In light of the current federal administration’s sweeping executive orders related to DEI, education, restructuring of Health and Human Services Agencies, the recently passed budget bill and other actions with wide-ranging implications, the New Haven Commission on Disabilities is providing a statement on our position for the community.

The New Haven Commission on Disabilities works to improve the quality of life in New Haven by amplifying the voices of its citizens with disabilities through education, advocacy, and celebrating their contributions to the community. It is composed of persons with lived experience, families and professionals who work with the disability community. We address community problems which limit the rights of persons with disabilities in areas including employment, housing, economic mobility, recreation, health, transportation, and other pursuits.

The current federal climate is one of uncertainty, led by a swath of ever-changing executive orders and a 2026 budget that threaten to devastatingly undermine the supportive infrastructure and protections laid over the last half-century for persons with disabilities (PWD). These supports are wide-ranging, and they allow for equal protection and access under the law that redefines the view of disability from being a condition that must be treated to a more nuanced and humanistic perspective. From the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which provided protection from discrimination for PWD, to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), which that furthers such protection in public spaces as well as in the workforce, policies that promote inclusion of individuals with disabilities into society have become normalized because they are just. It is a recognition of not only the value that PWD brings to society but an affirmation of the American principle that everyone has the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Yet thirty-five years after the ADA, we are now in an environment where these policies are threatened, weakened, and unsupported. Changes made in the dismantling of the US Department of Education will significantly degrade our ability to fulfill the mandates of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act that provides equal educational access for children with disabilities. The restructuring of federal Health and Human Services Agencies will disrupt healthcare services and research, including work on health inequities. The blanket application of the term “DEI” in the decision to fund or defund community-based programs, will undermine the ability of organizations that crucially provide services to marginalized communities, including people with disabilities.

Most recently, with the passage of the updated federal budget, over $1 trillion in Medicaid funding will be cut resulting in over 11 million people losing their health insurance. This has long- term repercussions and will undo decades of social safety nets, threatening to return the country to a pre-Title 19 environment where infant mortality rates will increase and people will die younger. Through this bill, the imposition of work requirements on access to Medicaid will further exacerbate a chasm in access to care for the most vulnerable populations and undoubtedly result in higher cost of care for everyone. Furthermore, healthcare systems will be stressed as new limits are placed on how states can raise provider taxes and how states can require payments to providers through state-directed payments. From the individual to the community level, this bill is set to dismantle health access in a manner not seen in decades.