by Elise
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is threatening the rights of people living with disabilities. Its Office of Legal Counsel issued an opinion that neither the Americans with Disabilities Act nor Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act require “states to treat mentally disabled patients in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs.” This flies in the face of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 1999 that “states are required to provide community-based treatment for persons with mental disabilities.” The DOJ is no longer requiring states to provide home- and community-based care for people living with disabilities. People living with disabilities, their supporters and disability rights organizations are fighting back. The governors of 17 states have sent a letter to President Trump urging him and the DOJ to not move backwards on disability rights.
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Women Enabled International Facebook page
Worldwide, some of the strongest voices for disability rights have emerged from the one in five women and girls living with a disability because they feel excluded from discussions about human rights, including disability rights, gender equality and democracy. Their voices are even more critical in nations weakening existing disability rights under pressure from reactionary religious groups who declare that disability rights advocacy is a form of foreign interference. Because military spending has been increasing, funds for disability programs and gender equality are often transferred to the military. Women Enabled International urges funders, civil society organizations and policymakers to invest in women and to have women living with disabilities at the center of protecting democracy and human rights and to strengthen gender equality and disability rights, which intersect.
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Being Heumann, a biopic about the late Judy Heumann, known as the Mother of the Disability Rights Movement, opened the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival. Directed by Sean Heder, the cast included people living with disabilities playing the disabled characters. Among her work, Heumann organized the longest occupation of a federal building—25 days—in 1977 in San Francisco. They were protesting Health, Education and Welfare Secretary Joseph Califano who had refused to implement Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, prohibiting all programs and activities from receiving federal financial assistance if they discriminated against people living with disabilities. That launched protests across the U.S. calling for increased rights of people living with disabilities.