Town/Schuller/Radecic: Disability Rights Year in Review

Welcome to Disability Matters with your host Joyce Bender. All comments, views, and opinions expressed on the show are solely those of the host, guest, and callers. Now the host of Disability Matters, here's Joyce Bender.

Welcome everyone. Here we are. It's the end of the year and still I have all of you great listeners Do you know next year is my 22nd year? Hard to believe. Hard for me to believe. I still remember the first show. I probably had 10 people listening if I was lucky. But, you know, it's taken off ever since then. And I— so I want to thank you. I want to thank all of you great listeners, your support. I love you all. Thank you so much. And to all of my listeners around the world. Boy, has this exploded. We're now up to 30 countries with listeners, you know, from China to Australia to Thailand. I mean, it's amazing. Oh, Germany, big listeners in Germany, big listening audience. So thank you all. You know, I say this on every show. I'll say it to you. It only takes one person, one person to make a big difference. I'm going to give you an example. In 1995, I met with Bill Lowry when Highmark was called Blue Cross of Western Pennsylvania. While he was CEO, he had the merger headed up and it became Highmark. Blue Cross of Western Pennsylvania and Blue Shield merged together and it became Highmark. When I met with Bill, I told him, hey Bill, you know, I see how terrible the employment is for people with disabilities. Keep in mind now, that was only 5 years before— after the ADA, 5 years after the ADA was signed. So I said, Bill, I have this dream. I want to start this company. I want it to be for-profit, no pity, with benefits. So would you agree to bring on 6 people into your IT area? They do not have experience— well, they have some academic experience, no, no work experience— and keep them on contract for 3 years? Now, may I tell you that today, if I went to companies and said, hey company, will you bring on 6 people on contract and keep them on for 3 years? This is what I'd hear. Oh, I've got to talk to the procurement. No, no, I've got to talk to legal. You know, the chief human capital officer's got to buy into this. Oh, the resource manager. I mean, I'd hear all of them. You know what would happen? Zero would happen. So guess how long it took Bill Lowry to make that decision? One day. That's it. One day. And he said yes. And now when I speak with the State Department around the world, I'll be somewhere— here I am in Indonesia— and I'll say, If Bill could see this, he would never believe one man, one decision, thousands of people with disabilities found employment. I became a national, international leader for epilepsy and employment, a radio show. You know, he, he would never have conceived that. Now, he did live and saw how Bender took off finding employment for everyone. But several years ago, you know, he passed away. I wrote an op-ed, One Man, One Decision. So I am telling you around the world, one man or woman, one decision. You go and tell people that are English speaking, go to different people, you know, different NGOs and tell them about this radio show because you will help spread quality of life. You know, in Asia there's pervasive shame if you have a disability. You will have a big impact, as I can see you are now with what has happened. So once again, Richard Roberts in Brazil, special shout out. You know I love you. Pyongyang in South Korea. I love you and everyone connected with the State Department. Soon next year, not just Brazil, but Brunei. I am so ashamed. Now, I'm gonna know, uh, Maria Town knows where this is. I did not. I didn't know where in Asia it was located, but I'll be coming., and I am going to be spreading that news, uh, and there's someone that I have for over 6 years heralded, and that's Yoshiko Dart. Yoshiko, you know I love you. I will be talking about you with a shout out forever because it bothers me that in our schools we don't teach very much disability history. As I always say, go out on the street, do a poll, Who is Justin Dart? Who is Justin Dart? So for that reason, I always— I'm going to do that. And Yoshiko, I know right now you're saying, "Lead on!" I know you are, and you know I love you. And I love Highmark. They have been the lead sponsor for years. So thank you so much, Highmark. Such a great company you are. And today We are going to talk to 3 superstar disability rights leaders. This is the most listened to and loved show all year, and I always look forward to it. And we have with us today Maria Towne, the CEO of the American Association of People with Disabilities. Just love her. Uh, Perry Jude, love her. From the DRA. But Perry, you can even talk about what you'll be doing next when we get you on here. Perry has been my newscaster for 6 years. Guess what, Perry? You don't have to be newscaster today because you are the news. So it's great, Perry. I love you so much. And Megan, this is the first time you have ever participated in this year-end show. And Megan is with Baselon. I'm so honored to be also on the board of Baselon and AAPD, and I'm thrilled to have you with us today, Megan, who's the lead legal director at Baselon Center for Mental Health Law. So we're going to talk about the good and the bad today. We're going to talk about the bad that happened, or what we wish had happened that didn't happen, and the good that happened and that will happen In 2025. And Maria, I have to start with you. Uh, would you mind introducing yourself again? I always tell people, remember, people around the world don't know you well. Maria knows everyone, so I take that back. But Maria, we'll start with you if you would introduce yourself, uh, the organization that you lead, uh, and, and a little bit about that organization. So welcome.

