Dear John, We know many worthy organizations ask you for support on Giving Tuesday. Let me tell you why the National Disability Rights Network is special. This year, like all American families, our Network has been dramatically impacted by the global pandemic. It has made it more difficult for us to do our job, our number one mission – to protect and advocate for the rights of people with disabilities. Social distancing requirements have changed the ways we watch over the places where we need to be – group homes and nursing homes, schools, institutions, jails and prisons, juvenile justice and immigration detention facilities - places where abuse, neglect, discrimination and exploitation can go unchecked without us. This work is too important to stop under any circumstances. So, our Network has been developing innovative ways to continue monitoring facilities and helping people with disabilities access the services they need, many of whom have nowhere else to turn. On the national level, NDRN has been pushing for legislation to prevent hospitals from denying care to people with disabilities who contract the coronavirus. You read that correctly. When the pandemic began, some states developed medical rationing plans that put people with disabilities at the bottom. When we learned about this, our network immediately filed complaints in states across the country and with the federal government to stop it. We have also worked with Congress and the Trump Administration to get more funding for home health care aides so people with disabilities can move out of dangerous institutions and nursing homes that have been ground zero for spread of the virus. It was also our first request of the new Biden Administration. As long as the pandemic continues, NDRN will fight to make sure people with disabilities are not left out of our nation’s response. On #GivingTuesday, you can be part of this important fight. Please give. Sincerely,  Curt Decker
Executive Director | 
