Advancing the legal rights
of persons with disabilities
across the South

Menu of Significant
[Medicaid], [Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)],
[Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)], and [Mental Health]
Issues throughout the South

There are numerous Medicaid, ADA, and IDEA issues throughout the South that could be addressed by the Southern Disability Law Center. These include:

I. Medicaid

A. Exclusion of durable medical equipment that allows individuals with physical disabilities to safely remain in their own homes. Typical exclusions include augmentative communication devices, patient lifts, specialized mattresses, environmental control units, portable ramps medical supplies, and oxygen.

B. Exclusion of power wheelchairs for individuals residing in nursing homes.

C. Exclusion of prosthetic limbs and braces for persons with physical disabilities.

D. Unlawful limitations on the amount of in-home support services, such as nursing and personal assistance services, provided to children.

E. Unlawful limitations on covered services based upon specific diagnoses, i.e., refusal to pay for internal feeding supplies based upon diagnosis.

F. Unlawful limitations on the range of health care services available to children in foster care.

G. Unlawful restrictions on home health services based upon the "homebound status" of the individual.

H. Unlawful cost caps on reimbursement for specialized equipment, i.e., customized wheelchairs, augmentative communication devices.

I. Unlawful terminations from Home and Community-Based Waiver Programs due to severity of disability.

II. Americans with Disabilities Act

A. Failure of local and state governmental entities to modify their policies, procedures, and practices to reasonably accommodate applicants / recipients who have disabilities, (e.g., taking telephone / Internet applications, home visits, etc.).

B. Architectural inaccessibility of local and state governmental entities. This includes the inaccessibility of many local offices of state agencies which operate entitlement programs. Also includes inaccessibility of local public health clinics, and public hospitals.

C. Programmatic inaccessibility of local and state governmental entities operations. Such inaccessibility includes the failure of state entitlement programs to have Telecommunication Devices for the Deaf (TDDs) and separate TDD lines and numbers. It also includes the failure of such programs to provide interpreters, readers, large print materials, taped, and/or Brailled materials to people who are deaf, blind, vision impaired learning disabled.

D. Architectural inaccessibility of local courthouses which clearly inhibits if not denies poor people with disabilities equal access to justice.

E. Inaccessibility of public transportation systems including curb cuts at all transit stops.

F. Inaccessibility of local 911 service operations to people who are deaf. Today, many 911 service operations do not have TDDs, nor staff trained in the use of TDDs. The result is that often when people who are deaf call 911 using a TDD, their call is mistaken as a fax and their call is immediately dropped by the operator.

G. Continued accessibility issues with local polling places for local / state / federal elections. This includes lack of disabled parking; lack of curb cuts at polling places; inaccessible entrances to polling places; inaccessible voting systems including those that deny secret ballots to people who are blind.

H. Architectural and/or programmatic inaccessibility of Title III public accommodation, (e.g., banks, hospitals, malls, etc.).

III. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)

A. The failure of State Education Agency (SEA) Monitoring Systems to ensure the provision of FAPE by Local Education Agencies, (LEAs).

B. The failure of local districts to provide Extended School Year, (EYS) programs based upon students individualized needs. Most local districts either fail to offer EYS programs or offer a predetermined, limited program that is exactly the same length for all students.

C. Over-representation of ethnic minority students in special education based upon use of inappropriate and discriminatory assessment measure, (i.e., standardized test).

D. Disproportionate suspension / expulsion rates of students with disabilities by certain school districts. The impact of such illegal practices falls predominately on kids with disabilities who are poor and of ethnic minority backgrounds.

E. Disproportionate and illegal placement of students with disabilities in Alternative Education Programs (AEPs). Across the South, students with disabilities are being illegally 'dumped' into AEPs for behaviors related to their disability. Moreover, local districts routinely are failing to provide IEP services to students with disabilities in AEPs, (e.g., occupational, physical, speech therapy, psychological counseling, etc.).

IV. Mental Health Issues

A. Failure of State Department of Mental Health to fund new generation medications for individuals in state hospitals and/or the community mental health system.

B. Olmstead issues involving a broad array of community services for consumers / survivors.

C. Myriad managed care issues involving community mental health centers…lack of crisis intervention services, behavioral supports, rehabilitation services, etc.

D. Local jails… general conditions including failure to provide medications, treatment, segregation from general population, etc.

E. Transporting consumers / psychiatric survivors in handcuffs and shackles to mental health facilities.