February 6, 2025
The Boost News
A fraction of students eligible for pre-employment transition services receive them, the Super Bowl gets inclusive, Trump trumpets autism falsehoods, and more developmental disability news for week the ending Feb. 7, 2025.
Spotlight: Pre-Employment Transition Services
Hundreds of thousands of students are entitled to training and help finding jobs. They don’t get it (Hechingerreport.org)
More than a decade ago, reports Hechinger, Congress earmarked funding for pre-employment transition services to help students with disabilities explore and train for careers and send them on a pathway to independence after high school. But in 2023 only about 295,000 students in the whole country received some form of the services out of an estimated 3.1 million who were eligible, the news site found. In New Jersey last year, that number was just 1,370 students out of more than 80,000 eligible. In New York, about 5% of eligible students got services.
To learn about pre-ETS in New York, visit NYS Education Dept. Adult Career & Continuing Ed and the New York State Ed Department on pre-ETS.
If your child isn’t receiving services or if you have questions about what they’re getting, ask to meet with your school’s Committee on Special Education.
New York
OPWDD Announces $850 Million Dollar Investment in New York’s Developmental Disability Service Providers Well, kind of. The 2024-25 budget provided State resources to update provider reimbursement rates and this money, which OPWDD just released, along with an investment of additional resources, “will enable provider agencies to offer higher wages for direct care staff [and will] support other essential costs associated with delivering these vital services.” (OPWDD)
Families left in dark about impact of alternate assessment track on students with disabilities Factors including under-resourcing and a failure to equip parents to make fully informed decisions have led schools to place students who take alternate assessments in non-inclusive, low-rigor settings. (Chalkbeat.org)
Mystery Donor Funds $10 Million Campaign Against Hochul Home Care Plan This report says it’s unclear who’s bankrolling the Alliance to Protect Home Care spending. (Nyfocus.com)
Commentary: CDPAP changes are needed to get runaway costs under control (Times Union)
Home Care Advocates, users demand alternatives as NY pushes CDPAP transition (CBS6albany.com)
Disabled passengers fear for their safety on the MTA’s paratransit program The private brokers that dispatch for-hire vehicles to pick up people enrolled in the program have been the cause of numerous complaints. (Gothamist)
Outside of New York
Adults living with developmental disabilities in New Jersey require more support | Opinion (Northjersey.com)
WA Legislature weighs paying parents who care for children with disabilities The state provides funding, but parents don’t qualify until their kids turn 18. Meanwhile, a worker shortage makes finding caregivers impossible for many. (Washingtonstatestandard.com)
California Might Kick 400,000 Kids Off Medicaid (governing.com)
Minnesotans with disabilities say state’s proposed budget cuts would ‘bring us backward’ Advocates and providers push back against Gov. Walz’ proposed disability service changes. (StarTribune.com)
Super Bowl
Eagles Autism Foundation brings inclusive activities to Super Bowl Experience (6abc.com)
Super Bowl-Bound Eagles Team Up With Rutgers Scientists to Direct Autism Research (Rutgers.edu)
Autism
Trump says ‘something really wrong’ with autism rates ahead of RFK Jr. vote Trump has repeatedly drawn a false connection between vaccines and autism rates. (Thehill.com)
Autism Takes Center Stage As RFK Jr. Nomination For HHS Secretary Advances (Disability Scoop)
Opinion: How to respond to loved ones lured by RFK Jr.’s anti-vaccine stance (Washington Post)
A controversial autism therapy is gaining prominence, but some say it hurts neurodiverse people Another look at ABS. (Salon.com)
Don’t Forget Americans With Severe Autism This reader letter likely will resonate with some parents: “I don’t begrudge Bill Gates’s musings that he would have been put on the autism spectrum … yet I’d like to bring into focus a sharper picture of the disorder amid the current trend of self-diagnosis.” (Wall Street Journal)
Federal Funding
Disabilities Beat: If federal funding stops, what’s at stake for disabled people? A look at the freeze that wasn’t but might be tried again. (wrvo.org)
Healthcare
Disability doesn’t exist in medical training: study Disability is left out of standard American medical coursework, according to a new study in the Journal of Internal Medicine. (Bloom Blog)
Employment
‘Kick in the teeth’: Disabled federal workers fear for their jobs after Trump remarks As divers searched the Potomac River for bodies after last the tragic air collision on Jan. 29, President Trump blamed the FAA’s diversity policies and hiring of disabled Americans. (USAToday.com)
Education
A researcher said the evidence on special ed inclusion is flawed. Readers weighed in Hechinger Report reported on a study that concludes school inclusion actually doesn’t work so well. Afterwards, many readers and leaders in the educational field took issue with the findings. I found their comments interesting! (Hechingerreport.org)
Prom
Proms Expected To Draw Those With IDD From Around The Globe The events are being held Friday, Feb. 7, 2025, at 800 churches across 50 states and more than 60 countries as part of “Night to Shine,” an annual series of proms put on by the Tim Tebow Foundation. (Disability Scoop)