On Wednesday, a leaked draft Health and Human Services budget documentrevealed, among other sweeping cuts to health- and disability-related services, that Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s department plans to defund protection and advocacy services for people with developmental disabilities—including autistic people, about whom Kennedy also spreads harmful disinformation.

“Let’s call this what it is — a backdoor cut to Social Security benefits,” U.S. Congresswoman Judy Chu declared Tuesday morning outside the Social Security Administration office in Pasadena, flanked by a small but resolute crowd of advocates, retirees, and former Social Security employees.

Chu spoke forcefully against a proposed $4.5 trillion tax cut backed by President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk, which she warned could gut essential programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

Tina Ewing-Wilson remembers the last time major Medicaid cuts slashed her budget. In the late 2000s, during the Great Recession, the pot of money she and other Medi-Cal recipients depend on to keep them out of costly residential care homes shrank.

The only way she could afford help was to offer room and board to a series of live-in caregivers who she said abused alcohol and drugs and eventually subjected her to financial abuse. She vowed to never rely on live-in care again.

The House of Representatives in February approved a budget framework tasking the committee overseeing Medicaid to cut $880 billion over 10 years. While there are still no specific provisions cutting Medicaid, Medicare, or other safety net programs, health care analysts say the magnitude of the spending reductions means they’re inevitable.

After losing his hearing later in life, Tremmel Watson became a fierce advocate for disability rights, uncovering tools like Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) to help those like him communicate. Now, he fights to strengthen accessibility policies, ensuring Section 504’s promise of equal access extends to all.

As California and other states fight President Donald Trump’s actions to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education and its support for public schools, the department has already shut down seven of its civil rights offices — including the California one, based in San Francisco — that aid students with disabilities and those harassed because of their race, ethnicity or gender.

The announcement of a large-scale effort to reduce the workforce of the U.S. Department of Education on Tuesday — or nearly half of the agency’s staff — is raising concerns among California educators and advocates about the future of civil rights enforcement and funding for vulnerable students.

San Diego County’s rollout of CARE Court hasn’t been what many expected – not even the author of the legislation that created the program. 

Proponents touted CARE Court as a way to get thousands of people with untreated psychotic disorders into treatment through court-ordered plans. San Diego County officials, however, have held back from forcing people into treatment and instead made the program voluntary. Not only that, but officials have also tapped into another group for CARE Court participation: people already in the strictest level of forced treatment. 

Tulare County Behavioral Health is dedicated to meeting the mental health needs of our community. We actively listen to residents and local partners to understand what services are necessary. Recently, Disability Rights California (DRC) looked into local mental health services and pointed out where we can improve.

Tulare County has reached a settlement with Disability Rights California that both agencies state will expand mental health care in the county. DRC referred to the settlement as groundbreaking.

“Tulare County Behavioral Health has been actively engaged in identifying community needs, meeting state standards, and enhancing the behavioral health system through community outreach and engagement with local partners, focus groups, community surveys, and advisory boards,” the county stated.

When Gov. Gavin Newsom first proposed CARE Court in 2022, he presented it as a game-changing solution to force people with serious untreated psychotic conditions into care.

San Diego County was one of the first to implement the new court system, but San Diego’s CARE Court program isn’t forcing anyone into treatment. Instead, county officials made the program voluntary.

Elon Musk has the ear of one of the most powerful people in the world – President Donald Trump – making him one of the most powerful people in the world, too. He's been given unfettered access to adjust the federal government's budget and headcount.

Disabled people are almost twice as likely to be displaced by natural disasters, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. For some groups, like those who require nonverbal communication methods, the likelihood of displacement can be even higher.

As Modesto resident Richard Cardoza beamed down at the certificates in his hands, his personal achievement – becoming the first person in Stanislaus County to successfully complete a new mental health court program – meant different things to different people.

Two decades ago, California set an ambitious employment goal: To reflect the state’s diverse population, one sixth of the government’s workforce would be filled by people with disabilities. For years the state fell short of this objective, established by the State Personnel Board — and since the pandemic, California has moved further from that 16.6% benchmark.

Standing before a group of mental health care professionals at the Psychiatric Hospital of San Diego County on a recent afternoon, attorney Mike Phillips explained the highly nuanced criteria of Senate Bill 43, the law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom that many have said attempts to increase the number of unhoused residents placed under government conservatorship.

Free meters, use of disabled parking spots, and free full-service treatment at gas stations are among the privileges the California Department of Motor Vehicles grants people with disabilities who apply for and receive special license plates or placards. Disabled military veterans also receive license and vehicle registration fee waivers.

Araceli Ramirez felt lost when her 5-year-old son Abraham was diagnosed with autism two years ago. The Modesto-area mother of four didn’t know much about the disorder or how to get her son help.

Many California children and their families, including immigrants, transgender students and Black and Latino students, among others, are feeling similar fear and uncertainty, after the election of a candidate who has threatened to deport undocumented immigrants en masse, and to cut school funding to states that protect transgender students and promote diversity, equity and inclusion in their schools.

Araceli Ramirez felt lost when her 5-year-old son Abraham was diagnosed with autism two years ago. The Modesto-area mother of four didn’t know much about the disorder or how to get her son help.