Now That the Trump Administration Has Made Minority Lives Miserable, It’s Coming to Ruin the Lives of Disabled Americans Next

3 min readWell, they’ve gone out of their way to make the lives of most minority citizens miserable, so I guess it’s time for the infirm and aged to get their time in the barrel. Now. From the good people at the Center for Economic and Policy Research:As Disability Pride Month comes to a close, the Trump administration has marked the occasion by making it difficult-to-impossible for disabled federal workers to do their work. Workers from multiple agencies allege that the Trump administration has been systematically denying or stalling accommodation requests and rescinding telework as an accommodation. Several employees say they have faced retaliation for requesting telework accommodations in the first place.When the second Trump administration took office, one of its first moves was to mandate a return to in-person work for federal workers. While the order noted that the memorandum should be “implemented consistent with applicable law,” that part has been interpreted generously. Having moved to discard collective bargaining agreements that established remote work benefits, the Trump administration is now eliminating telework accommodations for disabled federal workers who rely on themThe administration has had the Americans with Disabilities Act in its sights ever since taking office, but the attacks on that landmark piece of legislation have intensified recently. To the surprise of absolutely nobody, the vehicle is the Department of Justice. From Politico:The Department of Justice will no longer enforce its own guidance around the Olmstead ruling, a 1999 landmark Supreme Court case that held that unnecessarily segregating people with disabilities in institutions is a form of discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act. That ruling—the backbone of an understanding that people with disabilities should have the opportunity to live in their communities—underpins decades of civil-rights litigation and is largely responsible for the proliferation of home- and community-based alternatives to institutionalization. And because those options have been more widely available, states have significantly reduced the number of people living in institutions or closed them altogether. The Trump administration appears intent on scrapping that understanding, a move that could radically alter the relationship between state governments and people with disabilities, who rely on Medicaid’s Home and Community-Based Services to provide support that helps people live at home or in small group homes.The cruelty, etc., etc.The ADA is the greatest legacy of the administration of President George H.W. Bush. It was passed in 1990 over the opposition of organized business groups and over the opposition of conservative Bible-bangers who were miffed that its provisions covered people with AIDS. It had Senate powers like Ted Kennedy and Bob Dole behind it, but its real champion was Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa. Upon signing the bill, President Bush remarked:I know there may have been concerns that the ADA may be too vague or too costly, or may lead endlessly to litigation. But I want to reassure you right now that my administration and the United States Congress have carefully crafted this Act. We’ve all been determined to ensure that it gives flexibility, particularly in terms of the timetable of implementation; and we’ve been committed to containing the costs that may be incurred. ... Let the shameful wall of exclusion finally come tumbling down.Republicans used to be different, kidz.Not so fast there, Meemaw. They’ve got their eyes on you too. From ABC News:Medicare Part D—the government health insurance program’s prescription drug benefit—is used by tens of millions of older or disabled beneficiaries.The program’s subsidies are set to expire at the end of the year, the administration announced Tuesday. That move will likely result in higher prescription costs and increase premiums for about half of recipients, according to an administration official.This, of course, is on top of a reported $536 billion in Medicare cuts contained in the Big Plug Ugly budget bill. I’m sure that this galaxy-brained move will turn things right around come the midterms.