The Trump Administration’s War on Disability

This report contains a correction.

Authors’ note: The disability community is rapidly evolving to use identity-first language in place of person-first language. This is because it views disability as being a core component of identity, much like race and gender. Some members of the community, such as people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, prefer person-first language. In this report, the terms are used interchangeably.

History will show the first six months of the second Trump administration as an all-out war against disabled people. From executive orders intended to roll back civil rights protections¹ to legislation that cuts key services and support,² the disability community has faced structural violence in the form of federal policy.³ This all comes as the community continues to suffer severe impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic that have resulted in further disablement, isolation, and death.⁴ It has even been alleged that President Donald Trump once told his nephew, Fred C. Trump III, that he should let his son, who has “complex” intellectual and developmental disabilities, “just die” because of the cost of care.⁵

More than 1 in 4 adults in the United States have a disability.⁶ Since 2019, the disability community has grown faster than the overall population—12 percent⁷ compared with 3.6 percent⁸—in part due to long COVID, an aging population, and delayed medical care.⁹ The Biden administration reacted by providing historic increases in funding for services and programs, including a $36.8 billion increase in home- and community-based services (HCBS),¹⁰ $1.75 billion from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to improve the accessibility of rail stations,¹¹ and a $1.3 billion increase for Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) grants.¹² The administration also finalized several key administrative rules to reinforce the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.¹³ At the same time, some disability advocates still felt vulnerable and left behind as the administration rolled back pandemic supports and protections.¹⁴

The second Trump administration has rolled back this progress, causing vast harm to the disability community. This Disability Pride Month, around the 35th anniversary of the ADA’s passage, the Center for American Progress is taking stock of the harm caused. This report summarizes the many actions the Trump administration has taken since January 2025 that have disproportionately affected the disability community, including:

• Dismantling diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) efforts that protect disabled people
• Removing the federal government’s ability to enforce disability civil rights laws
• Undermining health care affordability and access for disabled people
• Destroying public health infrastructure that protects and supports the health and well-being of disabled people
• Stripping the ability of disabled children to receive free, appropriate public education
• Slashing services, benefits, and regulations that help keep disabled people in their communities
• Decreasing disability protections in employment

Hours after his inauguration, President Trump signed an executive order that mandates the elimination of all diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility programs throughout the federal government and federally funded programs outside the federal government.¹⁷ The executive order reverses countless initiatives such as equity plans for federal agencies that were included in a Biden administration order.¹⁸ President Trump’s executive order on DEI and a presidential memorandum titled “Immediate Assessment of Aviation Safety”¹⁹ directed department heads to evaluate each federal program.²⁰ This included eliminating DEIA positions, offices, and programs in areas ranging from airline safety to the military.²¹ Trump has also been alarmingly successful in pressuring private businesses²² and universities²³ to end their DEIA programs. With the percentage of U.S. adults self-identifying as disabled rising over the past five years²⁴ and approximately 23 percent of the total federal workforce identifying as disabled,²⁵ the Trump administration’s elimination of DEIA funding, programs, services, and positions via this executive order is catastrophic for the disability community because its members are losing employment opportunities, accommodations support, and job protections.²⁶

Furthermore, although Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act states disabled people cannot be excluded from participating in an executive agency’s program or activity, the White House removed accessibility features and guidance, including American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation during press briefings²⁷ and on the White House YouTube channel;²⁸ the White House webpage on accessibility;²⁹ and 11 pieces of ADA guidance for stores, hotels, and other businesses.³⁰ In May 2025, the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) sued the White House for not providing ASL interpreters during “public briefings, press conferences, and related events by the President, the Vice President, and the White House Press Secretary.”³¹ And back in 2020, during the first Trump administration, NAD filed a lawsuit to require the White House to provide ASL interpreters during briefings and to provide an ASL stream to the network news pool feed, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.³² The lawsuit was eventually voluntarily settled because the Biden administration took over and released a policy titled “Communication Services for People Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing at Presidential Briefings” that provided the necessary accessibility services.³³

To make matters worse, a Trump administration executive order gave the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) the ability to implement reductions in force (RIFs), prioritizing the elimination of agency DEI initiatives.³⁴ After attempting to push federal employees to retire early and offering deferred resignations while receiving pay for eight months,³⁵ the administration targeted those on probationary status.³⁶ The federal government is one of the largest employers of disabled people,³⁷ and that is due, in part, to Schedule A hiring.³⁸ Schedule A allows disabled people to obtain positions uncompetitively, but they must complete two years of probation in their roles in exchange for a more streamlined hiring process;³⁹ normally, federal employees have to complete only one year of probation.⁴⁰ This move by the administration left disabled federal workers more vulnerable to being laid off.

