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State organizations that advocate for disabled residents in New Jersey and Arkansas announced this week that they will have to limit their work due to not receiving the full federal funds they are owed by the US federal government.
Each state, territory, and Washington, DC, has a protection and advocacy agency to support the rights of disabled people, including providing one-on-one legal services. These agencies were created by the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act of 1975, which means their work is federally mandated. It’s currently unclear whether all protection and advocacy agencies have been impacted by shortages in federal funds.
“Are we going to a worldview that just contracts all those social services and basically says people must stand on their own or fall on their own?”
NJ.com reported that Disability Rights New Jersey (DRNJ) has received only $1.6 million of the $3.1 million it needs this year to represent disabled people, including those in group homes and in prisons. As a result, the agency—which also receives some state funding—is shutting down its services until May 5, and says it will not be able to make payroll next month if it does not receive its designated federal funds. The White House did not respond to NJ.com‘s request for comment on funding issues.
“We are fighting for our very survival,” DRNJ executive director Gwen Orlowski told NJ.com, noting that some DRNJ attorneys left last year with anticipation of chaos during the second Trump administration. “We’re at a crossroads as an American society.”
In a Facebook post, Disability Rights Arkansas (DRA) announced that it won’t be accepting new cases as of Friday, with exceptions for a few types of cases, due to not receiving all its federal funds.
“This pause allows us to continue to support the clients we have in case funding is not released at all,” the post reads. “In the meantime, DRA will be providing information, referral, and technical assistance only.” The post encourages people who need help to contact their Arkansas state representatives and members of Congress.
This isn’t the first time the Trump administration has attacked protection and advocacy agencies. First, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy announced in late March that he was closing the Administration for Community Living, which has overseen P&As for over a decade. Then, leaked HHS report draft revealed that the department plans to strip funding for protection and advocacy agencies.
However, Kate Caldwell, director of research and policy at Northwestern University’s Center for Racial and Disability Justice, had told me that this will not likely stick. “If HHS withheld funding or dismantled the program without an actual statutory repeal,” Caldwell said, “it would face multiple lawsuits from disability rights organizations, as well as state attorneys general, for violating the law.”
In the NJ.com article, Orlowski expressed deep concerns about how the Trump administration is pushing forward towards a future where disabled people do not receive the support they need.
“Are we going to a worldview that just contracts all those social services and basically says people must stand on their own or fall on their own?” Orlowski questioned. “I think that that’s where we’re at.”
