Today, I’d like to talk to you about the work we’re doing to ensure that people with disabilities have access to the resources they need to live in the community. NCLEJ was among the first to apply disability rights law into the area of public benefits because we recognized that public benefits programs often leave people with disabilities behind.
Due to systemic discrimination, many people with disabilities in the United States live in poverty. According to a report published by our partners at the Century Foundation, people with disabilities are twice as likely to live in poverty due to pervasive discrimination, as well as major barriers to upward mobility.
NCLEJ works to ensure the American Disabilities Act and other disability rights laws deliver what they promise. The ADA was designed to eliminate discrimination against disabled people. That’s why we consistently use the ADA as a legal backbone to dismantle systemic discrimination. Here are a few recent cases:
We’re challenging Louisiana’s failure to provide intensive home and community-based services to Medicaid-eligible youth with mental health or behavioral needs.
We’re making NYCHA remove toxic mold from apartments — and prevent its recurrence — to ensure people with asthma and other respiratory disabilities have equal access to public housing.
We’re changing systems in Georgia, Missouri, New York, and Tennessee so disabled people can access essential programs like SNAP and Medicaid.
We are advocating for higher wages for direct care workers to ensure people with disabilities are able to live safely in their own homes.
We opposed Mayor Eric Adams’ involuntary commitment policy against people with disabilities.
The National Center for Law and Economic Justice advances racial and economic justice through ground-breaking impact litigation, policy advocacy, and support for grassroots organizing. We have provided legal representation and support since 1965.
