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DRM would like to hear from you! We are developing our annual Advocacy Services Plan and would like to know what issues are important to the community. Please take 10-15 minutes to complete our annual survey and help us plan next year’s work. Please submit your response by August 31, 2018. Thank you!

Alternative methods to submit annual survey: 

A PDF version of the survey is available – 2019 ASP Survey

Please return your paper copy by email: Feedback@DisabilityRightsMD.org

by mail: 1500 Union Avenue, Suite 2000, Baltimore, MD 21211

by fax: 410-727-6389

or call us: 410-727-6352 ext. 0 to give your answers by phone. 

June 20, 2018

Disability Rights Maryland (DRM), alongside its partners in the Maryland Coalition to Reform School Discipline, has for several years advocated for Baltimore City Public Schools to pass policies governing the interaction between school police, students, and the community. City Schools is the only district in Maryland to employ and maintain its own police force. DRM is pleased to announce that on June 12^th the City Schools’ Board of Commissioners approved for the first time school board policy and regulations to delineate the role of school police and school administrators in administering school discipline and ensuring school safety. While the approval of policies is an important step in disrupting the school-to-prison pipeline, DRM will continue to work with Coalition members to advocate for updates to the policies that serve to protect students’ rights, including a clear definition of arrest and a call for juvenile-specific Miranda warnings.

See DRM Attorney Amanda White on the CBS local news coverage of the passage of these policies.

June 19,2018

According to a new study released Monday by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), Maryland has the 5th highest cost of housing in the country. 

The Out of Reach Study, conducted by NLIHC, concluded that residents in Maryland must earn at least $29.04 an hour for the average two bedroom apartment to be affordable. Housing experts consider that no more than 30% of income should be spent on housing in order for it to be considered affordable. For Maryland residents with disabilities who have not been able to work because of their disability, the affordability crisis is even more severe. 

Many of these residents earn only $735 a month from Supplemental Security Income. The fair market rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the Baltimore Metropolitan area is $1,125. Without a deeply affordable housing subsidy that would set an individual’s rent at 30% of their income, the economics of renting an apartment become impossible for most of DRM’s clients.  

NLIHC released a report earlier this year [The Gap: A Shortage of Affordable Rental Homes], and estimated that Maryland could only house 35 out of every 100 extremely low income families. At least 21% of extremely low income households are headed by non-elderly persons with disabilities. 

“The scarcity of affordable housing in community settings in Maryland continues to segregate people with disabilities into nursing homes, state hospitals, and other facilities. Without additional affordable housing options, many Marylanders with disabilities will continue to be segregated in expensive medical facilities.”
– David Prater, DRM Staff Attorney