized communities,” said Maria Town, President and CEO of AAPD. “These unprecedented cuts to Medicaid and SNAP will not only strip away essential services but will also inflict immeasurable harm on individuals with disabilities, their families, and their communities, all under the deceitful guise of preventing waste, fraud, and abuse, which rarely occurs. Disabled people have fought cuts before, and we will not only continue to fight against cuts that slash our services and threaten our rights, we will fight for more investment in services so that disabled people have what we need to thrive,” Town continued.

“AAPD also extends its sincere gratitude to the Senators who, during the exhaustive 20-hour ‘vote-a-rama,’ offered crucial amendments to remove the bill’s cruelest provisions. This resulted in the removal of the harmful moratorium on state laws regulating the use of artificial intelligence and included proposed amendments to strip the bill of some of the worst of the Medicaid cuts, remove onerous work requirements, prevent bans on Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming and reproductive healthcare, and preserve vital food assistance. Their tireless work to mitigate the harm of this bill and make our government responsive to the daily needs of the American people is deeply appreciated,” Town concluded.

This fight is not over. The bill now returns to the House of Representatives for a vote on the Senate’s version. We are encouraged that some House members have already indicated their opposition to this harmful legislation. We urge all concerned citizens to contact their Representatives immediately and demand they vote NO on this destructive bill. The AAPD is firmly against any legislation that undermines the rights and well-being of people with disabilities. We call on Congress to protect Medicaid and ensure that people with disabilities have continued access to the services they need to thrive

.

Medicaid Cuts

The Politics of Autism includes an extensive discussion of insurance and Medicaid services for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.  Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) are particularly important. Congress is about to slash Medicaid spending.

Dr. Zachary Rossetti at The Fulcrum:

To understand the devastating impact of these Medicaid cuts on people with IDD, including those with autism, it’s crucial to recognize the distinction between mandatory and non-mandatory Medicaid services.

Mandatory services, which are required by law, consist of healthcare services like doctor visits, medical care in hospitals, and long-term services and supports that are provided in nursing homes or institutions. Non-mandatory services, which are optional and vary by state, consist of dental care, some therapies, and most home- and community-based services (HCBS) provided through Medicaid waiver programs.

Many non-mandatory services are lifelines to individuals with IDD and autism to remain in their communities, allowing them to live safely and with dignity in their own homes and to engage meaningfully in lives of their choosing. Although they are labeled “non-mandatory,” these supports are absolutely critical for people with IDD and their families. Yet, because they are optional, non-mandatory services are most likely to be affected by any cuts to Medicaid. Mandatory services, meanwhile, are required by law and thus less likely to be affected by cuts to Medicaid. As a result, families may have no other options besides institutional care.

Additionally, many individuals with IDD and autism gained access to healthcare through the Affordable Care Act’s option for states to expand Medicaid coverage. But proposed cuts to Medicaid in the reconciliation bill would be more likely to affect those with Medicaid expansion coverage because the federal government covers 90% of costs for Medicaid expansion compared to 50% for traditional Medicaid. This would hit especially hard in states like Massachusetts where long waitlists already limit access to home- and community-based care.

Nationally, the best available data indicate over 700,000 people across 38 states are on waiting lists for home- and community-based care. Any cuts to Medicaid would mean that even fewer people with IDD and autism receive the services they need.

IDF and Autism

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss military personnel and military families.  The IDF recruits autistic soldiers.  The US military is lagging.

Hana Levi Julian at JewishPress.com:

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is implementing significant changes to its recruitment and integration strategies for individuals on the autism spectrum, according to Udi Heller, an autistic IDF officer and founder of the “Titkadmu” (“Move Forward”) program, and the “Shavim” association, which works to provide vocational rehabilitation for the disabled.

The reforms aim to address manpower shortages and diversify service options for autistic individuals.

The move will see changes to “Move Forward”, with the IDF shifting toward recruiting some autistic personnel through standard channels, with possible integration into operational units.

Previously, young people on the autism spectrum could volunteer for service with medical profiles of 25 or higher, primarily in predefined roles, or enlist via the specialized “Move Forward” program, which allowed them to serve under Profile 45 with accommodations that suited their needs.

