Welcome to the Washington Connection, the legislative and information service of the American Council of the Blind. The Washington Connection is brought to you by the ACB national office. If you have any questions or comments on the information provided, don’t hesitate to contact us and ask to speak with Swatha Nandhakumar.
The Washington Connection is updated any time we have new information to share with you. The following articles are available as of May 15, 2024. Messages 1, 2, 3, 4 and 7 are new.
- New! HHS Finalizes Rule Strengthening Protections Against Disability Discrimination
- New! AAPD Praises New Rules from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
- New! Concerns Related to Obtaining Accessible Prescription Labels at Walgreens
- New! FAA Reauthorization – Contact Your Members of Congress!
- For ACB’s Work on Accessible Voting
- For Announcing the 2024 ACB Board of Publications Candidates Pages
- New! People’s Choice Award Now Open for Nominations!
- Convention Corner - Marketplace
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HHS Finalizes Rule Strengthening Protections Against Disability Discrimination
Final Rule advances equity and bolsters protections for people with disabilities under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act
Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through its Office for Civil Rights (OCR), finalized a rule that prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability. This rule, titled “Discrimination on the Basis of Disability in Health and Human Service Programs or Activities,” advances equity and bolsters protections for people with disabilities under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (Section 504). This important Final Rule is HHS’s latest action in furtherance of Executive Order 14091, entitled “Further Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government.”
Reflecting over fifty years of advocacy by the disability community, the Section 504 Final Rule clarifies and strengthens civil rights protections for people with disabilities, addresses discrimination in medical treatment, adds enforceable standards for accessible medical diagnostic equipment, and ensures accessible web content and mobile apps. The rule advances the promise of the Rehabilitation Act and helps protect people with disabilities from experiencing discrimination in any program or activity receiving funding from HHS because of their disability.
“This rule strengthens the protections afforded by Section 504, a landmark civil rights law, and furthers the Department’s commitment to ensuring equal access to this nation’s health care system and its social service programs for people with disabilities and their families,” said Secretary Xavier Becerra. “It is comprehensive in scope, advancing justice for people with disabilities and helping to ensure they are not discriminated against under any program or activity receiving funding from HHS just because they have a disability.”
“Today’s rule is long overdue. My office heard from thousands in overwhelming support of this rule and the need to update this rule now for people with disabilities,” said HHS OCR Director Melanie Fontes Rainer. “By removing barriers to health care and social services, this rule advances justice for people with disabilities who have for too long been subject to discrimination. No diagnosis should be missed because of an inaccessible mammogram, no patient should be left with questions about test results due to inaccessible websites, and no life should be valued less due to disability. This is the promise of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and through this action the Biden-Harris Administration is, once again, making clear its commitment to equality and civil rights.”
“Section 504 makes a fundamental promise that disabled people will be treated as full and equal members of the community,” said HHS General Counsel Samuel Bagenstos. “In health and social services programs, keeping that promise can mean the difference between life and death for people with disabilities. Today’s final rule implements critical updates to ensure that HHS continues to make good on that promise.”
“The direct result of decades of advocacy by people with disabilities, the updated 504 rule is one of strongest tools we have ever had to combat the discrimination and inequities faced by disabled people,” said Alison Barkoff, who leads the Administration for Community Living. “ACL was proud to work with OCR to develop the new regulations, and we are committed to supporting OCR in implementing them. We also are looking forward to partnering with the disability community to educate people with disabilities of all ages about the rule’s powerful protections of their civil rights.”
Section 504 prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in programs and activities that receive funding from HHS. Since the law was enacted, major legislative and judicial developments have shifted the legal landscape of disability discrimination under Section 504.
HHS has updated the regulations to clarify obligations in several critical areas. Specifically, the rule:
- Ensures that medical treatment decisions are not based on negative biases or stereotypes about individuals with disabilities, judgments that an individual with a disability will be a burden on others, or dehumanizing beliefs that the life of an individual with a disability has less value than the life of a person without a disability.
- Prohibits the use of any measure, assessment, or tool that discounts the value of a life extension on the basis of disability to deny, limit, or otherwise condition access to an aid, benefit or service.
