Feds Examine Policies Affecting People With Disabilities

In October 2024, the National Council on Disability (NCD) released its annual progress report on national disability policy. The report covers developments in disability policy and law from the past year. It highlights recent advancements as well as ongoing challenges, evaluates emerging law, and offers recommendations regarding employment, travel, housing, technology, and disability population data collection.

The NCD is an independent federal agency that seeks to advise federal and state governments and organizations on disability policies and enhance quality of life across the disability community.

Health Care Policy

The NCD aims in part to address the health care disparities affecting those with disabilities. The report states that many disabled Americans face barriers and bias in the U.S. health care system. Because of this, they often do not use it for preventative care, and some even see the system as harmful.

This population also has lower life expectancies and are three times more likely than those without a disability to experience such health conditions as arthritis, diabetes, and a heart attack.

The report outlines numerous recommendations specific to health care policy that the NCD deems crucial to ensuring people with disabilities have an equal opportunity to access health care.

Its first recommendation was achieved in September 2023, when the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) officially designated people with disabilities as a health disparities population, following the NCD’s recommendation. This designation, the report states, will encourage more research on strategies to eliminate U.S. health care disparities.

Second, the NCD endorses a pending bill that would designate those with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) as a special medically underserved population. If enacted, the bill could lead to more government programs focused on increasing health care access for this group.

Other recommendations on health care policy in the report include requiring:

• medical, nursing, and health care professional schools to make disability clinical care curricula a standard in their education programs;
• U.S. government programs to improve collection of health data for individuals with disabilities and collaboration across agencies at the federal level;
• researchers to include people with disabilities in clinical trials; and
• that medical and diagnostic equipment, such as examination tables, mammography machines, and at-home medical tests, is accessible to all patients.

Notably, the federal government finalized a rule earlier this year strengthening health and social service program protections for people with disabilities.

Transportation and Travel Policies

To help travelers with disabilities, Congress passed the 2024 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Reauthorization Act in May 2024. This law aims to improve inclusion and access for these travelers. The legislation includes such enhancements as accommodations for disability-related seating requests, new training standards for airline staff on handling and storing wheelchairs, and universal changing stations in all medium and large airports nationwide.

The NCD report also highlights other developments that constitute steps toward better transportation access:

• Amtrack continued to provide employee training in accessibility as well as more accessible stations and cars.
• The U.S. Access Board, a federal agency that works to secure accessibility for people with disabilities, outlined minimum guidelines that, once adopted, would ensure accessible public sidewalks and crosswalks for pedestrians with disabilities.

Employment Policy

The NCD recommends phasing out the AbilityOne Program and replacing it with an amendment to Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act requiring federal contractors to employ a percentage of individuals with significant disabilities or blindness. The AbilityOne Program, in place since 1938, provides employment for more than 36,000 people with disabilities nationwide.

The council also suggests that the federal government take steps to remedy the disparity in vocational programs and services available on tribal lands. As the report indicates, Tribal Vocational Rehabilitation Programs and American Indian tribes are not eligible for guaranteed annual funding. The NCD is currently finalizing a report addressing the experiences of people with disabilities on tribal lands.

Housing Policy

In its report, while the NCD notes that accessibility in homes is an ongoing issue for the disability community, it focuses specifically on housing policy for people with disabilities amid disaster response. Under a new rule issued this past spring, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) now has funding available to improve the accessibility of homes affected by declared disasters.

U.S. Census Disability Data

In October 2023, the U.S. Census Bureau proposed a plan to change its disability questions. The NCD expressed concern that the revised questions would reduce the estimated population of people with disabilities in the U.S. from 13.9 percent to 8.1 percent.

The council encouraged the U.S. Census to work with the disability community to find a better counting method. After meetings with people across the disability community, the Census Bureau now states it will not change any of its disability census questions in 2025 or 2026.

Technology Policy

The NCD’s recommendations also include pushing for equitable access to digital programs and services. It notes that the Department of Justice issued a final rule earlier this year regarding Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) that requires state and local government entities to ensure that their web-based and mobile app programs are accessible to all users.

While the NCD recognizes the advances that have taken place in these diverse areas over the past year, it stresses that the executive and legislative branches of the U.S. government must continue working together to support people with disabilities.

“It is crucial to acknowledge that many challenges persist fort those whose primary struggles remain unaddressed,” the report concludes. “In the coming years, it is imperative to rectify these policy shortcomings and continue building strides made in the fight for disability rights.”

Read National Disability Policy: A Progress Report, 2024.