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The Independent
6 minutes ago
- The Independent
As the ADA turns 35, groups fighting for disability rights could see their federal dollars slashed
Nancy Jensen believes she'd still be living in an abusive group home if it wasn't shut down in 2004 with the help of the Disability Rights Center of Kansas, which for decades has received federal money to look out for Americans with disabilities. But the flow of funding under the Trump administration is now in question, disability rights groups nationwide say, dampening their mood as Saturday marks the 35th anniversary of the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act. Federal dollars pay for much of their work, including helping people who seek government-funded services and lawsuits now pushing Iowa and Texas toward better community services. Documents outlining President Donald Trump 's budget proposals show they would zero out funds earmarked for three grants to disability rights centers and slash funding for a fourth. Congress ' first discussion of them, by the Senate Appropriations Committee, is set for Thursday, but the centers fear losing more than 60% of their federal dollars. The threat of cuts comes as the groups expect more demand for help after Republicans' tax and budget law complicated Medicaid health coverage with a new work-reporting requirement. There's also the sting of the timing: this year is the 50th anniversary of another federal law that created the network of state groups to protect people with disabilities, and Trump's proposals represent the largest potential cuts in that half-century, advocates said. The groups are authorized to make unannounced visits to group homes and interview residents alone. 'You're going to have lots of people with disabilities lost,' said Jensen, now president of Colorado's advisory council for federal funding of efforts to protect people with mental illnesses. She worries people with disabilities will have 'no backstop' for fighting housing discrimination or seeking services at school or accommodations at work. The potential budget savings are a shaving of copper from each federal tax penny. The groups receive not quite $180 million a year — versus $1.8 trillion in discretionary spending. Trump's administration touts flexibility for sta tes The president's Office of Management and Budget didn't respond to an email seeking a response to the disability rights groups' criticism. But in budget documents, the administration argued its proposals would give states needed flexibility. The U.S. Department of Education said earmarking funds for disability rights centers created an unnecessary administrative burden for states. Trump's top budget adviser, Russell Vought, told senators in a letter that a review of 2025 spending showed too much went to 'niche' groups outside government. 'We also considered, for each program, whether the governmental service provided could be provided better by State or local governments (if provided at all),' Vought wrote. Disability rights advocates doubt that state protection and advocacy groups — known as P&As — would see any dollar not specifically earmarked for them. They sue states, so the advocates don't want states deciding whether their work gets funded. The 1975 federal law setting up P&As declared them independent of the states, and newer laws reinforced that. 'We do need an independent system that can hold them and other wrongdoers accountable,' said Rocky Nichols, the Kansas center's executive director. Helping people with disabilities navigate Medicaid Nichols' center has helped Matthew Hull for years with getting the state to cover services, and Hull hopes to find a job. He uses a wheelchair; a Medicaid-provided nurse helps him run errands. 'I need to be able to do that so I can keep my strength up,' he said, adding that activity preserves his health. Medicaid applicants often had a difficult time working through its rules even before the tax and budget law's recent changes, said Sean Jackson, Disability Rights Texas' executive director. With fewer dollars, he said, 'As cases are coming into us, we're going to have to take less cases.' The Texas group receives money from a legal aid foundation and other sources, but federal funds still are 68% of its dollars. The Kansas center and Disability Rights Iowa rely entirely on federal funds. 'For the majority it would probably be 85% or higher,' said Marlene Sallo, executive director of the National Disability Rights Network, which represents P&As. The Trump administration's proposals suggest it wants to shut down P&As, said Steven Schwartz, who founded the Center for Public Representation, a Massachusetts-based organization that works with them on lawsuits. Investigating allegations of abuse and pushing states Federal funding meant a call in 2009 to Disability Rights Iowa launched an immediate investigation of a program employing men with developmental disabilities in a turkey processing plant. Authorities said they lived in a dangerous, bug-infested bunkhouse and were financially exploited. Without the dollars, executive director Catherine Johnson said, 'That's maybe not something we could have done.' The Kansas center's private interview in 2004 with one of Jensen's fellow residents eventually led to long federal prison sentences for the couple operating the Kaufman House, a home for people with mental illnesses about 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of Wichita. And it wasn't until Disability Rights Iowa filed a federal lawsuit in 2023 that the state agreed to draft a plan to provide community services for children with severe mental and behavioral needs. For 15 years, Schwartz's group and Disability Rights Texas have pursued a federal lawsuit alleging Texas warehouses several thousand people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in nursing homes without adequate services. Texas put at least three men in homes after they'd worked in the Iowa turkey plant. Last month, a federal judge ordered work to start on a plan to end the 'severe and ongoing' problems. Schwartz said Disability Rights Texas did interviews and gathered documents crucial to the case. 'There are no better eyes or ears,' he said. ___
Sky News
6 minutes ago
- Sky News
Company at heart of Coldplay viral video releases tongue-in-cheek clip - with a big twist
The company at the centre of a viral video at a Coldplay concert has released a tongue-in-cheek clip on social media - featuring Gwyneth Paltrow as a "temporary spokesperson". Astronomer was thrust into the spotlight after two of the tech firm's senior executives were filmed embracing on a kiss cam during a gig in Boston. Andy Byron subsequently resigned as chief executive officer - while the woman in the video, Kristin Cabot, stepped down as chief people officer a few days later. 0:28 Paltrow, who used to be married to Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, is seen sitting at a desk in the new video uploaded to X - and begins by thanking the public for their interest in Astronomer. She adds: "I've been hired on a very temporary basis to speak on behalf of the 300-plus employees at Astronomer. "Astronomer has gotten a lot of questions over the last few days - and they wanted me to answer the most common ones." Before the final word appears, the video cuts back to Paltrow, who goes on to promote some of the services Astronomer offers. In a subtle nod to the countless column inches the company has attracted, Paltrow adds: "We've been thrilled so many people have a newfound interest in data workflow automation." Another question then pops up on screen, which begins to type out: "How is your social media team holding up?" But before the sentence fully appears, Paltrow abruptly interrupts by declaring that Astronomer has spaces at an upcoming conference in September. "We'll now be returning to what we do best: delivering game-changing results for our customers," she adds at the end of the video. The marketing stunt is a sign that Astronomer is trying to put a positive spin on the scandal, which sparked feverish speculation online. After Mr Byron resigned, the company had said in a statement: "Astronomer is committed to the values and culture that have guided us since our founding. "Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability, and recently, that standard was not met." Pete DeJoy, who has taken over as interim CEO, admitted on Monday that the company has faced an "unusual and surreal" amount of attention in recent days.
