DENVER -- As infrastructure legislation makes its way through Congress, advocates for people with disabilities are urging lawmakers to boost investments for in-home care programs that would allow more people to avoid placement in nursing homes.

Christiano Sosa, executive director for Arc of Colorado, said the Better Care Better Jobs Act would dramatically improve quality of life for people with disabilities.

Sosa pointed out the proposal would raise wages for caregivers, and provide benefits including paid family leave, which will help make direct care work a viable career path and reduce turnover.

"One of the things that we hear loud and clear from individuals with disabilities and families is that it's almost a full-time job just training the new person," Sosa observed.

Caregiver reimbursements have not kept up with inflation or even local minimum wages, and Sosa sees the proposed $400 billion investment in Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services as an important step to reverse decades of underfunding.

Congress has remained divided along party lines over so-called human infrastructure investments. Republicans say the price tag is too high, and worry it would lead to bigger government.

Lack of funding has led to long waiting lists for rationed in-home care services, which leaves many no choice but to turn to nursing homes.

Henry Claypool, policy director for the Community Living Policy Center at Brandeis University, said blocking the proposal would be penny-wise but pound-foolish. States are required to accept nursing-home residents regardless of their ability to pay, which costs taxpayers exponentially more than community-based care.

Claypool believes the proposal is ultimately about giving people more options.

"If you're in an institution like a nursing home, you're not able to get up and go when you want, you're totally dependent on when the staff can get to you," Claypool explained. "Most Americans really want to stay in their homes, and this is an important investment to make that happen."

Sosa noted if Congress does not invest in community-care options, the burden will continue to fall on unpaid family caregivers, which historically have been women and people of color. Sosa added the legislation should also boost recovery from the pandemic's economic fallout by providing good jobs for direct-care workers, and allowing family caregivers to rejoin the workforce.

Thirteen students, ranging in age from 14 to 21, have just graduated from the Iowa Developmental Disabilities Council Youth Leadership Academy.

The program's goal is to develop young leaders who learn skills that build their confidence.

A dozen students from Iowa welcomed one from Illinois who is attending school in Iowa. Together, they learned during the weeklong academy how to be more effective advocates for their communities.

That's exactly what 21-year-old Andrew Allen, who has been diagnosed with ADHD, autism and severe separation anxiety, was looking for when he applied.

"I got bullied a lot," said Allen. "When I was in school, I got pushed aside a lot and I thought, 'Enough is enough.' They taught me how to communicate, have conversation with special needs, and help our community."

The annual academy teaches students ways to advocate for themselves, become more civically engaged and to be of service in their communities.

19-year-old University of Iowa student Jackie Corless, who said she has an intellectual learning
disability, also took part in the Youth Leadership Academy.

She said the topics ranged from advocacy to communicating, and lots of useful skills in between.

"Leadership skills," said Corless. "I learned about networking, setting goals - you know, the difference between how to be an advocate and how to better strengthen your advocate goal. How networking really works within the disability world."

The Youth Leadership Academy is a partnership between the Iowa Developmental Disabilities Council, Disability Rights Iowa, ASK Resource Center, the University of Iowa Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, and Access to Independence.



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New York disability-rights advocates are celebrating the 34th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The 1990 legislation prohibits discrimination against people with physical or mental disabilities. Along with becoming a standard part of employment law, it bolsters accessibility in the public environment.

As seminal as the ADA is, said Dr. Sharon McLennon Wier, executive director of the Center for Independence of the Disabled New York, more work must be done to achieve true accessibility.

"Even though ADA has been around for many, many years," she said, "there is still ignorance regarding what is true accessibility and how new construction at times can still be put up without following the principles of ADA universal access."

Downstate New York's transportation systems lack ADA compliance. Only 31% of New York City's Subway system is accessible to people with disabilities. Funding has been allocated to make the system 95% compliant. The work would have been done by 2055, but since Gov. Kathy Hochul paused congestion pricing, these plans have been put on hold indefinitely.

A New York City Comptroller report finds only 40% of the city's disabled population is employed. Statewide reports show post-pandemic employment for people with disabilities is recovering much slower than the nation.

To change this, said McLennon Wier, classroom instructional materials need to be more accessible, "having more raised line drawings, having more Braille available, having more assistive technology that can read various types of charts and diagrams."

She said she thinks certain industries are siloed, but once they open up to better comprehend universal accessibility, more people with disabilities will join them. One place this can work is in STEM fields, as only 3% of that workforce includes people with disabilities.

July is Disability Pride Month, and today is the 34th anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Federal data show that more than 42 million Americans have a disability affecting their cognition, mobility, hearing, vision or ability to provide self-care or live independently.

"Studies over and over demonstrate that people with disabilities are a very solid
part of our workforce," said Joe Xavier, director of the California Department of Rehabilitation, which helps people with disabilities thrive at work. "They stay in their jobs, they're committed to the work that they do, and so there's much less turnover with people with disabilities, thereby reducing the cost and all the work associated with that."

Advocates have said companies are responsible for providing accommodation in the same way they provide chairs and technology for all their workers. They encourage companies to follow principles of universal design when building new spaces, so access is not an afterthought.

Britanny Comegna, a member of the State Rehabilitation Council, runs a company called Deaf and Disability Mediation Services and said people shouldn't be shy about direct communication with disabled people.

"When you meet a new disabled person," she said, "you have to ask, 'How do you want to identify? What do you need? And what can I learn from you?' Ask those questions because we really do appreciate that you're making that effort to connect with me and understand me as a person."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is working to reduce health disparities among adults with disabilities, who have higher rates of smoking, obesity, heart disease and diabetes.


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