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DRM’s Coronavirus (COVID-19) Related Advocacy

Posted on March 31, 2020

Health Care:

Disability Services Personnel Are Essential:

  • April 3, 2020 – The Developmental Disabilities Coalition, in collaboration with Disability Rights Maryland and other organizations, sent a letter to State Governor Larry Hogan in response to the Executive Order (March 31, 2020) determining disability services personnel as health care providers necessary for Maryland’s response to COVID-19. More information can be found here.
  • December 18, 2020 – Disability Rights Maryland, along with a coalition of disability organizations, sent a letter to Governor Hogan to underscore the importance of having all people with disabilities, the professionals and caregivers that support them, and residents in nursing homes and residents in care facilities, prioritized in the first phases of the vaccination.

Protect Disability Rights if Ventilators are Rationed:

  • April 9, 2020 – Disability Rights Maryland and 20 disability advocates signed on to a letter to State Governor Larry Hogan in early April, urging him to pledge to protect the rights of Marylanders with disabilities if ventilators are rationed during the COVID-19 crisis. More information can be found here.

Allowing Disability Support for People with Disabilities in Health Care Facilities:

  • April 30, 2020 – Casey Shea, a Staff Attorney with Disability Rights Maryland, sent this letter on behalf of the organization to urge the Maryland Department of Health (MDH) to take swift action to provide statewide guidance to hospitals and health care facilities concerning visitors and other reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities during the COVID-19 emergency.
  • May 12, 2020 –MDH and the Maryland Department of Disabilities (MDOD) issued a directive requiring that hospitals issue policies providing for disability support personnel for people with disabilities needing support. A few weeks later, the State issued a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) guidance document addressing “Access to Support for Patients with Disabilities in Hospital Settings.”
  • August 26, 2020 – Disability Rights Maryland with a Coalition of disability organizations sent a letter to MDH and MDOD requesting that the State of Maryland take further action to ensure that visitor and reasonable accommodation policies are adopted by health care facilities throughout the state to ensure that health care facilities do not discriminate against patients and consumers with disabilities. The Coalition’s recommendations include that MDH:
    • Amend Maryland’s Disability Support Directive to provide clear non-discrimination expectations for all Maryland health care facility providers (expanding from previous policy only covering hospitals).
    • Provide an expedited mechanism to (1) review disability support personnel access and other disability accommodation requests and (2) to review health care facility policies and enforce the Secretaries’ directive.
    • (1) Post the directive clearly on state webpages; (2) provide notice and contact information related to complaints about violations of the directive; and (3) update the directive to require health care facilities to list a contact point familiar with Americans with Disabilities Act and other disability support personnel legal requirements to whom questions or violations of the directive may be addressed.
    • Use the Framework developed by national disability rights advocates to create clear expectations and a notice of rights in the state directive and policy FAQs, including clearly advertising and posting notice of the directive at patient entry points in every facility, on the facility’s website, and providing the information to patients; and clarifying that COVID-19 positive patients are still entitled to access in-person disability support.
  • September 24, 2020 – MDOD Secretary Carol Beatty and MDH Secretary Robert Neall responded to the disability Coalition stakeholders and issued new directive and guidance documents regarding disability support personnel in health care facilities. The newly expanded directive and guidance replaces the May 12, 2020 directive and applies to all licensed Maryland hospitals, related institutions, freestanding medical facilities, freestanding ambulatory care facilities, chronic disease centers, hospice care facilities, comprehensive rehabilitation facilities, nursing homes, and assisted living programs (health care providers). Other changes in the directive and guidance make clear that patients with COVID-19 have the right to access support persons; provides that support persons “are permitted to access restrooms, food, and drink while in the health care facility”; requires facilities to take clear, affirmative steps to directly notify residents/patients of disability support rights and how to request them; requires facilities to make sure they can process requests for support persons “during all operational hours”; and posting the policies on the MDH and DOD state websites. With the change, Maryland health care providers are required to adopt policies on or before October 1, 2020, that comply with the directive.
    • Self Advocacy Resources:
      • Autism Self Advocacy Network and Green Mountain Self Advocates “Know Your Rights: Bringing a Supporter to a Hospital or a Doctor’s Office”: Resource
      • Maryland Developmental Disabilities Council “Access to support for people with disabilities in hospital settings FAQs”: Resource