Maria. Thank you so much, Joyce, and happy New Year. I hope you had a great 2024. Um, as Joyce has mentioned, my name is Maria Town, and I serve as the president and CEO of the American Association of People with Disabilities, or AAPD. AAPD is a national cross-disability civil rights organization focused on advancing the political and economic power of the more than 70 million people with disabilities in the United States. And we do this through a combination of advocacy and education efforts, as well as programs that create opportunities for community and leadership development in the disability community. So thanks for having me, Joyce.

And if I'm right, uh, in the past, this administration Wasn't AAPD selected like sort of as the convener that the administration would go to? Something to that?

I don't think that we, you know, there was any kind of formal designation, but AAPD along with organizations like Bazelon and possibly Disability Rights Pennsylvania, I just, I don't know, you know, often would be consulted by leaders in the Biden administration on disability policy decisions or engagements. And, you know, as someone who's been a political appointee in the past, everything is a sprint. And so you often rely on trusted organizations to help execute key things. So if the administration needs to bring people together quickly, to convene a conversation on an issue, they would often reach out to AAPD, and again, I'll say Bazelon as well, to figure out who should be at the table to help get people to DC to have the conversation, things like that. And AAPD has played that role, I think, many times in its almost 30-year history. We turn 30 next year, Joyce, can you believe it?

Yes, I can, because we do also at Bender Consulting Services. I always tell people we grew up with AAPD. Hard to believe that we are both turning 30, AAPD and Bender Consulting Services. And just for those listeners around the world, Maria, I know you worked for the Department of Labor with the Office of Disability Employment Policy. And you also worked in Houston. Was it with the mayor's office?

Uh, yes, I ran the Houston mayor's office for people with disabilities, and that's Houston, Texas, which is the fourth largest city in the United States, for your international listeners.

And, um, so you also know, listeners, whether you're in Germany or— I see here Saudi Arabia, one person— uh, no matter where you are I know how when I go to other countries, how you're always so excited to hear about our president and the White House. So Maria, what else did you do?

I, um, so after I worked for the Department of Labor, I worked in the Obama White House, and I led disability engagement and engagement of older adults for President Obama. Which was a huge, a huge honor and a very hard job.

Yeah, a lot of people don't know that. They think you become an appointee or a staffer and we look at me, but that's not how it is. Not like morning to night working. Yeah. So Megan, how about you? And then we'll go to Perry.

Thank you so much, Joyce. It's an honor to get to join And this is my first time doing this episode. And given that we are celebrating New Year's, I have to give a shout out to my family that I am celebrating and bringing the new year in with in Pitesti, Romania, and also in Germany, who I am so grateful to be celebrating with this year. So a big shout out to all of our international listeners. And I will say la merci for those.

Oh, they're gonna love this. Yeah, this is awesome.

So as Joyce explained, I am the legal director at the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law. Our mission is, I would say, both lofty and simple. We want people with mental health disabilities and intellectual and developmental disabilities to get to live in their communities with the supports and services they need to thrive. That means kids living with their families. It means schools investing in the success of all of their students, including students with mental health challenges and behavioral disabilities. It means people having jobs that bring them fulfillment and purpose and getting the supports that they need so that they can succeed and participate in employment and live in their communities and feel safe. And so that's what we're fighting for. And it's been a busy year and we've got a busy year ahead.

