A multi-state lawsuit threatens disabled rights. Trump’s remarks don’t help. 

President Trump’s March remarks, suggesting that learning disabilities should be a disqualifier for the presidency, made international headlines. But they overshadowed another urgent issue: Disability rights in the U.S. are under threat. 

An imminent danger comes from a lawsuit filed by several states against the Department of Health and Human Services that seeks to invalidate what is known as the integration mandate — a cornerstone of disability rights.

The case involves only a handful of states, but it could significantly set back disability rights across the country, restricting access to disability services in the community and making it easier for states to institutionalize people with disabilities. 

Americans must resist this dangerous attempt to undercut foundational disability rights laws and the hard-won rights of disabled people. 

The shift from institutional to community-based support for people with disabilities is among the great policy achievements of the past century, dramatically improving the well-being and empowerment of people with disabilities. The lawsuit Texas v. Kennedy jeopardizes this progress. Filed in January by nine states — Texas, Alaska, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana and South Dakota — it takes aim at an updated regulation under section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

Section 504 requires entities that receive federal funding — including state agencies — to provide services to people with disabilities in the most integrated setting appropriate for them. The regulation targeted by the lawsuit ensures that people with disabilities can access programs and services in the most suitable environment........

© The Hill