Voting:

Provide Polling Centers with Accessible Voting Machines:

  • April 11, 2020 – David A. Prater, a Managing Attorney with Disability Rights Maryland, sent this letter on behalf of the organization to urge the State Board of Elections (SBE) to provide an option for accessible voting machines at accessible polling locations for the Special General Election, to be held on April 28, 2020.

Education:

Help Baltimore City Youth Get Internet Access for Distance Learning:

  • April 24, 2020 – Disability Rights Maryland joined nearly 60 other advocates in signing onto a letter sent by the Baltimore Teachers Union to address the digital divide in Baltimore City. The coalition called on city officials to make an emergency financial investment into the purchase of technology for the children and families who need computers or internet access in their homes. More information can be found here.

We need your help now more than ever. Donate to DRM to support our work.

Last Updated: September 30, 2020

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Coronavirus (COVID-19) Advocacy, Information, & Resources

Posted on March 31, 2020

A Message from Us

Disability Rights Maryland (DRM) is working hard to stand together with Marylanders with disabilities and will continue to do all that we can to provide excellent services to our communities during this challenging time.

For legal assistance, we encourage you to call our intake department using the phone numbers listed below:

Phone: 410-727-6352 (EXT. 0)

Toll Free: 1-800-233-7201

TTY: 410-235-5387

Please leave a message and we will return your call as soon as possible. Please note that return calls may be made from blocked numbers since staff are working remotely.

Subscribe to our email list and follow us on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date with our COVID-19 related updates and advocacy.

How We Can Help

Disability Rights Maryland recognizes the serious threat to the health, safety, and legal rights of people with disabilities posed by the coronavirus (COVID-19).  Although DRM’s offices are currently closed, our staff is working remotely to ensure we continue to protect the rights of people with disabilities throughout Maryland.

Please contact us if you:

  • Have questions about your legal rights during this time
  • Are unable to access critical information
  • Wish to speak with an attorney about a disability-related legal issue

We also need to hear from you about how institutions and services throughout the state are managing the impact of COVID-19.  To ensure the safety of individuals with disabilities residing in facilities or receiving services in the community, employees, and our staff, we are gathering information from people who have been in facilities (including psychiatric hospitals and residential treatment centers) or involved in providing or receiving community-based services to tell us your concerns.

Please contact us if you observe or have problems, including:

In a facility:

    • You have not been given information about the signs of COVID-19, how to stay safe, and how staff will help you stay safe. 
    • Staff and visitors are coming into the facility with symptoms of COVID-19 (coughing, fever, shortness of breath) or are not being screened for symptoms at the door. Information about COVID-19 should be posted at the entrance and around the facility. 
    • There are staffing shortages in the facility. 
    • You live in a small facility or group home where someone is sick and you can’t get physical distance to be safe. 
    • Staff are not being careful with personal hygiene to protect against COVID-19 (washing hands frequently or using hand sanitizer, staying 6 feet away when possible, wearing protective gear if caring for someone who is ill). 
    • You don’t have access to medications, food or other necessary items.  
    • You don’t have access to needed services.
    • You are being abused or neglected, including extreme isolation, lack of human contact, and/or over–medication.
    • You are being pressured to sign a do-not-resuscitate order (DNR).
    • You are being denied aggressive treatment.
    • You are in a high-risk group for complications from COVID-19 and/or are experiencing increased barriers to transitioning to a community placement.
    • For youth in RTCs, you do not have access to education or IEP services.