I had a question for you, for our listeners. Bazelon, I know you— is this your 51st?

This is, yes. I joined the Bazelon Center as we celebrated our 50th. Anniversary, and we are now in year 51.

And I was there at the gala. It was fantastic, Megan. Plus we had Kristen Welker— is that her name? Meet the Press— was also there. And Anwar, who was our— pronounce for me— our master of ceremonies.

Oh, you're putting me on the spot to remember names and information.

Look at me.

Wait, Maria Woodruff was there.

That's what it was.

Yes. Yeah, Judy Woodruff was there. And Al Hines. That's it. Yeah. Yeah. And who was the— is she from PBS?

Oh, are you thinking of Amna Nawaz?

Thank you.

Yeah, that's it. Amna Nawaz is the current anchor for PBS NewsHour. She replaced Judy Woodruff when she retired.

So you can see how awesome this event was. But, uh, for our listeners, Megan, how did you become known as the Baselon Center?

That is another great question, and I'm glad you asked. Um, so we are named in honor of Judge David Bazelon, who was one of the leaders in really establishing mental health law and precedent when he was on the federal bench. And his family continues to be very involved in the Bazelon Center and huge supporters of our work and on our board. And he was really, you know, broke new ground. I mean, When we talk about 50 years, that's well before the Americans with Disabilities Act. Um, and so he heard cases where he was addressing these issues of the rights of people with mental health conditions before the law was really well established. And he was a leader in this space before his time, really. Um, and it is Thanks to their support and some of the groundbreaking cases that he decided, that we're able to do our work.

Yes, that— and, you know, a lot of people, they ask me that because they don't know. And his family, uh, also is involved still today with the center and on the board. Yeah, Emily. Yeah, yeah. And, uh, Go ahead.

I was just saying both his son as well as his granddaughters are very actively involved, um, and we're so grateful to them, um, serving on the board and also supporting our work in other ways because they are all very impressive individuals in their own right that do a lot of really impactful work.

Thank you. Well, Perijude Radesic, here we are, New Year's Eve. Wow, did this year go fast or what? It seems like We were just having a show with David Holmberg, CEO of Highmark. And guess what? Because he kicks off the year, we will be having a show with David Holmberg the first— next week, first Tuesday in January. So how about that? So happy New Year's Eve to my sportscaster, otherwise known as my newscaster. Newscaster, still, still exciting. Don't have to be sportscaster to be exciting, unless of course sportscaster, how great all the teams in Pittsburgh are, right, Perry?

Oh, absolutely. I'll talk about sports all day long. And for all, Happy New Year's to everyone. And guess what? You'll have a day full of sports, uh, for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. So, uh, Certainly we could cover sports, Joyce.

There you go. See that? She's, uh, got it all. So Perry, how about you? What do you do? Uh, tell everyone about the DRA and then about the new position you'll be moving into. I'm sure everyone will be excited about that. But still and always my newscaster for 6 years, my only newscaster who who everyone loves. I get compliments all the time. So, Harry, how about introducing yourself?

Thanks, Joyce Bender. It's good to be here with Megan and Maria as well. Yeah, so I'm the— for the last 10 years, I've been the Chief Executive Officer of Disability Rights Pennsylvania, and before that, I was the Executive Director at Arizona Center for Disability Law. Both organizations are part of the National Disability Rights Network. We're a national network of law firms across the country that protect and advocate for people with disabilities on a wide variety of disability-related legal issues, abuse and neglect. Our mission is about protecting people from abuse, neglect, and segregation, and also addressing discrimination here in Pennsylvania on a variety of issues related to employment, housing, public access, transportation, education, and voting rights, among others. So it's a very broad mission on a variety of disabilities that people have and come to us with, and it's great work. And there's one of us in every state and territory. So if you're listening in Montana and want to know how to contact your P&A there, or in Georgia or Florida, you go to ndrn.org and you can click on the main page and find your disability rights law firm in that state. Certainly we do work with Bazelon. I'm always happy to have their input into our important litigation and Can't think of anything more important than voting rights work, and we do that with REV UP and AAPD. So I love the collaboration here, Joyce.

