Disabled Rights Effort Gets Push From Jewish Activists
Jewish activists from 12 states and the District of Columbia lobbied Congress to liberalize rules for government assistance for the disabled.
The fourth annual Jewish Disability Advocacy Day on Thursday, sponsored by The Jewish Federations of North America and the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, stressed the importance of passing the Achieving A Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act and joining the international Disability Treaty.
The ABLE Act would allow anyone with a disability and their families to save money for education, housing, transportation, employment support and health. Currently, only disabled individuals with $2000 or less in savings are eligible for money from Medicaid or Supplemental Security Income.
The 65 activists also urged Congress members to vote for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, an international disability treaty adopted by the United Nations in 2008 and based on the the Americans with Disabilities Act. U.S. adoption of the convention, advocates say, would bolster efforts to advance its protections worldwide.
Rachel Laser, the Religious Action Center’s deputy director deputy director, said that children with disabilities are more likely to be bullied or restrained by their teachers, and adults were more likely to be unemployed. “We are making great strides, but these are not enough,” she told the activists.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30