In the community:

    • Your in-home assistance staffing changes or is not available. 
    • Your staffing has been impacted by COVID-19 and your needs are not being met. 
    • Your staff is not careful with personal hygiene (washing hands often, staying 6-feet away when possible, wearing protective gear to stop the spread of infection). 
    • You can’t get your medications. 
    • You don’t have access to food or supplies you need. 
    • You can’t access necessary telehealth services because you don’t have needed technology, phone minutes or internet services;
    • You are being pressured to sign a do-not-resuscitate order (DNR).
    • You are being denied aggressive treatment.
    • For youth, you don’t have access to education or IEP services.

Last Updated: April 7, 2020

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Disability Right Maryland’s Munib Lohrasbi Honored as a part of the 2019 Choice Advocate Team of the Year

Posted on September 13, 2019

Munib Lohrasbi, attorney for Disability Rights Maryland (DRM), is being honored by NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland as a part of their 2019 Choice Advocate Team of the Year. The prestigious recognition is given to advocates who have worked tirelessly for the passage of Maryland laws that prohibit forced solitary confinement of pregnant inmates (the first if its kind the U.S.) and juveniles.

Munib started as an OSI-Baltimore Community Fellow at DRM in November, 2017, and is currently an active attorney- campaigning for change on major community issues. “It is a privilege to work with a group of advocates who are so passionate about impacting change,” stated Munib, “and creating a more just society. I’m honored to be recognized as part of NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland’s 2019 Choice Advocate Team of the Year.”

In a recent project, Munib investigated conditions for incarcerated pregnant women at the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women (MCIW), the only State correctional facility for women in Maryland. The review focused on the use of restrictive housing, or confinement in a cell for 22 hours or more per day. Munib and his professional colleagues were alarmed that women were jailed without adequate access to mental health programming or services. Going forward, the goal is to improve access to correctional mental health services and to reduce or eliminate the use of restrictive housing, particularly for individuals with serious mental illnesses who are at the greatest risk of harm.

To read the full report detailing Munib’s findings at MCIW and recommendations for reform visit https://disabilityrightsmd.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/MCIW_Report-Final.pdf

If you have questions, or if you’re interested in learning more or getting involved, you can contact Munib directly at MunibL@DisabilityRightsMD.org or 443-692-2491.

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National Disability Voter Registration Week

Posted on July 23, 2019

The REV UP Campaign coordinates National Disability Voter Registration Week (NDVRW) each year on the third week of July to increase the political power of people with disabilities while also engaging candidates and the media to recognize the disability community. REV UP stands for Register! Educate! Vote! Use your Power!

On Monday, July 15th DRM kicked off National Disability Voter Registration Week by providing a Voter Registration and Rights training and voter registration session for The League for People with Disabilities advocacy group. Many thanks to the staff from the Baltimore City Board of Elections who brought Maryland’s accessible voting technology, the Ballot Marking Devices, “BMDs.” They provided a demonstration on how to use the BMD, offered an opportunity for the advocates to practice using the devices themselves and answered questions. Staff from the Baltimore City Mayor’s Office of Civil Rights were also in attendance and shared information about upcoming events.

According to a study conducted by Rutgers University, voter turnout surged by 8.5 points in 2018 among citizens with disabilities relative to the 2014 midterm elections, and it is expected to increase during the 2020 elections.

It is important for people with disabilities to be registered voters so they can elect officials who have their best interest at heart, and vote for policies that will improve their quality of life.

“Everyone with disabilities in the United States benefits from the rights and protections under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)”, said Voting Advocate, Tracy Wright. “We all need to do our best to protect it.”

Visit our website for more resources https://disabilityrightsmd.org/voting/

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DRM figure logo in white on dark green background

The Civil Rights Crisis in Our Schools

Posted on September 29, 2016

The term “school to prison pipeline” refers to the link between school failure, zero-tolerance discipline policies, exclusionary discipline, school-based arrest, and the likelihood that youth who have these experiences in school will become involved in the juvenile, and later, adult criminal justice systems. Children of color and children with disabilities are overrepresented at all stops on the school to prison pipeline, beginning with exclusionary discipline and academic failure in early childhood.