Thank you so much, Perry. Well, listen, I have a lot of things to talk about, but I wanna get to the main theme of this show today because that's what I get all the comments about, and that's what everyone loves to hear from you three. Since you are national leaders. So I'm going to start with you, Maria. I said I'm going to talk about the good and the bad, so let's get the bad out of the way so we could talk about the good. What did you think was bad or negative or not what you wanted it to be in the disability community in 2024?

Well, Joyce Bender, since Perry talked about voting, I wanted to start there. So one of the things that AAPD did this year that was new for us is we set up an election protection boiler room and we worked with the Election Protection Coalition to assist in addressing voting rights issues on Election Day. And a lot of protection and advocacy organizations like disability Rights Pennsylvania do this in their states as well. And during that whole day, one of the things that kept happening was people experienced very solvable and predictable barriers to voting, not having transportation to get to the polls, or even if they had transportation, not having enough time to get to the polls, or people assuming that they could vote online or over the phone because we do so much online or remotely. And what's happening now is that the ways that people can vote do not match the ways that people can engage in their lives day to day, and it's causing issues. And so although I think AAPD did so much work to really get out the disability vote this year, it continues to be this just incredible Herculean effort, and many states and localities continue to try to suppress the vote. And even this year, we gave a lot of grassroots leaders and disability organizations funds and a whole lot of resources. We reached more than 250,000 voters, and that's just with the initial data that we've gotten back. Really incredible stuff. And still, it is not enough to curtail some of the voter suppression efforts that are happening across the country. And so we're gonna continue to need to focus on maintaining our democracy and making sure that people with disabilities play a key part in that. And the reason why I wanted to mention this is often you see a lot of attention on voting in big election years, which this year was for the United States. And then in the following year, people don't talk about voting as much. But I want us to continue to talk about voting because even in years where there's not a presidential election or maybe big Senate races, there continue to be elections that really impact people's daily lives for things like planning commissioner or school board or mayor. And people with disabilities need to have, an active voice in all of those.

And so important. You're so right, Maria, because when you have— whether it's a Senate race or of course the presidential election— you have to go extremely early to make sure you can get a place and, you know, have all that planned. Whereas when you go for these other elections, sometimes there are hardly any people there. You've gotta vote, everyone. You've gotta vote. And may I also say research. Find out what the platform is and how it impacts disability. Hey, as Sherrell Barber, who is the daughter of the Reverend Dr. William Barber, said to me, remember, civil rights started at school boards. So very important. So how about you, Megan? What did you not like or, you know, that you wish had been different in 2024.

Thank you, Joyce Bender. You know, I think one of the concerning trends that we have seen in the United States over the past year are more calls for institutionalizing people with disabilities and for a return to You know, something we have fought against and made progress on for decades, to go back to, um, you know, what are essentially the New Age asylums. And there was even an article that was printed calling for a return to asylums for people with mental health conditions in particular. And it's very troubling because I think there's just perhaps a lack of memory of why we stopped doing that. The terrible atrocities that we have seen occur in those institutions continue, and there was a New York Times article recently about Acadia Healthcare psychiatric hospitals, United Healthcare psychiatric hospitals, which are just an example of a broader issue that we also see in a lot of the state, um, facilities that people are subject to abuses. They are held against their will. They are the victims of crimes and assaults. And also, we know that it's not very effective. There are so many alternative options that are far more humane and effective— giving people services in the community where they can live in their homes, in their communities, It costs less. It's more effective with long-term solutions. And I'm concerned to have seen people looking for a sort of what feels like, I think to them, a quick fix to some of these broader problems and challenges to do with having a lot of people who are unhoused and having, seeing, you know, an increase in mental health stressors and challenges in our communities. But we're looking to things that are not gonna work, quite frankly, um, that are just gonna lead to more people cycling through jails and hospitals and emergency departments and are putting people in harm's way when we have a safer, more effective way to do it. So that is something that I've been really troubled by and that we've been doing a lot of work to try to change that narrative. And also to just try to reach people that there's an alternative and it's more effective, and it's what people who actually have mental health conditions have had far better experiences with.