Daily Mail
36 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Victory for Christian foster mom agency tried to ban after she said she wouldn't give trans child hormones
A widowed Christian mom-of-five scored a major legal victory after a federal appeals court ruled that the state of Oregon violated her constitutional rights by barring her from adopting foster children because of her refusal to support gender transitions. Jessica Bates, who says her faith prevents her from using preferred pronouns or facilitating hormone treatments, was blocked by the state after she said she could not affirm an LGBTQ + child's identity. She sued - and now, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals has sided with her, calling the state's policy a violation of her free speech and religious freedom. 'This is a win not just for me, but for people of faith who want to help kids without compromising their beliefs,' Bates said after the ruling. In a 2-1 decision issued on Thursday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down an Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS) policy that effectively barred Bates from becoming a foster parent. Bates was refusing to comply with the state's requirement to 'respect, accept and support' a foster child's gender identity and sexual orientation. 'We hold that Oregon's policy violates the First Amendment as applied to Bates,' wrote Judge Daniel Bress in the court's majority opinion, joined by Judge Michael Daly Hawkins. The court ordered a preliminary injunction blocking the state from using its current policy to prevent Bates from moving forward with the adoption process. Bates, who lives in Malheur County, said she felt 'called by God' to care for additional children after losing her husband. The five children she already has are her biological kids. She had hoped to adopt two siblings under the age of nine but was disqualified after refusing to sign a commitment to fully affirm an LGBTQ+ child's identity, including using chosen names and pronouns or providing access to gender-related medical treatments. 'I believe God gives us our gender/sex and it's not something we get to choose,' Bates wrote in her application. 'I have no problem loving them and accepting them as they are, but I would not encourage them in this behavior.' The state of Oregon argued that its policy is essential to ensure the safety and well-being of vulnerable children in its custody. But the appeals court disagreed, finding the regulation was overly broad and imposed an unconstitutional burden on Bates' free speech and religious liberty. 'It is not narrowly tailored to impose on Bates an extreme and blanket rule that she may adopt no child at all based on her religious faith,' Bress wrote. The court emphasized that the state could simply avoid placing LGBTQ+ children with Bates while still allowing her to foster or adopt. The lone dissent came from Judge Richard Clifton, who warned that Bates was seeking to foster 'only on her terms,' and that the state had a legitimate interest in protecting children from potential rejection or harm. 'Parents would not be expected to entrust their children to caregivers who volunteer that they will not respect the child's self-determined gender identity,' Clifton wrote. The case has drawn national attention and praise from conservative groups, including the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which represented Bates. 'Because caregivers like Jessica cannot promote Oregon's dangerous gender ideology to young kids and take them to events like pride parades, the state considers them to be unfit parents,' said ADF senior counsel Jonathan Scruggs. 'That is false and incredibly dangerous, needlessly depriving kids of opportunities to find a loving home. The 9th Circuit was right to remind Oregon that the foster and adoption system is supposed to serve the best interests of children, not the state's ideological crusade.' In an interview with KGW8, Bates reiterated her commitment to loving all children in her care, but said she would not affirm an LGBTQ+ identity or allow permanent medical interventions like hormone therapy. 'I'm still gonna love them deeply,' she said. 'But just like my biologicals, I probably will not allow them to do any, like, permanent... hormone injections, anything that's going to rob them of their God-given body.' Bates said she would not use a child's chosen name or pronouns and would instead steer the conversation toward her Christian faith. 'God makes our identity,' she said. 'It might not feel like a gift right now... but that's something actually really special, and you are beautiful and perfect, just how you are right now.' Asked whether she would reject an LGBTQ+ child, Bates said she would never kick a child out - except in cases of 'sexually aberrant' behavior. 'The Christian sex ethic is very narrow and simple... any of the sexual activity that's outside of God's defined institution of marriage is something I would not be OK with in my house,' she added. The court's decision now sends the case back to a lower court in Oregon, where Bates' constitutional claims will be reconsidered under strict scrutiny - the most rigorous standard in constitutional law. Historically, policies that fail this test are rarely upheld. ODHS has not yet said whether it plans to appeal the decision, but a spokesperson for the Oregon Department of Justice acknowledged the setback. 'We are disappointed in the ruling but are reviewing to determine next steps,' said Jenny Hansson. Meanwhile, Bates says she intends to continue the foster care certification process - and insists that her position is about faith, not hatred. 'I would hope that we would have open communication,' she said. 'But I would probably, you know, remind them of Christ, my Christian faith that... God makes our identity, and that's something sacred and holy.' The ruling is expected to have wide ramifications for how states balance nondiscrimination policies with religious freedom in the child welfare system and is already being hailed by Christian conservatives as a landmark win in the culture wars.
