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Welcome to the Reading Roundup! Stay informed with our latest selection of disability news highlights, curated for you!
LOCAL NEWS
ACLU: Medicaid is a Lifeline for People with Disabilities. Congress Must Act to Save It.
Congress is setting the stage to decimate Medicaid.
The House of Representatives put forward a budget resolution that will lead to more than $880 billion in cuts from Medicaid. If approved, these cuts will eviscerate a critical source of health care and stability for 10s of millions of people. Most devastatingly, radical cuts to Medicaid will be catastrophic for people with disabilities for whom Medicaid is a lifeline.
TECHNIUCAL.LY: Tech from London is helping people with disabilities use DC public transit
A global accessibility tech company and DC’s transit system are expanding access to an app for visually impaired people to better traverse local rail and bus stations.
Following a multi-year pilot program at select Metro stations, the London-headquartered accessibility tech company Waymap will now see its AI-driven navigation tool used across Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s (WMATA) network. That includes 98 rail stations and 325 bus routes, plus the respective bus stations.
The firm has tested the tech at stations like Silver Spring, Brookland and Braddock Road since 2022. What sets the company apart is how it pulls information to direct people: The app uses sensors built into smartphones, feeding raw data into AI algorithms to determine step length and direction and provide audio instructions. It does not rely on GPS or the internet, according to Waymap president and founder Tom Pey.
“If your cell provider or you lost contact with the internet, then you didn’t get lost,” said Pey, who became visually impaired at 39, “which would be the case with most other applications.”
ABC 7 NEWS: Polar Plunge aims to support over 2,500 DC residents with Special Olympics fundraiser
WASHINGTON (7News) — The Polar Plunge is set to make a splash in the community as it raises funds for Special Olympics DC, an organization dedicated to supporting individuals with intellectual disabilities.
The event will help fund year-round sports, health, and inclusion programs for over 2,500 residents in the District of Columbia.
Special Olympics DC also collaborates with 55 DC Public Schools and offers free health screenings, as well as job and life-skill training, to those in need.
Thousands of community members have joined the event, which features local vendors and family-friendly activities at the concurrent Flurry Fest at Yards Park.
USA NEWS
SPECTRUM: Specialty children's hospital now open in Hudson Valley
Families in Hudson Valley and across the state have a new, state-of-the-art hospital in Rock Hill, a hamlet located in Sullivan County.
Gov. Kathy Hochul and U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced the opening of The Children’s Specialty Hospital at The Center for Discovery – a special facility designed for short-term care for individuals living with developmental and behavioral challenges like autism.
Theresa Hamlin, president and CEO of The Center for Discovery, said the facility doesn't look or feel like a traditional hospital. Instead, she said staff are incorporating a unique approach to providing care.
“It is very unique," Hamlin said. "Typically, what's available to these children are hospital settings, for some, even psychiatric settings," Hamlin said. "But for us, we treat the whole child. So all of the kids that come into the program will have access to whole foods. We eliminate processed foods, ultra-processed foods and sugars from the diet.”
Right now, The Children’s Specialty Hospital is serving patients ages 5 to 21, and officials announced your insurance provider has nothing to do with meeting the criteria for service.
GBH: Airlines push back on new federal protections for passengers with disabilities
When Desi Forte and Marley Robinson arrived at the Copenhagen airport last week to fly back to Boston after an adaptive sports tournament, they felt prepared. Both power wheelchair users, they had no issues on their flight to Europe and had been reassured by airport staff and Scandinavian Airlines throughout the boarding process that their wheelchairs would be fine on their flight home.
But after they boarded and were in their seats, a staff member came on the plane and told them they had to leave. They were told their wheelchairs were too heavy.
“The engines of the plane were literally revving when someone came along and told us to get off,” Robinson said, and they were “carted” off the plane as all of the passengers watched.
It’s the type of experience that many people with disabilities fear while flying. Disability advocates have long voiced concerns about how they’re mistreated when flying, and pushed for changes. At the end of last year, the Biden administration announced new regulations to improve the experience for passengers with disabilities.
