Disability Issues

For a variety of reasons, people with special needs are more likely to suffer physical, mental and financial abuse than are others. Here are some ways to prevent and recognize abuse.

Special Needs 101

A recently unveiled whistleblower lawsuit alleges that a prominent Kentucky disability lawyer illegally colluded with a federal disability judge to approve his clients' cases and reap the millions in attorney's fees that came with them.

In striking down a key part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the Supreme Court has made it easier for same-sex married couples to access certain types of disability benefits. However, the ruling is not all good...

Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.) introduced the Special Needs Trust Fairness Act of 2013, a bill that would allow people with disabilities to create first-party special needs trusts to hold their assets without interfering with their access to Supplemental Security Income...

A 29-year-old Virginia woman with Down syndrome is fighting her mother's attempt to obtain guardianship in a case that has drawn attention to the tenuous balance between laws that seek to protect people with special needs while affording them maximum...

A bill that would allow retired military service members to name special needs trusts as beneficiaries of their Survivor Benefit Plans has been reintroduced in Congress.

Senator Tom Harkin has introduced two bills that would mandate captioning and audio descriptions in movie theaters and on planes, while advocates push for greater accessibility on the web.

More states are choosing to expand Medicaid services for people with low-incomes and the Department of Health and Human Services has just released regulations to ensure that people with disabilities will receive the coverage they need from private health insurers.

A Virginia court has ruled in favor of a 29-year-old woman with Down syndrome and refused to grant her mother's guardianship petition. The court chose to name the woman's friends and employers as her guardians instead, as she had requested...