Huge Success for Wheelchair Repair:

This January, two wheelchair repair bills were introduced. One, which is very similar to last session’s version, was introduced to the Senate. This bill, S.210, expands the existing warranty to be more enforceable and cover more consumers, while the other bill – introduced to the House – addresses repair times by defining and enforcing “timely repairs” as 10 days from the date the repair is requested. The House bill, now numbered H. 4358, has just successfully passed through the House Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure and has advanced to the House Ways & Means. Ways & Means is the final hurdle before going to the full House for a debate and a vote. 

Moving out of committee is a huge achievement that could not have happened without the perseverance, strength, and vulnerability of each of you who urged your legislators to take action. 

Want to get more involved? Save the date for the Disability Policy Consortium’s Wheelchair Repair Advocacy Day at the Massachusetts State House on October 9th, from 11:00 am – 2:00 pm, or join the DPC for biweekly community meetings on wheelchair repair. Can’t attend but want to stay in the loop? Reach out to vita@sciboston.org to be connected with Destiny Maxam, the Disability Policy Consortium's Wheelchair Repair Organizer.

Transportation:

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has launched an investigation into FlixBus and Greyhound to determine if they have been discriminating against passengers with disabilities. This investigation was opened after the DOJ received complaints about improperly maintained lifts, refusal to assist passengers with using lifts, and refusal to allow service animals, among others. If you have experienced disability discrimination at the hands of FlixBus or Greyhound, please file a complaint with the Civil Rights Division or call the toll-free ADA Information Line at 1-800-514-0301 (voice/relay) or 1-833-610-1264 (TTY).

The Office of the Inspector General has identified three key areas where Amtrak can enhance its service for passengers with disabilities. First, Amtrak can improve how its customer-facing employees interact with passengers who have disabilities. Second, the company should enhance its communication of essential travel information, including details about in-station assistance, station-specific services, and accessibility features. Third, passengers with disabilities often face inconsistent access to onboard amenities, such as food service and dining cars. Read more here.

Related: Is Train Travel a Wheelchair-Friendly Alternative to Flying or Driving?, MDA Quest

Supplemental Security Income:

The Social Security Administration (SSA) plans to rescind a rule expanding Supplemental Security Income (SSI) eligibility by changing the definition of a “public assistance household”. Currently, a “public assistance household” means that more than one person receives public income assistance in each household. Now, SSA would like to revert back to the original definition, which requires all household members receive some form of public assistance to qualify as a “public assistance household”. This change would reduce SSI benefits for individuals in households that no longer meet the broader definition, due to the application of “in-kind support and maintenance”—a rule that assumes others in the household are covering part of the recipient’s living expenses. For people with disabilities, who often live with others for support, returning to the original definition of “public assistance household” would not only reduce benefits, but also limit access to medical care not covered by Medicaid, decrease independence, and lead to greater financial strain on families. Read more here.

Employment:

As some of you may remember, I spoke about subminimum wage in my October 2024 Advocacy Update. At the time, the Biden Administration had started a process to phase out subminimum wage for people with disabilities. Now, the Department of Labor has decided to end this process, allowing subminimum wage to continue, despite tens of thousands of comments in favor of eliminating subminimum wage. You can read the press release here.

Related: Subminimum wage to stay in place for disabled workers, Boston Globe

TAKE ACTION!

Submit a Public Comment:

1. Minimum wage and overtime pay for home health care workers are at risk! The U.S. Department of Labor is proposing changes to regulations governing minimum wage and overtime protections for domestic service workers, including direct care workers such as home health aides. If implemented, these changes would exempt third-party employers from having to provide minimum wage and overtime pay, stripping home care workers of guaranteed wage protections. This rollback would not lower the cost of home health care or attract more workers to the field. Instead, it would likely lead to reduced wages and worsen the ongoing shortage of home care professionals. Check out this factsheet 
and read more here. Please submit a public comment by September 2nd.

2. Don’t limit job opportunities for people with disabilities! The Department of Labor has issued a proposed rule to revise regulations implementing Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act. Section 503 prohibits federal contractors from discriminating against employees and applicants due to their disability status, and requires employers to recruit qualified individuals with disabilities. If this proposed rule were to go into effect contractors would no longer be required to give people with disabilities an opportunity to self-disclose their disability status. In addition, contractors would no longer be required to set goals for increasing the number of employees with disabilities, known as utilization goal requirements. 

The long-standing exclusion of people with disabilities from the workforce spurred advocacy for landmark legislation like the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Changing the Section 503 regulations by eliminating utilization goals or recruitment requirements for federal contractors would undermine those efforts and likely lead to a decline in the number of people with disabilities being employed by federal contractors. Please submit a public comment by September 2nd. 

3. Medicare cuts threaten access to ostomy and urological supplies! The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services want to include ostomy and urological supplies in the next round of competitive bidding to cut Medicare costs. This will likely push smaller suppliers out of business. Please submit a public comment by August 29th.

4. Help inform policy recommendations to federal policymakers! The National Council on Disability (NCD) will hold a quarterly Council meeting on Thursday August  28th and Friday, August 29th. On Thursday at 3 p.m., there will be an opportunity for the Council to address public comments concerning the following topics: improving the outcome of people with disabilities during and after disasters, disability clinical competency training for healthcare providers, ADA accommodations during court proceedings, and youth and younger adults with disabilities in nursing homes. Comments must be submitted via email to publiccomment@ncd.gov

Send an Email:

• Protect Disability Program Funding! Tell Congress to fully fund vital programs that benefit people with disabilities across the country, including the Paralysis Resource Center. Click here to send your message!
• Opposed to the cuts to Medicaid? Check out this action alert by Caring Across Generations which asks your senators to support the Protecting Health Care and Lowering Costs Act. This bill would repeal the more than $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, and the Affordable Care Act.
• Support Accessible Transportation! The Spastic Paraplegia Foundation (SPF) is asking Congress to support legislation that would modernize ADA parking standards and make paratransit more efficient. Take action here.
• Protect MassHealth! The ARC of Massachusetts is asking Governor Healey to protect certain MassHealth programs (such as the PCA program) from potential funding shortfalls. Protect MassHealth here.
• Send a short video to the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation describing what the Paralysis Resource Center means to you and what it would mean to lose it. Click here to share your story.

Advocate Highlight:

This past spring, REquipment’s reuse program was at risk of losing $500,000 –  more than a third of their budget. However, thanks to the relentless advocacy of the disability community, these cuts were rejected and REquipment’s full budget was preserved.

I would like to highlight one special advocate from our community, Janice Brodil, who took consistent, dedicated action. By repeatedly emailing her legislators, through the same kind of simple, direct outreach opportunities available above, she made a real impact. Her efforts were so powerful that her State Senator personally called to share the good news that REquipment’s funding had been saved.

Read Janice Brodil’s full story: “Just Push the Buttons" here.

If you have a similar story to share, we want to hear about it: vita@sciboston.org

Studies & Surveys:

The Disability Law Center (DLC) wants to hear from you! Unfortunately, DLC is facing significant funding cuts due to changes in funding on the federal level. They need to be strategic about how they use their limited funding in order to have the biggest impact. This is where you come in. Please take a moment to let the DLC know which issues should be prioritized. Take the survey.

Webinars:

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