Disability Issues

The Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 finally went into effect this year, and it promises to dramatically alter the way people with mental illness receive and pay for treatment.

A final achievement in a short but remarkable life was a contribution to improving housing conditions for those with special needs.

A Senate bill, passed in November, would establish a system for training and supporting caregivers of injured veterans.

A development company run by the family of San Diego Chargers owner Alex Spanos has agreed to make some 12,300 apartment units accessible for people with disabilities in order to settle what is being called the largest housing accessibility case...

An amendment to health care reform legislation would offer people with special needs greater access to in-home attendant services.

After a successful effort by the 14-year-old brother of a girl with intellectual disabilities to remove the word "retarded" from Maryland law, US Senator Barbara Mikulski has proposed a bill that would do the same thing in all federal programs.

Called "the most important new antidiscrimination law in two decades," the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) began to take effect on November 21, 2009.

A proposal to establish a new national long-term care insurance program for those with disabilities is under attack by the insurance industry.

A federal court in New York recently ruled that the state discriminated against people with mental illnesses by housing approximately 4,300 New York City residents in "adult homes."...