The Trump administration’s attacks on DEIA were the prelude to ending federal enforcement of civil rights laws.⁴¹ An executive order signed in April 2025 mandated that the federal government end the practice of recognizing disparate-impact discrimination under civil rights laws.⁴² Disparate-impact regulations work to ensure that “programs accepting federal money are not administered in a way that perpetuates the repercussions of past discrimination” in employment, education, housing, and other areas.⁴³ The order directs the leaders of federal agencies to stop enforcing policies, regulations, and agreements that rely on theories of disparate-impact liability.⁴⁴ This will make it more difficult to enforce disability civil rights laws such as the Rehabilitation Act,⁴⁵ the ADA,⁴⁶ and IDEA,⁴⁷ which was an amendment to the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975.⁴⁸

Additionally, DOGE used staffing reductions or reassignments to gut numerous civil rights offices that protect members of the disability community, including:

• Nearly half of the employees from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR)⁴⁹
• 70 percent of the lawyers at the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Civil Rights Division⁵⁰
• The entire Social Security Administration’s Office of Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity⁵¹
• 90 percent of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs at the U.S. Department of Labor⁵²
• Half of the equal employment opportunity staff for the Federal Trade Commission and NASA⁵³
• A planned dismissal of 120 staff from the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, at least 97 staff from the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman, and at least 33 staff from the Office of the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman⁵⁴

Slashing these crucial offices leaves few, if any, staff to enforce civil rights laws. Already, thousands of civil rights cases have stalled or been dismissed. At the Department of Education’s OCR, 12,000 cases were open when President Trump took office;⁵⁵ but the office dismissed 3,424 complaints between March 11 and June 27, 2025, with 96 complaints resolved due to insufficient evidence and 290 voluntary agreements.⁵⁶ In contrast, during the Biden administration’s final three months, there were 2,527 cases dismissed, 449 resolution agreements, and 146 successful mediations.⁵⁷ That means fewer cases are being processed, leaving many, including disabled people, in limbo. The Trump administration’s OCR stalled the processing of complaints at the beginning of the year. Even though the administration eventually allowed the office to evaluate disability-based discrimination cases starting February 20, 2025, the OCR is understaffed and far behind where it should be in evaluating cases.⁵⁸

Moreover, in April 2025, the Trump administration quietly terminated the nationwide provision of the National Qualified Representative Program (NQRP), which provides legal representation to people found “mentally incompetent” while in immigration detention.⁵⁹ The program comes out of a decision on the Franco-Gonzalez v. Holder class action lawsuit in 2013.⁶⁰ NQRP was serving 200 immigrants when its nationwide provision was terminated.⁶¹ The administration kept the program only in the three states that were covered under the lawsuit.⁶² After legal aid groups filed suit in May 2025, Judge Amir H. Ali of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted a preliminary injunction because he believed the groups will win based on the rollback being arbitrary and capricious.⁶³ The DOJ is required to provide written notice to agency staff and immigration judges within 48 hours,⁶⁴ yet they are allowed to reinstate the program however they see fit.⁶⁵ It is highly likely that the DOJ will appeal this decision, which would continue to leave some of the most vulnerable immigrants, those with significant cognitive or mental health disabilities, at risk for mistreatment and abuse.⁶⁶

The Trump administration’s fiscal year 2026 budget proposal shows that these attacks will likely continue. It aims to slash $49 million in funding to the Department of Education’s OCR and $193 million in funding for the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division.⁶⁷ Most of the protections for disabled people come from passive enforcement, requiring disabled people to file complaints and push cases along to completion.⁶⁸ Gutting civil rights offices makes it even more difficult for disabled people to obtain relief after experiencing discrimination.