Oh my God, that's terrible. That is terrible. Talk about going back in time to a hellacious time. I mean, that is Absolutely horrible. And you know what would also happen, Megan? How people would be overmedicated. I've got to keep this person at bay, so to speak. You would have this overmedication of people with mental health issues. May I ask one last question about that? Sure. How do you, do you think that's probable? Do you think that's possible?

That we return to institutions. I fear, um, that it is already happening in a lot of places, that a lot of states are looking for more funding to build institutions that might look a little different to people, and they might not call it a psych hospital, or they're using nursing homes but just housing, you know, the majority of people with mental health conditions in certain nursing homes. That's something we just saw raised by the Department of Justice in one of their findings letters. So they may look a little bit different, but the experiences unfortunately are far too much the same. Um, and we're also seeing pushes for reducing the bar for involuntary commitment and forced treatment that makes people more resistant to even engaging with any of these systems and services that could be helping them. And just is breaking the trust. So I don't want to give this answer on New Year's Eve as we look forward to what's ahead, but I think people need to know this is a very real risk. It really could happen, and we need to rise up to stop it.

Well, but I'm glad you brought it up because Perry, I'll move on to you here. As we always say, we've seen different issues where Perry has said to the listeners, do this or get out and vote about this or, you know, respond to this, where they have. It has been unbelievable. Isn't that right, Perry?

Oh, absolutely, Joyce. Your listeners have been great, and many times, you know, the listeners want to follow up to a story that we've aired on Disability Matters with Joyce Bender, and, and we follow up and we find out that yes, indeed, your listeners responded, and now we have a new regulation. Your listeners responded, and you know, now there's a new executive order. There's something new that happens that moves us forward as a disability community that is systemic change, and your listeners always respond. Always, Joyce Bender. It's wonderful. So I need your listeners to keep listening and grow this show so that we can use it as a vehicle for the next administration when there are policy changes and we need people to show up and respond. It's like voting, but in a different way.

Yeah, right. Well, you know why I asked you or said that? Megan was saying, "Ai, you know, this is bad news, but it is the news." But once again, what do you always say to our listeners? Say something about it. Talk to your representatives, write to them, talk, right, Perry?

Absolutely. We always say advocacy matters. And so, you know, people need to not only vote, but absolutely, Joyce, engage with legislators to tell them, no, we don't want laws in our states that are gonna limit how people vote or to expand guardianship in a bad way or to build more institutions and fund more institutions instead of putting put that money into home and community-based services and don't cut community-based mental health services. Put more money into the community-based system so that then people don't end up in an acute situation and become hospitalized. So there's lots to do, Joyce, always lots to do.

Well, how about you personally, Perry? What, what were you disappointed in that happened?

2024? Well, Megan and Maria were both there last night. You know, Pennsylvania lost Senator Casey. Not only did Senator Casey lose the election, we lost our champion on legislative and policy issues in the U.S. Senate. And, you know, that's personally disappointing. He's championed the ABLE Act and increasing the age to be able to participate participate in the ABLE Act. We heard that last night. Home and community-based services and funding home and community-based services across the country and trying to get wages up for workers and bringing issues like 14 and phasing out 14. It's been so important to have a champion. We had Senator Kennedy and then we had Senator Harkin and then we had Senator Casey and we need a new champion. And right now, uh, we don't have that champion. So your listeners need to contact their United States senators and say, hey, I need you to replace Senator Casey.

I agree with you, Perry, about, to me, a heartbreaking loss in 2024. Do you know, I remember years ago, well, it was right after Senator Harkin You know, retired and chose not to run for office again. And I met with him and said, wow, we're really going to need you. But he had already decided, I'm going to carry that flag. And he did. I mean, he did. So everyone, here you go. You heard what Perry said. You have to do that. And Perry, you told our listeners something I thought was really great the last thing, uh, show, and that was to get in touch with that office and thank him.

