According to a U.S. national comorbidity survey, about 18% of workers in the U.S. report having a mental health condition in any given month.[¹] In 2016, nearly half (48.6%) of people under the age of 50 receiving disabled worker benefits had a mental disorder.[²] This year, the Trump administration tried to push for several legal and budget changes to disability-related laws and programs that could have a significant impact on people with psychiatric and/or developmental disabilities. This article summarizes some of the proposed changes and their potential impact.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR), investigations is scaling back investigations of systemic civil rights violations by “look[ing] into broader patters of noncompliance only when a complaint explicitly mentions that such broader patterns are possible.” [³] In addition, they announced that they will no longer require investigators to obtain three years of past complaint data/files in order to determine if there has been a pattern of civil rights violations. [⁴] Additionally, regional offices will be subject to less federal oversight as they will “no longer be required to alert department officials in Washington by of all highly sensitive complaints on issues such as the disproportionate disciplining of minority students and the mishandling of sexual assaults on the college campuses.” [⁵]

Another of the Trump administration proposals that affects people with disabilities is the post-ponement of a rule under the Individuals with Disability Education Act (IDEA) 20 U.S.C. 1418, which requires states to identify disproportionate disability identification by race/ethnicity e.g., American Indian, Alaska Native, African and Hispanic. This rule is now recommended to be postponed until year 2020.[⁶]

Last year, in an 8-0 decision in the case Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District, 137 S. Ct. 988, 999 (2017), the U.S. Supreme Court clarified the legal standards for all 50 states in favor of a higher standard of education for children with disabilities. It means schools must provide a substantively adequate equal opportunity for disabled students by offering “an IEP reasonably calculated to enable a child to make progress appropriate in light of the child’s circumstances.” Justice Gorsuch, a Trump appointee, authored the 10th Cir. Case Thompson v. Luke, 540 F.3d 1143 (10th Cir. 2008), which found that disabled students were not entitled to equal opportunity in education, just “merely more than de minimis” educational benefits.

The administration is proposing cuts to social security disability benefits and many federal programs that assist people with disabilities. The “Reform Disability Programs” section of the Trump administration’s budget proposed $72 billion in decreases over 10 years. [⁷] This included major cuts to Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) programs, including reducing the retroactive benefits for the disabled workers from 12 months to 6 – losing about $7,000 in earned Social Security benefits. [⁸] These changes were not approved by congress.

Even the disabled veterans who have severe service–related disabilities would have been impacted. The Trump administration 2018 budget proposes ending a benefit called Individual Unemployability (IU) for disabled veterans who are unable to find work due to a high level of disability. The impact is serious, with one analyst stating that many of these veterans would see their income decrease from $35,000 annually to less than $13,000 if this plan becomes law.[⁹] “[T]hese veterans have largely been disabled, out of the workforce and not paying into Social Security for many years before reaching 65.” [¹⁰] Thus, these policies will hurt disabled veterans who have been severely disabled during military service making them unable to work. See also, White House Budget FY 2018, Dept. of Veteran Affairs. VA Secretory David Shulkin subsequently stated that the VA does not support termination of IU benefits [¹¹] and the budget passed by Congress did not implement these changes.

Although disabled beneficiaries make up only 15% of Medicaid enrollees, they account for 42% of Medicaid spending – the largest share. [¹²] The Trump administration seeks to restructure Medicaid wherein the states will receive block grants, which will limit access to health care by cutting funds for Medicaid. [¹³] While Republicans argue that this could save the government billions of dollars, at the same time, these savings could limit access to health care if the funding becomes squeezed because of the states’ decision to allocate differently. Any cuts to Medicaid will have a disproportionate impact on the disabled compared with the non-disabled. This plan may result in limiting access to expensive but necessary medication for ADHD, epilepsy, and interventions such as autism-specific speech, occupational and physical therapies, which are necessary for this disabled population.

Furthermore, there is a proposal to curb the spending by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on birth defects and developmental disabilities by $35.4 million, thus decreasing efforts in the surveillance and prevention of developmental disabilities. [¹⁴] The administration’s budget proposal also included eliminating the funding for Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) programs. [¹⁵] LEND programs “provide interdisciplinary training to enhance the clinical expertise and leadership skills of professionals dedicated to caring for children with neurodevelopmental and other related disabilities including autism. [¹⁶] These changes, if approved will result in a decline in supporting the efforts around autism and related neurodevelopmental disabilities.

On a positive note, caregiving is one issue that Congress and Donald Trump have agreed to continue to include. President Trump signed legislation known as the Recognize, Assist, Include, Support and Engage, or RAISE Family Caregivers Act, which directs a strategy to support more than 40 million family caregivers in the United States. This change could help communities, providers, local government, and others to help caregivers. [¹⁷]

In conclusion, the changes in the law and budget proposed by the Trump administration are troubling for people with disabilities. The deep cuts in key disability programs the administration proposed are far greater than ever before – which would make it harder for people with disabilities to become independent. These changes are of concern as they would lead to fewer people with disabilities being employed, healthy, independent, and a functional part of our community. That being said, most of these proposals by the current administration did not get approval by Congress, so while they may not have consequences as of today, we must remain vigilant to ensure protections and benefits are not lost.

This article is published by People With Disabilities Foundation (PWDF), which is a non-profit organization that focuses on people with psychiatric and/or developmental disabilities.

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