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Tags Posts tagged with "Rehabilitation Act of 1973"

Rehabilitation Act of 1973

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Overview of HHS’ Final Rule Implementing Section 504 of the Rehab Act
Tuesday, May 28, 2024
2:00 pm ET
Register Here

On May 1, 2024, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) made disability rights history with the release of a long-awaited final rule implementing Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. This comprehensive update — the first since the initial regulation was put into place more than 40 years ago — creates one of the most powerful tools we have ever had to combat discrimination based on disability in health care and human services.

In this webinar, leaders from the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) will provide an overview of the rule’s critical provisions for the disability and aging networks. ASL and CART will be provided. A recording will be available on ACL’s website shortly after the webinar.

ACL was proud to work with their partners in the OCR and the disability community to achieve this top priority, and they are looking forward to working with OCR, the disability and aging networks, and the broader community to ensure that people with disabilities know about the rule’s powerful provisions to uphold their civil rights and guarantee they have equal access to health care and human services.

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Last week, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra hosted a press conference to announce a rule proposed by the HHS Office for Civil Rights that would update Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. This is the first time these critical regulations will have been updated since they were originally signed in 1977, after four years of tireless advocacy and a 28-day protest led by disability civil rights leaders.

Updates to the rule include:

  • Clarifications on the obligations to provide services in the most integrated setting appropriate to a person’s needs, consistent with the Supreme Court’s decision in Olmstead v. L.C;
  • Medical treatment decisions are not based on biases or stereotypes about people with disabilities, judgments that an individual will be a burden on others, or beliefs that the life of an individual with a disability has less value than the life of a person without a disability;
  • Adoption of standards for accessible diagnostic medical treatment;
  • Adoption of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, Level AA, which are accessibility standards for websites and mobile applications;
  • Clarification of requirements in HHS-funded child welfare programs and activities to help eliminate discriminatory barriers faced by children, parents, caregivers, foster parents, and prospective parents with disabilities; and
  • Prohibition of the use of value-of-life assessments in treatment decisions.

Read the official announcement, full rule, fact sheet, and instructions on how to provide comments on the HHS website. If you have any questions, please contact Fady Sahhar.

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