Yes, absolutely. You can, uh, find that at senate.gov, uh, s-e-n-a-t-e dot gov. Uh, click on Find Your Senator and, uh, you'll get an email address, you'll get a phone number, and call. In fact, call call now, uh, because, uh, soon the staff will be gone, uh, another senator's staff will be in there. And, uh, and so it's important to, to let Senator Casey know how it— how important he's been to the disability community, to us.

And just to add, you do not have to be a Pennsylvanian to make that call or to make that contact, right? If you are someone who has been impacted or inspired by Senator Casey's work on disability, whether you live in Pennsylvania, Idaho, California, or you live abroad, you can make that outreach to say thank you.

So, and here we are at the end of the year, but there are ways to reach him. But as Perry said, you've got to do it before, uh, we're into the middle of January, such as this week or today. But you know what Maria said is true. You know, if you feel this impacted you, no matter where you are, but you know, we always say, oh, we don't have enough people helping us. He did. He did. You need to say thank you. You really do. You need to say thank you. And thank you for mentioning that last week, uh, Perry. Well, Maria, now we're on to good news. By the way, Maria, okay, I have to say, what was the best movie of 2024?

So Joyce, I was going to talk about this anyway, so this is perfect. Uh, I have now seen, as of earlier this week, I've seen Wicked 3 times in the theater. I have never seen any movie this many times in the theater. And one of the good things that I think has happened in 2024, and we've seen this really over the past couple of years, but is, is improved disability representation in the media. For folks who are fans of Wicked, there are multiple characters with disabilities. And they do such a great job of highlighting some of the things that people with disabilities encounter every day and how frustrating it can be. And they don't do it from a kind of lens of pity or charity. It's just very real. And there are so many other pieces of media that have been released this year. There's a documentary on Hulu called Patrisse, which, um, highlights the story of two people with intellectual disabilities who are on benefits who are trying to get married. It is excellent. There is a, um, show or a film on Disney+ called Out of My Mind that is the story of a young adult with cerebral palsy who is non-verbal. The actress who plays the main character is a person with very significant CP. And, you know, having cerebral palsy myself, I've heard from a lot of other people with CP who are excited about this film and about the way that disability is represented. And I just found out, you know, Apple TV is going to do a documentary on Deaf President Now. And, you know, just to give us like a kind of point in time examination, in 2019, 2020, We were so excited about Crip Camp on Netflix, and Crip Camp continues to be exciting and everyone should watch it. But part of the reason we were excited is because there just wasn't much out there like Crip Camp. And now, you know, I'm here today looking across all of 2024 going into 2025. I can't even list like the exciting disability media that's been produced this year. And that is a good problem to have.

It is a great problem to have, especially when people with disabilities play the part. Yes, the person with the disability.

And to go back to Wicked, um, the, the character of Nessarose is a wheelchair user, and the woman playing Nessarose, named Marisa Bode, she is the first wheelchair user to play Nessarose ever. And Wicked is what, 22 years old? And it's, you know, been Uh, it's still on Broadway. It's been, uh, put on around the world, and finally we have a wheelchair user playing Nessarose. This is a big deal.

Yes, and I am— as Maria knows, I love this movie. In my life, in my life, I have never gone to see a movie again, and yes, I will be going to see it again. So, um, I agree with you though. Maria, well, what else were you going to say about 2025?

About the good in 2024, you mean?

I'm sorry, the good in 2024.

