Call to Action: We still need to be heard!

Later this month, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos will seek permission from Congress for waivers of states’ and districts’ obligations under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. This would be a direct attack on the civil rights of students with disabilities. We need to urge Congress not to approve waivers under IDEA and instead to provide adequate funding for districts to meet students’ needs under IDEA in this new circumstance.

1. Find your congressperson's information here:

Find Your Representative
Find Your Senator

2. Copy and paste the following into emails addressed to both,
personalizing the red text:

Dear [Legislator’s Name],

COVID-19 is posing unprecedented challenges to schools and educators. However, we must remain committed to providing equitable educational access to all students, including those with disabilities.

As a constituent of yours and a [parent/educator/advocate—include details about your situation if you’d like] I urge you to reject the Senate Republican provision in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act that would give the Secretary of Education authority to provide a report to Congress within thirty days on requested waivers under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Millions of students with disabilities receive needed services and supports under both laws in every state.

These unprecedented times require creative solutions—so I ask you and your colleagues to instead increase funding to support education for the seven million American students with disabilities who are currently served under IDEA and the nearly one million who receive accommodations and supports under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]

The following links provide additional background on these waivers and provide sample copy for your social media advocacy:

Video: The Dangers of IDEA Waivers

Toolkit: My IDEA Matters to All of Us

COVID-19 Federal Relief Payments:
What People on Social Security Need to Know

Webinar

Disability Organizing in the Age of Covid-19:
Medical Rationing, Eugenics,
and the Precarity of Mutual Aid
Tuesday, April 21st
4pm PST

Registration will close on 19 April 2020

In the years before the current COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals across the United States quietly prepared medical rationing plans that would place people with disabilities and chronic illnesses at the bottom of the priorities list for care, resources, and equipment in the event of an overloaded hospital with limited supplies. Now, with medical rationing plans that disabled people losing the ventilators they use for everyday breathing if they seek care for COVID-19, disabled advocates are once again sounding the alarm on new eugenics practices and proposals nationally.

While businesses shutter, schools close, and gig workers hemorrhage money, sick and disabled people at the margins of the margins are on the front lines building mutual aid and collective care networks to fill the gaps, advocating fiercely to stop dangerous eugenic proposals, and creating resources for each other to survive. The panelists in this discussion will address the historical context for today's crass manifestations of ableism, and what disabled advocates are fighting for now.

Click Here to Register

www.familyvoicesofca.org

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