The Trump administration also attempted to use DOGE to terminate two-thirds—equaling $30 million—of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s fair housing enforcement grants.⁶⁹ U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns temporarily reinstated the funds,⁷⁰ then rescinded the reinstatement; the case is currently being litigated.⁷¹ With the increase in disability,⁷² an aging population,⁷³ and a continual lack of accessible affordable housing,⁷⁴ disabled people and seniors need access to programs that protect their fair housing rights.

While it is normal for a new administration to review websites and update them when necessary, the Trump administration took down or modified thousands of government websites.⁷⁵ Many of the changes were due to two executive orders: “Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing”⁷⁶ and “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.”⁷⁷ This resulted in many changes to federal webpages and data, including erasing clinical guidelines on reproductive care and HIV⁷⁸ as well as sexual orientation and gender identity data.⁷⁹ Numerous groups and organizations stepped in to preserve information and data, including teams at the Center for American Progress,⁸⁰ Harvard University,⁸¹ and the End of Term Web Archive.⁸² Yet the changes and erasures of federal webpages will make it much harder for Americans to understand their legal rights and for the federal government to enforce the laws. For example, the erasure of the long COVID guidance on the Job Accommodation Network leaves individuals who are newly disabled without the federal resources to understand the types of job accommodations they can request after diagnosis.⁸³

During its first term, the Trump administration waged a moderately successful, sweeping campaign to dismantle affordable, accessible health care, particularly for low-income, disabled, and LGBTQI+ people.⁸⁴ The second Trump administration has been more successful as it utilizes legislation,⁸⁵ executive actions,⁸⁶ and agency restructuring⁸⁷ to make it harder for millions of Americans to afford health coverage and to access the care they need.

The Trump administration’s FY 2026 budget request proposes a $670 million cut in program management for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).⁸⁸ The administration says that beneficiaries would not be affected.⁸⁹ However, the budget proposal states the cuts are a response to President Trump’s executive order on DEI.⁹⁰ The administration’s main line of attack has been against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of Minority Health, which helps eliminate health disparities, including ones faced by disabled people of color, disabled women, disabled LGBTQI+ people, and disabled immigrants.⁹¹

Furthermore, the Trump administration’s HHS secretary and CMS administrator—Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Dr. Mehmet Oz, respectively—are unconventional picks for those positions,⁹² which hinted at the problems to come.⁹³

In 2016, Secretary Kennedy helped found the Children’s Health Defense,⁹⁴ an anti-vaccination nonprofit that has spread false or misleading claims about vaccines.⁹⁵ He has been quoted saying numerous negative things about autistic people, including that “autism destroys families,”⁹⁶ and stated he wanted to start a national autism registry.⁹⁷ He has also supported putting people with mental health and substance use disabilities in labor camps called “wellness farms” because he believed that there is an “over-reliance on medication and treatments.”⁹⁸ Kennedy even declared at his confirmation hearing that “a healthy person has a thousand dreams [while] a sick person has only one.”⁹⁹

In 2022, when Dr. Oz ran for U.S. Senate against then-Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D-PA), he repeatedly referenced Fetterman’s stroke in campaign attacks, even offering debate concessions such as, “We will pay for any additional medical personnel he might need to have on standby.”¹⁰⁰ After the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), the budget reconciliation law, Dr. Oz told people worried about losing their Medicaid: “Be vital. Do the most that you can do to really live up to the potential, the God-given potential, to live a full and healthy life. … Don’t eat carrot cake. Eat real food.”¹⁰¹

Both Secretary Kennedy¹⁰² and Dr. Oz¹⁰³ stated at the start of their tenures that they intended to massively restructure the programs they oversee. Through DOGE, several agencies that disabled people rely on for health care access experienced mass layoffs. Dr. Oz decreased the CMS workforce by at least 322 people,¹⁰⁴ from its total 2024 workforce of approximately 6,710 federal employees.¹⁰⁵ The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), meanwhile, proposed laying off 83,000 federal employees in 2025.¹⁰⁶ In July, the VA reported that it was on track to have nearly 30,000 fewer workers by the end of fiscal year 2025 and that it had already reduced nearly 17,000 as of June 1, 2025.¹⁰⁷ At the same time, the VA canceled more than 585 contracts, including some on exposure to burn pits and Agent Orange, cancer research, and suicide prevention.¹⁰⁸ These cuts will likely reduce the ability for the agencies to approve grants, enforce policies, and provide care for disabled people.