Um, so I, I have to talk about the progress we made on ending subminimum wage for people with disabilities. Uh, all three of our organizations have worked on this issue for years, um, and So that folks know, in the United States, employers, certain employers can pay people with disabilities less than minimum wage. And I'm talking pennies on the hour. And we have seen this practice decline a whole lot in recent years thanks to the efforts of people like Senator Casey, who Perry mentioned. But this practice, this discriminatory practice, is still legal and it has been legal for almost 90 years. Now, when you think about it, the world has changed so much in 90 years, right? Like, I probably would not be here today were it not for laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the Developmental Disabilities Act. All of this whole civil rights canon has happened since this law was passed almost 90 years ago, and yet it's still legal to pay people with disabilities less than minimum wage. Well, the Department of Labor just put out a proposed rule to end the use of Section 14 certificates, which are the things that allow employers to pay people with disabilities less than minimum wage. They are now calling for public comments. So this is a big action item for your listeners. If you are someone who thinks that people with disabilities should be paid minimum wage or more, you should say that to the Department of Labor because we have until January 17th to let them know that this practice needs to be ended. Then as a community, we have to get the incoming Trump administration to finalize the rule, which I actually think that they will do. But even getting to that proposed rule is a very big deal. And especially as someone who used to work at the Department of Labor, when I was at the Department of Labor, you know, more than 10 years ago, people did not think that they could address this issue. They really thought that it was going to take an act of Congress to change this system. And we have worked really hard to use every tool that we can to promote pay equity and better jobs for disabled people. And I'm really excited about the progress that we made.

Oh, this is so important. This, I mean, so you all know, we're meaning a dollar with less than a dollar. I mean, you know, this is like slavery for these people. You know, they're doing all this work and being paid nothing. So please do what Maria said. Please go and make comments. Go to the Department of Labor. And Maria, you know, if you send me something, I'll also put that out for Voice America. If you send me what you want them to do.

Thank you, Joyce Bender.

Yes, that is awesome. A great way to start the year, right? A great way to start the year. Megan, how about you? What are you happy about from 2024?

Um, you know, we saw the passage of an incredible groundbreaking new regulation, and for folks not in the legal space, that is what government agencies issue to interpret a law, a federal law, and that law is the Rehabilitation Act. And Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act is what preceded the Americans with Disabilities Act, um, was very much the template from which the Americans with Disabilities Act was written and also applies to the federal government, which the ADA does not, to protect the rights of people with disabilities. And before that, people with disabilities were glaringly excluded from civil rights protections. So it's a critical law, but it's also, um, decades, decades old, over 70 years old, and we hadn't had a new regulation to update what the interpretation is and how it applies to our lives today. And what does it mean to not discriminate? And that was a really huge achievement. And I really do hope that going into 2025, we see really broad bipartisan support. This is something that was heavily worked on in the prior Trump administration and through the Biden administration. And has long been a bipartisan issue. People with disabilities are Republicans, Democrats, and Independents. They're Black, white, brown, and Indigenous. They are veterans, they are aging, they are children. They're all of us, right? We are people with disabilities. I am a person with mental health challenges. We need everyone to come together to protect these laws that we have long relied on and perhaps have come to take for granted and don't even appreciate the impact on our lives. And so I am incredibly proud of that accomplishment that the disability community did a huge amount of work to make happen, to comment on, to help shape what that looks like and to shape the law that dictates what our rights are.

Oh yes. So awesome. Maria, did you wanna make a comment about that?

Oh, I just wanted to say that the Rehab Act is 50 years old. I wish it was 70 years old.

I wish it was.

That would've been amazing.

I think that you all learning that names and dates are not my strength. Thank you for correcting me on that, Maria. I also wanted to say, and this is totally going back to what we were saying before, but Holly, our CEO, who many of you listeners know well, would kill me for not having been able to remember who were the different incredible speakers at our 50th anniversary. And Maria was, of course, right that it was Judy Woodruff from the PBS NewsHour. And we had Al Hunt from the Politics War Room, and he used to be at the Wall Street Journal. But I also wanted to make sure that people knew that in 2024, when Amna Nawaz was our emcee, our Visionary Award recipient was Joyce Bender.

Yes.

And it is because of your leadership, this program, and the incredible other work that you do to benefit people with disabilities and all the support that you give to us at Bazelon, I would be very remiss if I did not point that out as one of the very happy, great things I think happened in 2024.

Oh, thank you so much, Megan. Thank you so much. And may I say, it was one of my greatest honors. I always, you know, I always looked up to Bazelon. So to receive that from Bazelon, what an honor. Well, how about you, Perry? What, what are you happy about from 2024?