POLITICS
TIME: A Lawsuit Threatens the Disability Protections I’ve Known My Whole Life
Like so many Americans, I’ve been trying to avoid social media lately. My brain feels fractured and frazzled trying to keep up with the headlines that are only escalating with red-alert alarm. I’m trying to stay informed, while moving slowly and sustainably, focusing on the good I can do right in front of me. But just after supper on a recent Thursday night, as my kid heads off to his bath and the dishwasher waits to be loaded, my thumb finds the Instagram icon on my phone, and I’m sucked away from the table and into a post that stops me cold: “Section 504 is Under Attack.”
When I reference Section 504 out in the world, most people I meet scrunch up their faces like they’re trying to recall the name of that one guy from that one movie. “Is that related to my kid’s 504 plan?” they sometimes ask. Even when they vaguely recognize the words, few have any idea what this tiny piece of legislation means, let alone its history. A mere 46 words that appear in the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 504 essentially prohibits all entities that receive federal funding from discriminating against disabled people.
It was obvious to Christine Smith Olsey that her son was not doing well at school, despite educators telling her to leave it to the experts. The second-grade student stumbled over words, and other kids teased him so much he started to call himself “an idiot.”
Though her son had been receiving speech and occupational therapy, Smith Olsey said his Denver charter school resisted her requests for additional academic support. She filed a complaint with the state and then, in September, the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights.
In January, her son’s case came to a halt.
“I have to postpone meetings with you to discuss the case,” a department mediator wrote to her on Jan. 23, three days after President Donald Trump’s inauguration. “I am sorry for the inconvenience. I will be in touch as I am able.”
As Trump began to reshape the Education Department, investigations and mediations around disability rights issues came to a standstill.
DISABILITY SCOOP: Trump’s Pick For Education Secretary Proposes Offloading Special Ed
As President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. Department of Education moves toward confirmation, her knowledge of special education and her plans for the program are raising concerns.
The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions voted 12 to 11 along party lines late last week to advance Linda McMahon’s nomination for secretary of education to the full Senate.
Trump, who has pledged to shutter the Education Department, has said that he wants the former WWE executive to “put herself out of a job.”
During confirmation hearings McMahon backed major changes, saying that she wants to “reorient” the agency and return control over education to the states, though she acknowledged that Congress would need to act in order to close the department altogether.
“We’d like to do this right,” she told senators. “We’d like to make sure that we are presenting a plan that I think our senators could get on board with, and our Congress could get on board with.”
McMahon repeatedly suggested that oversight of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ought to be moved outside of the Education Department.
CULTURE NEWS
KGW-TV PORTLAND: Uber introduces new feature to support riders with service animals
Uber launched a new feature designed to help people with service animals get a ride. The feature, introduced in February, followed a KGW investigation into Uber and Lyft drivers who canceled rides for people with disabilities because of their service animals.
"I just wish there could be some respect. Some dignity," said Patricia Kepler, with her guide dog Gus by her side. For years, Kepler and others have complained to Uber and Lyft that the ride-share companies aren't doing enough to stop discrimination against those who are blind, particularly people with guide dogs, which violates state and federal law — and the companies' own policies.
The new Uber feature allows riders with service animals to identify themselves in advance.
Users can go into the settings in their Uber app and fill out an eligibility form indicating they have a service animal. They can also choose to let drivers know, although that's not required.
John McFall, a former Paralympian for Great Britain, has just become the first astronaut with a disability to receive medical clearance for long-duration space missions. The European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut corps member is now eligible to be placed on and train for a flight to the International Space Station (ISS).
“This isn’t about me, this is way bigger than that,” McFall said at a media briefing on Friday. “This is a cultural shift. This is something that has not been done before. … I’m proud for me, but I’m proud of the mindset shift that this has achieved.”
McFall had his right leg amputated after a motorcycle accident at the age of 19. Now 43 years old, he is an orthopedic surgeon with a Paralympic bronze medal for sprinting, which he won in Beijing in 2008. In November 2022, McFall became the first person with a physical disability to join the ESA’s astronaut reserve. He took part in the agency’s feasibility study called “Fly!,” which aimed to analyze the possibility of sending astronauts with certain physical disabilities to space.