The fact that Black children and children with disabilities are suspended and expelled more often than other children for the same offenses reflects the same inequalities that exist in the adult world. We live in a society where the rate at which Black men are subject to imprisonment is unparalleled, and where people with disabilities are at disproportionate risk of lethal encounters with law enforcement.[i] The deaths of Freddie Gray and Ethan Saylor indicate that Maryland is no exception.

Although the overall number of suspensions and expulsions are down across Maryland, the disproportionate impact of school exclusion and push-out of children with disabilities and children of color continues. According to Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) data, in 2014-2015, there were 70,404 total suspensions and expulsions. Students with disabilities represented 12% of the population, but 27% of suspensions and expulsions were of students with disabilities. In the same year, Black students made up 35% of the population but 62% of the suspensions and expulsions were of Black students.[ii] Nationally, the data is even more troubling, with Black students 3.8 times as likely to be suspended as white students, and children with disabilities more than 2 times as likely to be suspended as students without disabilities, according to the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.

Unfortunately, the requirement that districts track, reduce and eliminate disproportionate suspensions of students with disabilities and students of color has not been implemented. MSDE is now considering methods of measuring disproportionality, but after two years, has not yet begun measuring it.

Don’t some students need to be removed?

Violent or dangerous behavior in school is never acceptable, and there are times when a student must be removed from a learning environment to ensure the student’s safety and that of other students. However, according to MSDE data, most suspensions are not for violent actions. Rather, the majority of suspensions statewide fall into the categories of disrespect, insubordination, and disruption.  Restorative practices can address these categories of behavior effectively. “Restorative practices” are a way of affecting behavior and school “climate” that focuses on relationships and having individuals repair wrongs they have committed. If our goal is to change inappropriate behavior, suspension has not been proven to make schools safer.[v] What suspension has been proven to do, however, is increase the likelihood of substance abuse, school failure, dropout, and involvement in the juvenile justice system. [vi]

Students with Disabilities

We know that students with disabilities are more frequently suspended and/or expelled from school, but why? When schools fail to identify students with disabilities, when disability is misunderstood or underestimated, or when students with disabilities do not have effective, appropriate academic instruction, challenging behavior can result.

Schools have specific legal obligations regarding students with disabilities under the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Americans with Disabilities Act. These include identifying students who have disabilities, providing a free and appropriate public education to all children, even those who are suspended; questioning whether problematic behavior is a “manifestation” of the child’s disability before suspending them; and providing positive behavior supports.[vii] Too often, school systems fail to meet these obligations and respond to the resulting behavior issues in a manner that discriminates against that student due to their disability. Without access to legal representation, many low-income families of children with disabilities are unsuccessful in getting help for their children in situations where disability is misunderstood, underestimated, or not properly addressed.

Alternatives to Suspension

For students with disabilities, there are already systems in place that are underutilized for addressing problem behavior, including correctly identifying students with disabilities through the existing special education process and planning for appropriate accommodations and services for those students. Functional behavior assessments (FBA) and behavior intervention plans (BIP), which are in use to varying degrees throughout the state for both students with disabilities and students without them, aim to identify the main problematic behaviors and the “function” of those behaviors, and direct adults how to respond in a consistent, specific way to teach and reward appropriate “replacement” behaviors. Other programs aim to teach children the skills they are lacking in order to resolve conflicts.

