Latest news with #DisabilityRightsCenterofKansas
3 days ago
- Health
As ADA turns 35, groups fighting for disability rights could see funds slashed
TOPEKA, Kan. -- 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. 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. 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. 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.
Hamilton Spectator
3 days ago
- Health
- Hamilton Spectator
As the ADA turns 35, groups fighting for disability rights could see their federal dollars slashed
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — 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. ___ Hunter reported from Atlanta.
Toronto Star
3 days ago
- Health
- Toronto Star
As the ADA turns 35, groups fighting for disability rights could see their federal dollars slashed
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — 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.
Winnipeg Free Press
3 days ago
- Health
- Winnipeg Free Press
As the ADA turns 35, groups fighting for disability rights could see their federal dollars slashed
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — 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. Wednesdays What's next in arts, life and pop culture. 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. ___ Hunter reported from Atlanta.
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Proposed federal budget cuts could have ‘grim impact' on Kansans with disabilities
Rocky Nichols, executive director of the Disability Rights Center of Kansas, is closely watching proposed federal cuts to programs that serve individuals with disabilities. (Kansas Reflector screen capture from Kansas Legislature video) TOPEKA — A leaked federal budget and the president's budget forced Kansas advocates for people with disabilities to consider potential funding losses that could dramatically affect their services. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services budget for fiscal year 2026 was leaked to the press in April. It contained significant cuts to wide-ranging services, from mental health to developmental disabilities assistance to substance use programs, all of which would affect the vulnerable people the Disability Rights Center of Kansas serves, the organization's leader said. 'I think everyone is taking it extremely seriously,' said Rocky Nichols, executive director of the Disability Rights Center of Kansas. 'The disability community is pretty concerned about these types of proposals.' Nichols shared a list outlining budget details, from the leaked budget and the president's budget bill, that include 'deep cuts' for the protection and advocacy system. Nichols said the proposed cuts would have a 'grim impact.' 'Everything in the leaked budget is coming to fruition,' he said, pointing to the U.S. Department of Education budget information released recently, which confirmed some of the expected budget cuts. With budgets for two disability programs unknown, Nichols estimated that federal budgets for programs serving people with disabilities would be cut by more than 64%. 'The best case scenario is, given what we know about the president's budget, if the two programs that are outstanding are level funded at last year's amount, it would be a 64% cut to our programs,' Nichols said. 'If those programs are zeroed out, it would be an 87% cut.' That would be devastating for Kansans with disabilities, he said. The state agency charged with supporting Kansans with disabilities said it's too early to determine how the Washington policies might affect state work. In a breakdown of proposed cuts in a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services budget, Protection and Advocacy for Developmental Disabilities funding dropped from $45 million in fiscal year 2025 to zero for 2026, said Rocky Nichols, executive director of the Disability Rights Center of Kansas. The Disability Rights Center is part of this program, as are the Kansas Council for Disability Rights and the Kansas University Center on Disabilities, he said. Nichols highlighted proposed budgets for other programs, shown here with the 2025 fiscal year budget amount followed by the proposed 2026 budget amount: Funding for the Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with Mental Illness program, which serves people with significant mental illness, dropped from $40 million to $14.1 million. The Client Assistance Program serves people accessing programs funded under the Rehabilitation Act, like Vocational Rehabilitation, $13 million to $0. The Protection and Advocacy for Voting Access, which helps people with disabilities register to vote and cast a ballot, $10 million to $0. Protection and Advocacy for Individual Rights serves people who do not have a developmental disability or significant mental illness, which is the majority of Americans with disabilities, Nichols said, including people with mobility impairments, hearing and vision loss and mental illness that is not considered significant. $20.15 million to $0. Protection and Advocacy for Traumatic Brain Injury and Protection and Advocacy for Assistive Technology, which serves people with disabilities who need access to assistive technology, were maintained at current funding in the proposed budget, $4.96 million and $5.27 million respectively. Budget information for two programs is still unknown — Protection and Advocacy for Beneficiaries of Social Security, which helps people who receive Social Security disability and who have barriers to employment, and Representative Payee, which is a program that conducts monitoring and review of representative payees who oversee Social Security benefits. 'At this time, it's too early to comment on how these proposals may translate into actual policy changes or what the downstream effects on state programs might be,' said Cara Sloan-Ramos, Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services spokeswoman. 'We are actively monitoring the situation and will be better positioned to assess the implications once more concrete details emerge.' For Nichols, the proposed financial cuts would translate to significant service cuts. 'The developmental disability network is us, the Developmental Disability Council and the Kansas University Center on Disabilities,' Nichols said. 'Collectively, the DD network serves 46,000 Kansans with intellectual and developmental disabilities, which includes diagnoses like autism, Down syndrome and Fragile X syndrome.' Nichols said Congress set up the developmental disability network in the 1970s because people with disabilities were being taken advantage of and their rights were being trampled. Proposed funding in the president's bill would eliminate Nichols' organization, the Disability Rights Center, where services include intensive disability rights advocacy services and the ability to respond to abuse, neglect and exploitation, Nichols said. The organization is designated as the protection and advocacy agency for Kansas, which gives it special powers to investigate abuse and neglect in the disability community. Nichols shared a 2004 example of physical and sexual abuses in the Kaufman House in Newton. When other law enforcement couldn't enter the home, the Disability Rights Center was able to do so, which was the catalyst for finding out about abuses and allowed them to help individuals with disabilities escape the situation, he said. Malinda Barnett and Brian Ellefson, members of the disability community, both have spent their lives working to protect and advocate for people with disabilities. Barnett is executive director of the Statewide Independent Living Council of Kansas and Ellefson retired as director of an independent living program. He now volunteers for disability organizations. The proposed cuts to disability programs are worrying, they said, but Barnett is even more worried about proposed Medicaid cuts included in the budget bill that passed the U.S. House. More than 56,000 Kansans with disabilities are enrolled in Medicaid, according to KFF, which tracks enrollment rates nationwide. 'So many supports that are funded through Medicaid are essential to people with disabilities, and so that's my biggest concern,' she said. 'Medicaid waivered services were created to keep people out of institutions, and so if those are taken away, then there's a strong possibility that people will have to go back to being institutionalized.' While that is obviously not what anyone in the disability community wants, Barnett said it also doesn't make sense financially. 'In the end, it does cost more money than Medicaid waiver services,' she said. 'Nursing home services cost more money than home- and community-based services.' Nichols agreed that proposed cuts would lead to more people being institutionalized, something the disability community has been consistently moving away from for decades. 'These programs that we're talking about, developmental disabilities network on the I/DD side and then the protection and advocacy network across all disabilities, help people with disabilities navigate Medicaid, help them cut through red tape and navigate complex bureaucracies — that's like going from bad to worse,' he said. Medicaid cuts will kick people off of services and then they won't have anywhere to turn to overcome the barriers they face, Nichols said. Ellefson has spent his life helping people with disabilities become more independent with a goal of living on their own. Medicaid cuts would mean loss of support for individuals from waivers, and it would decrease quality of life for many people with disabilities, he said. 'The purpose of the waivers is so those individuals with disabilities that live independently can be more productive people in society, can find employment and can have more dignified quality of life,' he said. 'With the cuts in Medicaid, they're going to end up in institutions, which is what we're trying to avoid.'