President Trump has also utilized an executive order to limit access to health care for several vulnerable populations, including disabled LGBTQI+ people.¹⁰⁹ His order threatens to remove federal funding from providers who “fund, sponsor, promote, or assist” patients under the age of 19 in accessing best-practice transgender medical care, including gender-affirming mental health treatment and hormone therapy.¹¹⁰ A CAP LGBTQI+ community survey indicated that 70 percent of transgender people in 2024 had a disability.¹¹¹ Between 2018 and 2022, after 48 anti-transgender laws were enacted across the United States, suicide attempts among 13- to 17-year-old transgender teenagers increased by as much as 72 percent.¹¹² Puberty blockers and gender-affirming hormone therapy to pause puberty have been proven to help lower depression and suicidality among transgender youth.¹¹³ Yet these lifesaving services have come under threat, with multiple children’s hospitals shuttering health care services for transgender youth.¹¹⁴

In addition, the OBBBA made historically massive cuts to health care that will contribute to an estimated 15 million people losing their health insurance.¹¹⁵ The law cuts about $1 trillion from Medicaid, which will cause millions of Americans to be slashed from the program.¹¹⁶ States, which now will receive less federal funding, will be faced with cutting Medicaid enrollment and limiting or cutting benefits on which disabled Medicaid enrollees rely. Based on states’ responses to the rollback of pandemic-era Medicaid eligibility rules, states are likely to cut optional benefits, including home- and community-based services, certain medical devices, and physical therapy.¹¹⁷

As the OBBBA takes effect, people will pay more for their health insurance, including some Medicaid enrollees and those on marketplace plans through the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Medicaid expansion enrollees with family incomes between 100 percent and 138 percent of the federal poverty level will have to pay up to $35 out of pocket for some health care services unless they qualify for an exemption.¹¹⁸ The OBBBA did not extend the ACA’s enhanced premium tax credits, which were enacted by the American Rescue Plan Act and extended in the Inflation Reduction Act and will expire after December 2025.¹¹⁹ As a result, marketplace premiums will rise for an estimated 20 million Americans, and 4.2 million people will become uninsured by 2027.¹²⁰

The law will even increase costs for 1.3 million Medicare enrollees, as the OBBBA bans CMS from implementing a finalized rule to make it easier for Medicare beneficiaries to access savings programs, which help cover the costs of their Medicare premiums and copays.¹²¹ Furthermore, because Congress is required to offset the cost of new legislation, without any other changes, the OBBBA will trigger about $500 billion in cuts to Medicare from 2027 to 2034.¹²² In March 2025, 6.8 million disabled people were enrolled in Medicare.¹²³ These individuals could face increased premiums,¹²⁴ increased prescription drug costs,¹²⁵ and hospital closures.¹²⁶

Secretary Kennedy and the Trump administration have upended agencies that have traditionally provided evidence-based public health guidance, grants for health research, and services that promote health and well-being, respond to health threats, and monitor the safety of the nation’s food and drugs.¹²⁷ For example, Kennedy says he is committed to restructuring HHS to not include “DEI, gender ideology, nor sexual identity,”¹²⁸ which follows President Trump’s executive orders 14151¹²⁹ and 14168.¹³⁰ As of June 24, 2025, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Science Foundation federal grant cuts totaled at least $3.2 billion.¹³¹ These grants fund scientific research, training, and public health initiatives that can significantly improve prevention and treatment of various medical conditions that cause disability, including grants titled “specifying inequities of depression in early childhood educators,” “skeletal health in youth with Type 1 diabetes and gender diversity,” and “partnering and programming for a BIPOC SGM [Black, Indigenous, and people of color sexual and gender minority] pathway to HIV research.”¹³²

In June 2025, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts ruled that the Trump administration’s cancellation of NIH grants over their connections to “gender ideology” and “diversity, equity, and inclusion” was unlawful¹³³ and directed the federal government to immediately make funds available to grant recipients named in the lawsuit. However, the federal government has appealed this decision, meaning that grant funding could potentially be at risk again in the future.¹³⁴

Federal funding cuts to major public health agencies have interrupted medical studies that were years in the making, wasting millions of dollars and potentially causing scientists to move to other countries with stabler funding for their research.¹³⁵ It is critical that the U.S. public health infrastructure have enough talented and experienced staff and funding to support the work that protects and supports the health and well-being of disabled people, including limiting the spread of infectious diseases that put disabled people at mortal risk.¹³⁶

