What if government disability funding followed the individual instead of being controlled by separate programs and bureaucracies? That’s the vision Able Americans Director Rachel Barkley brings to a new American Enterprise Institute (AEI) report on expanding economic opportunity for Americans with disabilities. In Technology and Policy as Force Multipliers in Advancing Economic Mobility for Americans with Disabilities, authors Matthew Leger …
Don’t Make People Start Over to Move Forward
For Americans with disabilities, a new job, training opportunity or better future shouldn’t disappear simply because they cross a state line. Yet that can happen under today’s fragmented Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) system. A person who has worked with VR to identify a career goal and secure needed supports may face new applications, eligibility requirements and delays after moving to another …
How The Digital Revolution Is Reclaiming The Household Economy
“For a long time, earning a living usually meant leaving home. Digital technology, and the AI now layered on top of it, means fewer families have to accept that separation as the price of economic participation,” write Able Americans Director Rachel Barkley and her husband, the Abundance Institute’s Taylor Barkley. In a commentary published at The Daily Wire, the Barkleys share …
David Ridenour: Medicaid’s Asset Limit Punishes the People It’s Supposed to Help
“In most states, people with disabilities and older adults can lose Medicaid eligibility if they save $2,000,” writes National Center for Public Policy Research Chairman David Ridenour. “The rule doesn’t just fail the people it was designed to help. It punishes them.” In a commentary syndicated through InsideSources and published at the Boston Herald, David shares how he’s had to use creative workarounds to …
Former Congressman Molinaro: It’s Time to Think Differently—and Fix America’s Disability System
We’re delighted to welcome former Congressman Marc Molinaro to Able Americans’ Campaign to Fix the Disability System. In the commentary below, Rep. Molinaro explains why he’s joined our efforts. For millions of Americans with disabilities and their families, the hardest part of daily life is often not the disability itself. It is the system built around it. It is a …
Mark Mostert: Ghouls Are Cheering NY’s New Suicide Law, but Look What Happened in the Netherlands
While New Yorkers enthusiastically embrace a new Medical Aid in Dying law, we’re seeing the catastrophic results of such laws on the other side of the Atlantic. In a commentary published at the New York Post, Able Americans Senior Fellow Mark Mostert, Ph.D. observes: Bottom line: Anyone can now be euthanized in the Netherlands at any time of life — from birth …
Rachel Barkley: Moving Special Ed Programs to HHS Removes Siloes in the Disability System
“The decision to move the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) and the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) to the Department of Health and Human Services deserves an open mind—not immediate opposition,” writes Able Americans Director Rachel Barkley in a commentary published at RealClearEducation. Rachel explains: For the first time, special education and vocational rehabilitation can be more directly connected to …
No One Is Safe From the Pro-Death Agenda
Postscript to the 11-Part Series “Is Any Life Unworthy of Living?“ As we have seen, the seeds of assisted suicide and euthanasia were sown decades ago. However, the pro-death movement can no longer hide behind altruism and good faith. It is a cultish behemoth that seeks to destroy what does — or should — matter most: the dignified preservation of …
Collette Divitto: I Am One of Many With Down Syndrome. Start Listening to Us for a Change.
“Why are so many Americans still being told that disability means a life without opportunity?” In a commentary published at The Hill, Collette Divitto — a woman with Down syndrome who also serves as the founder and CEO of Collettey’s Cookies and a coalition member of Able Americans’ Campaign to Fix the Disability System — responds to the controversy that erupted …
Canada: A Society Gone Mad for Medicalized Killing
Part 11 in the 11-Part Series “Is Any Life Unworthy of Living?“ While the Netherlands and other European countries have descended slowly into the complete acceptance of medicalized killing, the slippery slope has become way steeper in Canada. For many years Canadian opponents of legalized assisted suicide and euthanasia waged highly visible campaigns to inform the public of the dangers …