According to a document from the IDF’s “Meitav” Command, new policies permit certain autistic individuals to be recruited under Profile 64 without adjustments, enabling placements in combat support units or even combat units, aligning with the IDF’s war-driven recruitment needs.

Voting for Disabled Candidates

In The Politics of Autism, I write:  "Support from the general public will be an important political asset for autistic people. Another will be their sheer numbers, since a larger population of identified autistic adults will mean more autistic voters and activists."  Previous posts have discussed autistic officeholders and political candidates in California,  New York, Georgia, Texas, and Wisconsin.

Voting for Disabled Candidates
Stefanie Reher  The Journal of Politics 2025 87:2, 790-794.

Despite important advances in the rights of disabled people, stigma and prejudice remain widespread. Meanwhile, disabled political representatives are few and far between. This raises the question: do voters discriminate against disabled candidates? This study uses conjoint experiments in the United States and the United Kingdom to show that candidates with physical or sensory impairments are preferred by voters on the left, whereas voters on the right are more likely to vote for nondisabled candidates. However, these effects are almost entirely due to voters’ perceptions of disabled candidates as more left-wing. When perceived ideology is held constant or candidates’ party affiliation is known, candidate disability does not affect the vote choice among right-wing voters. Left-wing voters still reward left-wing disabled candidates for representing under-represented groups. The findings expand our understanding of the role of disability in electoral politics and should encourage candidates and parties concerned about discrimination at the ballot box.

SCOTUS and AJT v. Osseo Area Schools

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

Ronald Mann, Unanimous court rebuffs higher standard for discrimination claims by children with disabilities, SCOTUSblog (Jun. 12, 2025, 6:32 PM), https://www.scotusblog.com/2025/06/unanimous-court-rebuffs-higher-standard-for-discrimination-claims-by-children-with-disabilities/ 

In A.J.T. v. Osseo Area Schools, Independent School District No. 279, the Supreme Court considered the obligation of schools to refrain from discriminating on the basis of a disability. Specifically, the justices considered whether students face a higher bar in challenging such activity than disabled individuals do in other contexts. Thursday’s opinion by Chief Justice John Roberts, joined by all the justices, firmly rejected the higher standard adopted by the lower courts.

The case involved a pair of federal statutes that bar discrimination on the basis of disability, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Together with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, those statutes regulate the accommodations that local schools afford children with disabilities.

In part because of the detailed procedures the latter act establishes for identifying appropriate individualized educational programs, known as IEPs, for individual students, many lower courts have been reluctant to allow students to recover damages based on claims of discrimination without proving an actual intention on the part of the school districts to discriminate. The Supreme Court on Thursday rebuffed that approach, holding that the standard for proving discrimination is the same for all those with disabilities, students or otherwise.

DOD and Special Ed

In The Politics of Autism, I write about social services, special education and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. 

Special Education: Improved Allocation of Resources Could Help DOD Education Activity Better Meet Students' Needs GAO-25-107053.

The Department of Defense Education Activity (DODEA) operates DOD's school system and provides special education and related services for about 15 percent of its students worldwide. However, GAO found that related services provided by the military branches for students in overseas locations—such as physical therapy—were often limited or unavailable, resulting in service delays or disruptions. These services are required by students' individualized education programs—legally binding written plans describing the services students are to receive. GAO found delays in service delivery for students in 44 of DODEA's 114 overseas schools for 2022–2023 (see figure). Further, from school years 2018–2019 through 2022–2023, at least six cases took more than a year to resolve. Service delays and disruptions can negatively affect students' academic progress, according to related service providers and parents GAO interviewed.

From NEA:

The Federal Education Association, an NEA affiliate, represents 6,000 educators in 161 schools stateside and overseas for military-connected students—the children of active duty and civilian Department of Defense employees. The schools are administered by the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA).

As part of his “Workforce Acceleration & Recapitalization Initiative,” Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has proposed eliminating hundreds of positions in DoDEA schools for educators with specialized skills: educational technologists, speech-language assessors, special education assessors, and automation clerks.

The plan shortchanges military-connected students and stretches educators to the breaking point. Tell your members of Congress to take action and stop it!