Kennedy has also directed mass layoffs at key public health agencies within HHS. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration laid off 3,500 full-time employees, representing 15 percent of its workforce.¹³⁷ And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) laid off or let go nearly 3,000 employees—approximately 24 percent of its workforce.¹³⁸ Those cuts affect the disability and health promotion branch within the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities and other key disability officials at the agency.¹³⁹ Kennedy also laid off 1,165 NIH employees in February 2025¹⁴⁰ and 200 more in May 2025.¹⁴¹ Employees at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), including the director of the Center for Mental Health Services, also were fired.¹⁴² The decrease in staff throughout HHS is highly concerning, as it is the key department that provides funding and resources for numerous disability services, including vaccine protocols for individuals with specific medical conditions,¹⁴³ grants and technical training to centers for independent living,¹⁴⁴ and funding for Meals on Wheels programs.¹⁴⁵

Kennedy, who previously has spread the widely discredited false claim that childhood vaccines cause autism,¹⁴⁶ has already taken steps to block Americans’ ability to obtain preventive and lifesaving vaccines. Many disabled people rely on herd immunity—when a significant proportion of a community becomes immune to a certain disease, limiting its spread¹⁴⁷—because they are immunocompromised or have other conditions that make them ineligible for a vaccine or make the vaccine less effective.¹⁴⁸ Yet Kennedy removed all of the members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)¹⁴⁹ and replaced them with people who have criticized and spread misinformation about vaccines.¹⁵⁰ Dr. Bruce A. Scott, president of the American Medical Association, said that removing ACIP members “upends a transparent process that has saved countless lives.” He added, “With an ongoing measles outbreak and routine child vaccination rates declining, this move will further fuel the spread of vaccine-preventable illnesses.”¹⁵¹

After installing the new advisory committee members, Kennedy made a presentation filled with inaccuracies and convinced ACIP to recommend that flu vaccines be given in single doses that do not contain the preservative thimerosal.¹⁵² However, thimerosal is already absent from 96 percent of flu vaccines¹⁵³ and has been shown to be safe and effective at reducing contamination.¹⁵⁴ It is the same ingredient he falsely believes causes autism—a claim that has been repeatedly disproved.¹⁵⁵

Kennedy also rescinded COVID-19 vaccine recommendations for children and pregnant people, which will make it more difficult for others to obtain necessary vaccines and have them be covered by insurance.¹⁵⁶ Even before this decision, disabled adults reported more difficulties obtaining a COVID-19 vaccine than nondisabled people.¹⁵⁷

The Trump administration’s plans will continue to destroy public health infrastructure through proposed massive cuts to agencies. The FY 2026 budget proposal cuts nearly $20.5 billion from the NIH—about 40 percent of its current budget.¹⁵⁸ Additionally, the Trump administration’s budget proposal calls for almost $3.6 billion in cuts to the CDC and approximately $1.1 billion in cuts to SAMHSA.¹⁵⁹ These agencies provide grants to medical research and public health programs that disabled people rely on to improve medical treatment and reduce other health risks.

The Trump administration’s plan to eliminate the Department of Education would put disabled students at significant risk of losing basic protections afforded to them under the Rehabilitation Act, IDEA, and the ADA. A March 2025 executive order¹⁶⁰ directs the secretary of education to shut down the Department of Education.¹⁶¹ However, the department can only be closed by an act of Congress, as it was established by an act of Congress.¹⁶² Massachusetts U.S. District Judge Myong J. Joun blocked the order in May 2025,¹⁶³ but on July 14, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court lifted the lower court’s ruling and permitted the Trump administration to resume plans to carry out mass layoffs at the department.¹⁶⁴

Secretary of Education Linda McMahon cut roughly 1,300 Department of Education staff,¹⁶⁵ including 155 staff members from the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) who focus on finding innovations and identifying effective teaching practices.¹⁶⁶ IES houses both the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES),¹⁶⁷ which tracks statistics on students and how they are doing, and the National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER), which provides research grants to study effective special education practices.¹⁶⁸

