Excerpt: “A back-and-forth between Texas elections officials over ‘high’ levels of rejected mail-in ballot applications has left advocates worried about the impact on elderly or disabled voters.” Continue reading “Rejected mail-in ballot applications have advocates worried about impact on elderly, disabled voters”
Excerpt: “State law and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), give people living with disabilities protections from discrimination. Ted Evans, staff attorney at Disability Rights Texas, said employers are required to provide reasonable accommodations to workers. Evans said the advocacy organization has seen some clients have difficulty receiving reasonable accommodations after they were hired, including… Continue reading “People living with developmental disabilities face uphill battle accessing jobs”
Excerpt: “Parents of disabled children together with Disability Rights Texas won a ruling in November that could have ramifications well beyond the state of Texas. The dispute arose in July, when Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order prohibiting schools from instituting a mask mandate, insisting that whether to wear a mask should be… Continue reading “Opinion: Legal battle over school masks in Texas has national repercussions”
Excerpt: “A federal district judge last week denied Austin ISD’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed on behalf of students with disabilities over the district’s failure to evaluate students in need of special education services in a timely manner… ‘We are pleased that the court sees the need for this case to move forward,’ said… Continue reading “AISD Special Education Lawsuit Moves Forward”
Excerpt: “A federal judge ruled on Wednesday that Gov. Greg Abbott’s ban on mask mandates in Texas schools violates the rights of students with disabilities, clearing the path for districts in the state to issue their own rules for face coverings, a decision that could affect more than five million students…The lawsuit, which sought to… Continue reading “A judge says Texas’ ban on mask mandates violates the rights of students with disabilities”
Advocacy group alleges Abbott’s executive order unfairly harms kids with disabilities Excerpt: “Disability Rights Texas filed the first federal lawsuit against Gov. Greg Abbott over his ban on mask mandates, alleging that his executive order puts students with disabilities at risk…The advocacy group’s suit, filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District… Continue reading “Disability Rights Texas files federal lawsuit against Gov. Abbott over school mask mandate ban”
After July 1 deadline, 77 evaluations still not complete On June 30, Austin ISD made an announcement: its once-egregious backlog of hundreds of uncompleted special education evaluations was “no more.” The backlog, which had prompted a lawsuit and the complete reorganization of AISD’s special-ed department, was “due to be cleared by the district’s promised deadline of July 1.”… Continue reading “Has AISD Cleared its Special Education Backlog, or Not?”
Caroline Cheevers still recalls the panic. With Winter Storm Uri killing power across Houston, there seemed no help for her daughter, Hailey, a medically fragile 10-year-old who requires electricity to power the ventilator that keeps her alive. Hotels were full or had no power. First responders were overwhelmed. And even though she’d signed up for… Continue reading “New law requires wellness checks during crises for the medically fragile who depend on power”
Ebonie Baltimore got a call on March 1 from the group home where her nephew, Xavier Hernandez, lived. Something had happened to Hernandez at school, the caller said, and he’d been taken to the emergency room. When Baltimore and several other family members got to John Peter Smith Hospital, they were led to a private… Continue reading “Fort Worth student with autism died after being restrained at school. What happened?”
Olivia Esparza grew desperate as she watched her daughter, Diana, get colder and colder in the February freeze. Diana, 20, has a condition called Rett syndrome and is non-verbal and non-mobile, and needs electricity to power the machines that keep her healthy: one that helps her breathe at night and another suctions saliva out of… Continue reading “‘I don’t know who cares about us’: How Texas failed people with disabilities during the freeze”