The Trump administration is trying to slash access to lawyers who defend the rights of Americans with disabilities, advocates say.<\/p>\n
Most of the lawyers work either for the Department of Justice or for disability rights agencies that Congress set up in every state decades ago. Many of the Justice Department lawyers quit in 2025 after being reassigned to other duties, their supporters say. And Trump budget officials proposed deep cuts to federal grants supporting the state-based legal groups.<\/p>\n
People with disabilities have the right to live in their communities if possible. Federal laws and court decisions say they may attend school, work jobs, and go to restaurants, movie theaters, and other public places. If they can find lawyers, they can file legal challenges when those rights are denied.<\/p>\n
The federally funded attorneys quietly work to ensure the U.S. lives up to promises made by the Americans with Disabilities Act and other laws, said Alison Barkoff, a health law professor at George Washington University.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think many families of people with disabilities, or even many people with disabilities themselves, don\u2019t hear about it until they Google, \u2018Where can I get help?\u2019\u201d said Barkoff, who helped lead such efforts under Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama.<\/p>\n
The attorneys\u2019 goals include ensuring that people with disabilities have the services they need to live in their own homes, instead of having to move into nursing homes or other types of institutions, Barkoff said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are people who, if these supports are ripped away, are going to have to leave their communities and their families, at a higher cost for taxpayers,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The state-based disability rights groups are known as \u201cprotection and advocacy\u201d organizations. Most of them are nonprofit groups.<\/p>\n
Congress approved the federally financed system in the 1970s after TV journalist Geraldo Rivera exposed abuses<\/a> in a New York institution for people with mental and intellectual disabilities, revelations that ignited a national outcry.<\/p>\n President Donald Trump proposed cutting the system\u2019s federal funding from $148 million to $69 million for fiscal year 2026, according to the National Disability Rights Network, which represents the state-based groups.<\/p>\n Appropriations committees in the U.S. House and Senate have recommended Congress maintain funding at the previous level. But advocates for the agencies worry that even if Congress maintains current support, the administration will try again to slash their support in future years. \u201cIt definitely would put people in our communities in harm\u2019s way,\u201d said Marlene Sallo, the national network\u2019s executive director.<\/p>\n White House officials declined to comment on why the Trump administration proposed the deep cuts.<\/p>\n Isaac Schreier\u2019s family can attest to the value of the state-based legal groups.<\/p>\n Isaac, 7, lives in Ankeny, Iowa. He has a rare condition called osteogenesis imperfecta, also known as brittle bone disease. The condition has caused about 60 bone fractures, including in his limbs, spine, and skull. It can cause intense pain and leave him unable to walk.<\/p>\n At times, Isaac\u2019s disability is practically invisible, said his father, Jake Schreier. Unless he has recently suffered a broken leg bone, he walks well. \u201cBut he tires much more quickly than you or I would.\u201d<\/p>\n Isaac\u2019s doctor said he needed a special wheelchair that could be adjusted to put him in different positions depending on which bones were broken. But the private insurer that manages his Medicaid coverage declined to pay for the $3,500 wheelchair. \u201cThey required proof that it was a permanent and long-standing condition,\u201d Jake Schreier said. \u201cWe were very frustrated.\u201d<\/p>\n Schreier appealed the denial but lost. A nurse at a specialty clinic then recommended he reach out to Disability Rights Iowa, a federally funded protection and advocacy group that had helped other families in similar straits.<\/p>\n The group linked Schreier with two of its attorneys, who filed a new appeal. The lawyers wrote a detailed letter explaining why Isaac was legally entitled to the new wheelchair, and they cited specific Iowa codes and court precedents.<\/p>\n The insurer wound up paying for Isaac\u2019s special wheelchair.<\/p>\n The chair allows Isaac to participate in school and community activities even when he has broken bones. \u201cIt\u2019s absolutely night and day. I can\u2019t imagine a world where we didn\u2019t have it,\u201d his father said.<\/p>\n Isaac may again need people like the disability rights lawyers to fight for him, so he won\u2019t be shunted away from society, Schreier said. \u201cWe\u2019re really trying to keep as many doors open as possible for him.\u201d<\/p>\n The threat to the state-based groups\u2019 funding comes as the Trump administration seeks to force<\/a> more people with mental illness or addictions into institutions.<\/p>\n David Hutt, deputy executive director for legal services at the National Disability Rights Network, noted that the groups have legal authority to go into facilities where people with disabilities live, to check conditions and treatment. Those facilities include state institutions and privately owned nursing homes.<\/p>\n More Americans could wind up living in such settings if Trump succeeds in his quest to institutionalize people with mental illness who are living on the streets, Hutt said.<\/p>\n At the same time, states are facing cuts<\/a> in federal contributions to Medicaid, the public health coverage program for people with low incomes or disabilities. In response, they may be tempted to reduce Medicaid coverage of community care programs<\/a>, many of which are considered optional under federal law, Hutt said. If that happens, \u201cyou\u2019re going to get increased institutionalization, which actually costs more,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Disability rights organizations often have stepped in when states failed to provide care and services that people with disabilities are entitled to. So have lawyers from the Justice Department\u2019s civil rights division.<\/p>\n For example, Disability Rights Iowa filed a lawsuit in 2023 alleging the state failed to provide proper mental health resources for children on the Medicaid program. The state agreed to a settlement<\/a> that advocates said could bring \u201cradical change\u201d to the system.<\/p>\n In 2021, the Justice Department warned Iowa officials<\/a> that their lack of support for community services meant too many people with intellectual disabilities had to live in facilities. State officials vowed to do better.<\/p>\n Since Trump returned to office, many of the Justice Department\u2019s most experienced disability rights lawyers have taken buyouts or been reassigned to other areas, said Jennifer Mathis, a former top administrator at the Justice Department under Biden. \u201cThere\u2019s really skeleton staffing at this point,\u201d said Mathis, now deputy director of the Bazelon Center<\/a>, which advocates for rights of people with mental disabilities.<\/p>\n The overall civil rights division is down to about 300 people, fewer than half the number it had under Biden, Mathis said.<\/p>\n The civil rights division\u2019s new director, Harmeet Dhillon, told conservative commentator Glenn Beck<\/a> in April that more than 100 attorneys had left the division, but that they didn\u2019t support Trump\u2019s priorities. \u201cThe job here is to enforce the federal civil rights laws, not woke ideology,\u201d she told Beck.<\/p>\n In a statement to KFF Health News, Dhillon said the division continues to be \u201ca vocal and active advocate for Americans with disabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n Dhillon noted the department recently sued Uber<\/a> over complaints that the ride-hailing service was turning away customers with service dogs or wheelchairs; has secured agreements with Arkansas<\/a> and North Carolina<\/a> to improve treatment of imprisoned people with disabilities; and is investigating large bus companies<\/a> over allegations of failing to provide proper accommodations for people with disabilities.<\/p>\n The department declined to comment on the record about the number of attorneys it has working on disability rights issues. However, it is publicly recruiting<\/a> \u201ccivil rights warriors,\u201d including lawyers, to join the civil rights division.<\/p>\n Jake Schreier, the Iowa parent, hopes the issue will be worked out nationally. \u201cI really can\u2019t believe this is anything that would be partisan,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n KFF Health News<\/a> is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF\u2014an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF<\/a>.<\/p>\nUSE OUR CONTENT<\/h3>\n