There are also research-based methods of improving school climate and reducing the need to suspend so many children. These alternatives have costs associated with them, but those costs are less than the economic and social costs of school drop-out and incarceration. It is up to the community to demand that education budgets include funding for these restorative justice programs. Two examples of many are Community Conferencing and Holistic Life Foundation. Community Conferencing reports that 98% of Community Conferences resulted in a written agreement between the parties, with 95% compliance to those agreements. Holistic Life Foundation reports an overall reduction in the stress levels of students, many of whom have experienced high levels of trauma. Importantly, these programs teach students critical life skills that will ensure their success, rather than their failure, beyond school. Finally, teachers report that their training should include more information about behavior and classroom management.[viii]

Given the alternatives and the damaging impact of suspension, other school systems including New York and Minneapolis have determined that children in pre-kindergarten to 2nd grade—or four-six-year-olds—should not be suspended. Maryland should follow suit, especially given that in 2014-2015, almost 3000 four, five, and six-year-olds were suspended in Maryland, mostly for minor misbehavior.

While Disability Rights Maryland and other organizations represent some children whose civil rights have been violated in the school discipline process, a vast gap exists between the number of students who are removed from school inappropriately and the number of students we can serve. We rely on pro bono attorneys to help bridge the gap. Disability Rights Maryland’s pro bono program provides training and technical assistance to attorneys willing to assist a student and their family. Please consider volunteering your time to represent these students.

Nicole Joseph is an attorney with Disability Rights Maryland and co-chair of the Maryland Coalition to Reform School Discipline. Fazia Hasan contributed to this post.

[i] NAACP, Criminal Justice Fact Sheet. http://www.naacp.org/pages/criminal-justice-fact-sheet; Perry, David and Carter-Long Lawrence, How Misunderstanding Disability Leads to Police Violence. The Atlantic, May 2014.

[ii] Maryland State Department of Education, Suspension, Expulsion, and Health Related Exclusions in Maryland Public Schools 2014-2015, available at http://marylandpublicschools.org/MSDE/divisions/planningresultstest/doc/20142015Student/2014-2015_Suspensions.pdf

[iii] Maryland State Board of Education, School Discipline and Academic Success: Related Parts of Maryland’s Education reform. (July 2012) Available at http://marylandpublicschools.org/NR/rdonlyres/42ED8EDA-AF34-4058-B275-03189163882D/32853/SchoolDisciplineandAcademicSuccessReportFinalJuly2.pdf.

[iv] COMAR 13A.08.01.-04.

[v] Steinberg, M.P., Allensworth, E., & Johnson, D.W. (2015). What conditions support safety in urban schools? The influence of school organizational practices on student and teacher reports of safety in Chicago. In Losen, D.J. (Ed.) Closing the School Discipline Gap: Equitable Remedies for Excessive Exclusion. New York: Teachers College Press.

[vi] Tracy J. Evans-Whipp, et al., Longitudinal Effects of School Drug Policies on Student Marijuana Use in Washington State and Victoria, Australia. American Journal of Public Health: Vol. 105, No. 5 (2015); Krezmien, M. and Leone, P. Suspension, Race, and Disability: Analysis of Statewide Practices and Reporting, Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders (2006); Leone, P. et al., School failure, race and disability: Promoting positive outcomes, decreasing vulnerability for involvement with the juvenile delinquency system, The National Center on Education, Disability and Juvenile Justice (2003).

[vii] 20 U.S.C. 1412(a)(3); providing a free and appropriate public education to all children, even those who are suspended, 20 U.S.C. § 1400, et seq., 34 CFR 300, 34 CFR 300.101(a); and questioning whether problematic behavior is a “manifestation” of the child’s disability before suspending them, 34 CFR 300.530 (e); and providing positive behavior supports.

[viii] American Federation of Teachers, Reclaiming the Promise: A new path forward on school discipline practices. Available at http://www.aft.org/position/school-discipline#sthash.DJf7GIID.dpuf

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About DRM

Disability Rights Maryland (DRM) is a private, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization advocating to improve the lives of Marylanders with disabilities. Combined Federal Campaign #76352; United Way/Maryland Charities Campaign #5178.

The information on this website is not offered as legal advice and should not be used as a substitute for seeking professional legal advice. No information on this website creates an attorney-client relationship with you.

Contact

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Toll Free: 1-800-233-7201
TTY: 410-235-5387
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