Well, Joyce Bender, it's guardianship reform, and there are so many abuses in our states around guardianship laws and what families do, what judges do, what attorneys do to get guardianship over people who don't need them, and there are alternatives. And so I think high-profile cases like Britney Spears really pushed some states to reform guardianship laws to reduce people under these horrible arrangements and to increase protections. And Joyce, I'm so happy to say we did that in Pennsylvania this past year. And so Disability Rights Pennsylvania led that effort. We certainly worked with other organizations, but so our new guardianship law fortifies protections for people people. Uh, Josh Shapiro signed that law, uh, uh, and we've been working on that all year. So, uh, what it does is it requires the appointment of counsel, uh, for people who are alleged to be incapacitated. And I'm happy to say that Disability Rights Pennsylvania is working with two counties right now, uh, to, uh, be the lawyer, appointed lawyer in those cases. I hope other counties in Pennsylvania, because we have 67 follow suit and use us and our experience to provide that appointed guardianship legal support. In addition, certification for professional guardians, and we were able to get courts to look at any other alternatives, least restricted alternatives for alleged incapacitated persons. So it was a good year for us in terms of reform of guardianship laws, and now. Now we just need the courts to do that implementation, and we're working on that.

Good. So, Perry, for 2025, what do you hope to see? Obviously, that's one of them, but what else do you hope to see?

Yeah, I, I hope that the president-elect and his administration open their doors to people with disabilities and Listen to us and let us help guide policy as President Biden was able to do successfully.

Yeah, that is a great— me too, me too. And that is a, that is a great wish for 2025 because there are people in our community that voted for, for President-elect Trump.

And so, you know, they need to recognize that and acknowledge that and let us in.

I agree. How about you, Megan?

You know, I really hope to see folks come together, um, to protect Medicaid. And as we talk about ways to thank Senator Casey and our other heroes over the years, one of the things he has called upon is for people to stand up and say no to cuts to Medicaid. It's so critical to people with disabilities to be able to live in the community. It's how we fund home and community-based services. It's how we fund efforts also now to develop a mental health response to a mental health crisis instead of, you know, calling because you need help and having police show up at your door. And frankly, I think we made a lot of progress in 2024 on that, and I hope to see that carry into 2025. But we need that funding when we try to push for all of these incredible supports and services, we need that federal funding. So I hope people will call their senators and tell them that Medicaid is important to you, is important to your family, is important to your neighbors, is important to your friends, and that we need to protect it so that people can have healthcare and can live in the community in their homes.

Amen. I agree. So Maria, what about you? What do you hope to see in 2025?

Well, to give a response that's kind of not focused on government, I actually hope that more people can have conversations about what's going on in their lives. Um, you know, part of the experience of being disabled for so many people is an experience of isolation, and it can be hard to know that that's what people are going through when we say there are 60, 70 million people with disabilities in the United States and 1 in 4 people around the world is disabled. And so if we have this huge population and yet people are still feeling really isolated, conversations aren't happening, right? Because people don't feel safe to have them. And so I hope that all of us can do whatever we can to actually help people feel safe to talk with others about what they're experiencing, what's happening in their lives, so that we can build stronger communities, so that, you know, even if the White House isn't receptive to people with disabilities or that Medicaid is cut, we can build our own systems to support and sustain one another.

You know what, I so agree with that because when people ask me, what should we do, I say move forward and communicate. We all need to communicate with one another. We all need to reach out. So Maria, I agree with you. And again, thank you all. I don't know what we'd do without you. I love you. I respect each of you, uh, as does our disability community. Listen everyone, You've got to get this show and share it. This is a very important show. You've got to share this show. And with that, I want to wish everyone, including Maria, Megan, and Perry, a very happy New Year. Please be safe. Please be careful. And we will all look forward to talking to you next year, next week, starting off with the CEO of Highmark, David Olberg. Thank you, everyone. Happy New Year.

Voice America would like to thank you for tuning in. Please join us next Tuesday at 11 AM Pacific time and 2 PM Eastern time for another installment of Disability Matters right here on the Voice America variety channel. We are the leader in live internet talk radio. America.com.