- Defines what accessibility means for websites and mobile applications and sets forth a specific technical standard to ensure that health care and human service activities delivered through these platforms are readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities.
- Adopts the U.S. Access Board’s standards for accessible medical diagnostic equipment, like exam tables and mammography machines.
- Details requirements to ensure nondiscrimination in the services provided by HHS-funded child welfare agencies, including, but not limited to, reasonable efforts to prevent foster care placement, parent-child visitation, reunification services, child placement, parenting skills programs, and in- and out-of-home services.
- Clarifies obligations to provide services in the most integrated setting, like receiving services in one's own home, appropriate to the needs of individuals with disabilities.
Additionally, the Final Rule updates existing requirements to make them consistent with the American with Disabilities Act (ADA), as many HHS recipients are also covered by the ADA this consistency will improve and simplify compliance.
This rule takes effect 60 days after publication. The current rule remains in effect until that time. If you believe that you or another party has been discriminated against on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability, visit the OCR complaint portal to file a complaint online at: https://www.hhs.gov/ocr/complaints/index.html
The final rule may be viewed or downloaded at: https://www.federalregister.gov/public-inspection/2024-09237/nondiscrimination-on-the-basis-of-disability-in-programs-or-activities-receiving-federal-financial
A fact sheet on the rule is available here: https://www.hhs.gov/civil-rights/for-individuals/disability/section-504-rehabilitation-act-of-1973/part-84-final-rule-fact-sheet/index.html
AAPD Praises New Rules from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
WASHINGTON, April 26, 2024 — Earlier this week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released three final rules that will improve access to care, either through Home- and Community-Based Services (HCBS) or long-term care facilities for people with disabilities and seniors. Far too many disabled people and older adults are denied the opportunity to exercise their civil right to receive care in the most integrated setting possible. Disabled people and older adults in nursing homes routinely experience neglect, worse health outcomes, and lower life expectancy because of inadequate staffing. The rules announced this week, Ensuring Access to Medicaid Services, Managed Care Access, Finance, and Quality, and Minimum Staffing Standards for Long-Term Care Facilities, and Medicaid Institutional Payment Transparency, will improve both the quality of care received, and the quality of direct care jobs.
Accessing HCBS has been increasingly difficult – many people who need services are not able to qualify for them, and those who do qualify often stay on years-long waiting lists before they receive assistance. Low pay and worker shortages have compounded these issues. Disabled people both provide and receive care. Improving the care economy is vital to keeping disabled people in their homes and communities instead of institutions, and it is necessary to increase job quality for the direct care workforce, jobs often held by women, including Black, indigenous, or other women of color, immigrant women and disabled women.
“While it has been a persistent goal of the disability rights movement to end institutional bias and make it possible for everyone who needs it to receive support in their homes and communities. Until that day, people in nursing homes deserve high quality care, and the people providing this care deserve dignity in their work,” said Maria Town, AAPD President & CEO. “Those receiving home- and community-based care have struggled to retain and have long-term relationships with high-quality care workers because of low wages and high turnover. We are pleased that the Biden-Harris administration continues to prioritize strengthening the care workforce and is taking action to reduce abuse and neglect of disabled people in nursing homes.”
The Ensuring Access to Medicaid Services Rule (Access Rule) will improve access to home- and community-based services by strengthening oversight of person-centered planning and self-determination. The rule also requires states to create a grievance system for HCBS recipients to address problems, as well as an incident reporting system to report abuse and neglect. Importantly, the Access Rule will improve the quality of caregiving jobs by requiring 80% of Medicaid payments for homemaker, home health aide, and personal care services be spent on compensation for direct care workers, as opposed to administrative overhead or profit. Finally, the Access Rule will require states to have home care rate-setting advisory groups of beneficiaries, home care workers, and other stakeholders to help devise Medicaid payment rates for home care services and compensation for workers.