Since the beginning of the year, the Trump administration has cut or frozen numerous education grants. In February 2025, the U.S. Department of Education cut more than $600 million in teacher training grants it deemed focused on DEIA, including training that addressed systemic forms of ableism.¹⁶⁹ Then, on July 1, 2025, schools saw $7 billion withheld for the new school year—including $2.2 billion for Title II teacher training, $1.4 billion for before- and after-school programs, and $1.3 billion for academic enrichment programs.¹⁷⁰ Many of the programs funded by these grants support vulnerable children, including those with disabilities.¹⁷¹ Adult students were also affected by the Department of Education’s decision to withhold $715 million in adult basic education and literacy and civics grants.¹⁷² Last year, this program taught about 1.3 million adult students,¹⁷³ with up to half of them having some type of learning disability.¹⁷⁴ After 10 Republican senators sent a letter about the frozen education grants, the Trump administration unfroze $1.3 billion,¹⁷⁵ before releasing the rest of the funds—around $6 billion—on July 25, 2025.¹⁷⁶ Still, schools across the country have been thrown into chaos, with some programs starting to close or be put on hold.¹⁷⁷ The funding delays have left many concerned, particularly in light of the 2026 budget proposal.¹⁷⁸

The Trump administration’s 2026 budget proposes $4.5 billion in cuts to Title I and K-12 programs, which could significantly limit IDEA funding.¹⁷⁹ Likewise, the administration proposed cutting 67 percent of IES funding, which will affect NCSER and NCES.¹⁸⁰ The OBBBA will also cut $350 billion in public education funds¹⁸¹ and funnel $51 billion annually in tax dollars to private K-12 scholarships for schools if just half of voucher supporters contribute.¹⁸² Because wealthier families can donate up to $4 billion in federal tax credits, they are most likely to benefit from the scholarship program.¹⁸³ Disabled students who attend private school cannot utilize the scholarship program in the same way because they would lose full access to special education services and IDEA protections.¹⁸⁴

At the same time, parents who decide to keep their disabled student in public education may find it more difficult to obtain IDEA services due to the combined cuts to education through this funneling of money to private schools as well as the loss of Medicaid dollars.¹⁸⁵ According to a survey by the Healthy Schools Campaign, 80 percent of public school district staff respondents expect to see layoffs of specialized instructional support personnel if Medicaid dollars are cut.¹⁸⁶

The Trump administration’s FY 2026 budget proposal also targets the disability community by proposing the elimination of the University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Education, Research, and Service (UCEDDs).¹⁸⁷ UCEDDs are congressionally authorized and required by law in every state.¹⁸⁸ For more than 60 years, they have provided vital services—running early intervention programs, conducting critical disability research, and training community professionals.¹⁸⁹ In 2024, UCEDDs served more than 1.3 million people across the country.¹⁹⁰ Losing these services, including trainings for self-advocacy and developmental disability community support professionals,¹⁹¹ could force more disabled people out of their communities and into institutions.

Disabled people across the country rely on federal dollars to live in their communities. Before the Olmstead v. L.C. Supreme Court decision, disabled people were frequently institutionalized in nursing homes and group homes.¹⁹² In 1999, the Supreme Court affirmed that disabled people had the right to live and receive state-funded services in their community.¹⁹³ This put pressure on federal and state governments to provide funding and services to help deinstitutionalize disabled people.¹⁹⁴ In 2021, 86.2 percent of long-term services and supports (LTSS) users received home- and community-based services and 63.2 percent of LTSS expenditures were for HCBS.¹⁹⁵ The OBBBA may cut funding to HCBS because the waiver program is an optional benefit for state Medicaid programs.¹⁹⁶ When 2009 stimulus funds that helped increase Medicaid dollars ran out, every state and the District of Columbia cut funding for at least one HCBS program.¹⁹⁷ Cuts to HCBS programs because of the OBBBA will likely increase waitlists for services, as was the case when stimulus dollars were cut.¹⁹⁸

