Policy Newsletter

RespectAbility is gearing up for a critical year in state legislative policy. With several key states carrying stalled bills over from 2023 into 2024, the first few months will bring significant opportunities for individuals with disabilities. States poised to see some action include California, New York, and Pennsylvania. Though these three populous states encompass unique [click to continue...]

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released its 2022 Report to Congress on Supportive Services for Individuals with Autism. Along with employment and education issues, the report covers supportive services, such as occupational, behavioral, and speech therapies, that are covered by Medicaid, private insurance, or self-pay. The report also addresses disparities in services [click to continue...]

Monthly Employment Update for People with Disabilities According to the latest National Trends In Disability Employment (nTIDE) report: The labor force participation rate for people with disabilities grew from 38.8% in November 2022 to 41.5% in November 2023, continuing an upward trend. Workers without disabilities increased their labor force participation rate from 76.9% in November 2022 to [click to continue...]

Voting is an essential right of American citizenship that people with disabilities are too often prevented from exercising. Current voting barriers include transportation to polling sites, inaccessible buildings, cumbersome registration processes, lack of election worker training on the accessibility features of voting machines, and lack of voter privacy. RespectAbility Senior Policy Advisor Matan Koch, who [click to continue...]

According to the US Census Bureau, there are approximately 56.7 million Americans with disabilities. Despite this large number of consumers and users of technology, many modern digital technologies remain inaccessible. According to the Coalition of Organizations on Accessible Technology (COAT), under current federal law, only a small percentage of video programming must include audio descriptions [click to continue...]

Policy Agenda and Legislative Priorities RespectAbility policy staff have been working diligently throughout the past month to research the current concerns of people with disabilities. We have had many in-depth conversations with policymakers from federal and state agencies, other disability rights organizations, state agency advisory committees, grassroots activists, and people with disabilities and their families. [click to continue...]

As State Policy Manager for RespectAbility, state legislators often share with me that they or their spouse, child, parent, sibling, or close friend has a disability and they would like to be more active and involved with disability issues, but don’t know where to start. Currently, there are not very many state legislatures that have [click to continue...]

Monthly Employment Update for People with Disabilities According to the latest National Trends In Disability Employment (nTIDE) report: The labor force participation rate for people with disabilities grew to 40.4% in October 2023 from 38.7% in October 2022. This continues an upward trend we have observed throughout this year. Workers without disabilities increased their labor [click to continue...]

With California wrapping up its legislative session on September 14 and North Carolina adjourning on October 13, state legislatures are going into recess just in time for autumn. Even the full-time representatives are largely done with their major efforts for 2023. So, what now? Is everyone on vacation leaf-peeping and sipping their pumpkin spice lattes? [click to continue...]