The Managed Care Access, Finance, and Quality Rule (Managed Care Rule) requires states to have maximum appointment wait time standards, including 15 days for routine primary care and gynecological/obstetrical services, and 10 days for outpatient mental health and substance abuse services. It also requires states to have a website that will serve as a one-stop shop for consumers to access information about eligibility for Medicaid and their state’s Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), compare managed care plans that are offered through the Medicaid or CHIP program, and compare plans based on key factors such as prescription drug formularies, or which healthcare providers participate in each plan. These provisions will ensure that beneficiaries can choose a managed care plan that suits their needs and are able to access the care they need in a timely manner.
The Minimum Staffing Standards for Long-Term Care Facilities and Medicaid Institutional Payment Transparency Rule establishes, for the first time, national minimum staffing requirements for long-term care facilities that receive Medicare or Medicaid funding, to ensure the safety and care of residents. The rule also establishes enhanced facility assessment requirements and creates a requirement to have an RN onsite 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to provide skilled nursing care. It also has enough flexibility in its implementation to allow for rural facilities to implement the rule in a manner that will suit their needs.
Concerns Related to Obtaining Accessible Prescription Labels at Walgreens
ACB has recently heard from some members about concerns related to obtaining accessible prescription labels at Walgreens. To assist ACB’s work concerning these access issues, it would be helpful to get a sense from all of you out there about your recent experiences getting accessible prescription label services from Walgreens. If you have gotten a prescription from Walgreens in the past 12 months, or talked with a Walgreens pharmacist about talking labels, we'd like to talk with you.
Please let us know the location of the Walgreens stores where you have had any experiences in the past 12 months, and the best email and phone number to reach you at.
You can reach out to Claire Stanley by emailing your information to [email protected] or calling the Alexandria, VA office.
FAA Reauthorization – Contact Your Members of Congress!
On Friday, May 10th, the current reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration expires, and the House of Representatives and the Senate have agreed to legislation (H.R. 3935) to reauthorize the FAA for the next 5 years. As you all might recall, ACB advocated for several key disability access provisions during the Leadership Conference and Legislative Seminar back in March. Many of these key accessibility provisions made it into H.R. 3935.
The ACB Advocacy Team once again asks our members to call their members of Congress to advocate for the passage of the FAA Reauthorization Bill (H.R. 3935). These disability access provisions include access to airline websites and apps, access to in-flight entertainment, improved training for meet and assist personnel at airports, and a service animal registration program for guide dog users to bypass the attestation form requirements to fly.
To find your member of Congress, visit house.gov or senate.gov and search using your 5-digit zip code and state. You can also call the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask for your member’s office directly.
When calling your member of Congress, you may say the following:
Hello. My name is (your name) and I live in (city/state). I am calling today to urge (Senator/Representative) to vote for and pass the FAA Reauthorization package or H.R. 3935. This bill contains several provisions that would make flying for me as a blind/low vision passenger so much more accessible (include how it improves access for you).
If you have any questions for us, please email [email protected]. Thank you, and keep advocating!
ACB’s Work on Accessible Voting
The current Assistant Attorney General, Kristen Clark, has made an effort to meet with the disability rights advocacy community on a regular basis to explain the current work of the Department of Justice and listen to the disability community’s concerns and suggestions on areas of work that should be explored. ACB has participated in these ongoing meetings and has had the opportunity to inform the DOJ on pressing issues for our community, such as the promulgation of Title II regulations for websites and the passage of the Website and Software Applications Accessibility Act. Members from the various subdivisions of the U.S. Civil Rights Division, including the Disability Rights Section, have participated in these talks. Claire and Swatha participated in one of these meetings on March 12 and advocated for accessible voting in all forms, including electronic ballot delivery and return. This opportunity has strengthened ACB’s relationship with the DOJ.
Announcing the 2024 ACB Board of Publications Candidates Pages
The ACB Board of Publications is pleased to announce the 2024 Candidates Pages. We invite any ACB member who chooses to run for one of the five elected positions on our board of directors or the three elected positions on the ACB Board of Publications to introduce yourself, respond to the four questions provided below, and, if you wish, post links, separately, to related personal, professional, or social media web pages.
