Disability Rights

The ACLU’s Disability Rights work strives for an America free of discrimination against people with disabilities, where people with disabilities are valued, integrated members of society who have full access to education, homes, healthcare, jobs, and families. The project is also committed to ensuring people with disabilities are no longer segregated into, and over-represented in, civil and criminal institutions such as nursing homes, psychiatric hospitals, jails and prisons.

07/01/2011

Disability Rights

MIA: Missing in America

By Sam Ritchie, ACLU at 10:09pm

“The federal government should not have to be sued into giving veterans with mental illnesses and brain injuries the care they need so they don’t end up living in the street. But it has come to that.” – New York Times Editorial, June 8, 2011

Sgt. Freddy Cordova, an Iraq War veteran who served through four deployments in Mosul and Tikrit, now works with the National Veterans Foundation, finding and helping homeless vets on the streets of Southern California. As a result of his service, Freddy now suffers from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and severe depression, mental health conditions he sees in many, if not most, of the homeless vets he interacts with every day.

06/21/2011

Disability Rights

Obama Administration Fails to Halt Runaway "Secure Communities" Train, Ignoring Complaints of Governors, Congress, and Law Enforcement Leaders

By Joanne Lin, Washington Legislative Office at 6:05pm

Last Friday the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced their proposed changes to the much-criticized Secure Communities (S-Comm) program, the centerpiece of the Obama administration's immigration enforcement program. The administration's proposals, including statistical monitoring of the program, development of training modules for local law enforcement jurisdictions, and formation of an advisory committee, amount to nothing more than window dressing and fail to answer the growing tide of criticism by the governors of Illinois, Massachusetts and New York, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the Congressional Progressive Caucus, law enforcement officials, civil rights advocates, and immigrant communities across the country.

07/30/2010

Disability Rights

Reforming a System of Assault on Students' Rights

By Sarah Preston, ACLU of North Carolina at 3:24pm

For the first time in 25 years, the North Carolina. legislature has passed much-needed reform regulating how local school districts use corporal punishment. Back in 1985, the legislature passed a law allowing schools to decide whether or not to use corporal punishment – as opposed to being required to do so. That led to big improvements, and by the start of the 2009-10 school year, 69 districts out of 115 had banned the practice. Yet according to a public records request conducted by Action for Children and the ACLU-NC, kids in North Carolina are still subjected to corporal punishment thousands of times a year - more than 1,400 times during the 2008-2009 school year alone. Unfortunately, legislators have simply protected the system, refusing even to require annual reporting on the use of corporal punishment from school districts.

04/23/2010

Disability Rights

Wonder in the Classroom

By Jessie Rossman, ACLU of Michigan at 3:16pm

For some parents, the first time their children begin dressing themselves is a stressful, embarrassing or frustrating experience. After all, how exactly do you explain to a kindergartner that a tutu, moccasins and a bathing suit just won't cut it in the midst of a Michigan winter? But for Stacy Fry, the day her 6-year-old daughter Elhena shooed her out of her room so that she could dress herself was one of her proudest moments.

12/04/2009

Disability Rights

Human Dignity for People with Disabilities

By Nahal Zamani, Human Rights Program at 5:23pm

(Originally posted on FDL's The Seminal.)

December 3 marked the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, a day where we mobilize support for the dignity, rights and well-being of persons with disabilities. To mark the occasion, we're taking the opportunity to look at the past year and see how we're faring in light of the anniversary.

07/24/2009

Disability Rights

Obama Administration to Sign the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

By Nahal Zamani, Human Rights Program at 5:56pm

Great news! Today, on the 19th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, President Obama announced that his administration will be signing the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in a ceremony to be held at the United Nations headquarters in New York next week. The CRPD is the first comprehensive human rights treaty adopted in the 21st century with extraordinary input by people with disabilities and progressively promotes their human rights.

American Civil Liberties Union