The deadline for all submissions is 11:59 p.m. Eastern, on Monday, May 20, 2024.
We plan to post the 2024 Candidates’ Pages on Monday, June 3, 2024.
We will make the 2024 Candidates’ Pages available on ACB’s Leadership and ACB-Conversation lists, in “Dots and Dashes,” on www.ACB.org, and on ACB Media Channel 10. There will be abundant opportunity to amplify your responses at the live Board of Publications Candidates’ Forum, scheduled for the evening of June 19, via personal correspondence and communications with members, and via any other forums or caucuses that may be scheduled in advance of and during the ACB conference and convention.
As you respond to the following questions, please keep these guidelines in mind:
Your response to each of the four questions listed below should not exceed 300 words. The ACB Board of Publications will not edit your responses for spelling or grammar. We will limit your word count to exactly 300 words.
Share links to external web pages separately. For example, you might say, “Visit these links to learn more about me.”
Send your submission by e-mail, either pasted directly into your e-mail message or attached as a document formatted in Microsoft Word, to Sharon Lovering, [email protected]. Identify the subject of your e-mail message as “My Candidates Page.”
Please respond to the following questions:
- Introduce yourself, and explain why you wish to serve as a director on the ACB Board of Directors or a member of the ACB Board of Publications.
- What have been your strongest contributions to ACB at the national, state or special-interest affiliate, ACB Community, and/or local chapter levels, and why are these significant?
- Like many not-for-profit, membership-driven organizations whose missions revolve around advocacy and support, ACB has chosen in recent years to adopt the core values of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA). How does ACB’s stated mission of supporting people who are blind intersect with these core organizational values? If elected, what specific actions will you take to increase diversity, promote equity, encourage inclusion, and support accessibility within ACB, and how will you persuade members who are reluctant to embrace these principles to support DEIA as core ACB values?
- What is the most important challenge facing ACB? How will you work to address it?
Thank you, and good luck to all of you who choose to run for office. The future of ACB is in your hands.
People’s Choice Award Now Open for Nominations!
The Audio Description People’s Choice Award is now open for nominations. The winners will be announced during the 2024 ACB Audio Description Awards Gala, which will take place virtually on Thursday, November 14th, at 7:30 p.m. Eastern.
The Audio Description Awards Gala celebrates inclusivity and recognizes the entertainment industry’s role in providing access to film and television through audio description for people who are blind or have low vision. The Audio Description People’s Choice Award, now in its third year, is a unique opportunity for fans to get involved by showing their support for the audio description they love the most.
The selection process for the Audio Description People’s Choice Award takes place in two phases. First, ACB will accept nominations in two categories, film and series, from May 4 through May 19. Second, the top titles in each category will compete for the grand prize during a two-week voting period from July 20 to August 4.
Nominee selections must follow the nomination criteria to be eligible for the finalist vote. The Audio Description People’s Choice Award nomination form can be found at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/AD-Awards-Nominations-2024. To vote by phone, call (202) 559-2042.
Convention Corner – Marketplace
If your affiliate has something to sell or information to hand out, consider purchasing a table at Marketplace. Read on for all the details.
- Are you an entertainer or author with CDs or books to sell?
- Do you sell crafts, cosmetics, toys, etc.?
- Is your affiliate looking for a fundraiser?
- Do you have information to distribute before a specific general session?
Consider ACB’s Marketplace if you will only be at the convention for one or two days, or the long hours of the exhibit hall are too much.
ACB’s Marketplace will be located near general session and is one of the highest traffic areas in the conference and convention. It is open before each morning general session begins, and is filled with something new and exciting every day.
Your Marketplace booth will include a draped 6-foot display table and two chairs. Space is limited, and tables will be assigned on a first-come, first-served basis. Tables are $25 each, and you may reserve space for one or two days only; specify the days you prefer when registering. No food items may be sold at Marketplace.
Marketplace will be open Monday, July 8 through Thursday, July 11, from 7:30 to 10:30 a.m. To reserve a Marketplace booth, contact Michael Smitherman at (601) 331-7740.