Additionally, in April 2025, Secretary Kennedy laid off nearly half the staff at the Administration for Community Living (ACL),¹⁹⁹ which helps fund protection and advocacy agencies, independent living services, and disability research that put the Olmstead decision into practice.²⁰⁰ According to an HHS reorganization fact sheet, some ACL programs will split into nondisability-focused agencies, including the Administration for Children and Families and CMS.²⁰¹ The closure of the ACL will result in the elimination of programs that protect the safety of disabled people living in long-term care facilities, such as the Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program.²⁰² The ACL’s National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR), the federal government’s primary disability research organization,²⁰³ is also at risk. The Trump administration’s budget proposal for 2026 plans to decrease NIDILRR funding from $119 million²⁰⁴ to $100 million.²⁰⁵ This decrease would threaten the foundation of critical disability research. The budget proposal also suggests cutting $532 million from the Homeless Assistance Program and $26.7 billion from the State Rental Assistance Block Grant, which includes housing support for older and disabled people.*²⁰⁶

Meanwhile, President Trump released an executive order on July 24, 2025,²⁰⁷ that encourages the attorney general to violate current civil rights laws and judicial precedents, such as the Supreme Court’s Olmstead v. L.C. decision,²⁰⁸ in order to push coercive or involuntary treatment on people with mental health disabilities and people who are homeless. In 2024, more than 150,000 disabled people experienced chronic homelessness.²⁰⁹ Coercive or involuntary treatment has been shown to weaken or damage therapeutic relationships and cause further social stigma against individuals experiencing mental health symptoms.²¹⁰ The executive order also directs the HHS secretary and the secretary of housing and urban development to eliminate Housing First programs,²¹¹ which work to quickly place homeless people in permanent housing without barriers to entry,²¹² and to remove people from federal housing assistance if they are deemed to not be following treatment requirements.²¹³ Surveillance of disabled people will increase, as the order calls for federal funding recipients to share health data with law enforcement.²¹⁴ This is likely to further the criminalization of disabled people. In essence, the executive order ignores civil rights protections and evidence-based practices to force people into congregate settings such as psychiatric hospitals, group homes, or prisons.

Disabled people have a more difficult time obtaining employment, so federal cash benefits and other supports are essential in keeping them from destitution. Only 22.5 percent of noninstitutionalized disabled adults were employed in 2023, compared with 65.8 percent of nondisabled adults.²¹⁵ In 2023, 5.9 million disabled adults received Social Security Disability Insurance, 3.1 million received Supplemental Security Income, and more than 600,000 received both.²¹⁶ Even though millions of Americans rely on Social Security Administration (SSA) services, the Trump administration plans to cut approximately 7,000 employees—the largest staff cut in the agency’s history.²¹⁷ The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that if the proposed cuts take effect, every SSA staff member will have to serve an estimated 1,480 beneficiaries, which would lead to even more delays in services.²¹⁸ There are also conflicting claims that the SSA plans to shut down certain offices, which could lead to significant difficulties for disabled people attempting to file an application or recertify for benefits.²¹⁹

Disabled people also will likely face higher burdens obtaining and maintaining eligibility for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) due to OBBBA cuts. The OBBBA strips paperwork requirement exceptions for vulnerable groups²²⁰—such as veterans,²²¹ houseless individuals,²²² and youth aging out of foster care—who are often more likely to include people with a disability.²²³ According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), 270,000 people from these vulnerable communities may be kicked off food assistance for three years due to the paperwork requirements.²²⁴ The OBBBA also freezes the Thrifty Food Plan, which helps calculate benefits.²²⁵ Because of this freeze, approximately 3.8 million disabled adult SNAP recipients under the age of 60 will experience cuts to their benefits.²²⁶

At the same time, extreme heat waves have become more frequent,²²⁷ putting disabled people at increased risk of hospitalization and death.²²⁸ Even with an increasing number of extreme weather events, rising temperatures,²²⁹ and increasing utility bills,²³⁰ the Trump administration’s FY 2026 budget proposal calls for eliminating the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).²³¹ LIHEAP offers federally funded support to help cover home energy costs, including utility bills, energy emergencies, weatherization, and minor energy-related home repairs.²³² The program helps keep homes safer and more comfortable year-round by reducing the health and safety risks linked to unsafe heating and cooling conditions and prevents utility shut-offs.

In 2024, the United States suffered 27 weather and climate disasters that each caused $1 billion in damages.²³³ In all, the total damages of extreme weather events in 2024 cost approximately $183 billion. Disabled people are particularly vulnerable during environmental disasters due to poor environmental conditions that exacerbate symptoms, decreased access​ to electricity to power life-sustaining medical equipment, lack of safe and accessible emergency housing options, disruption in health care and HCBS, and other factors.²³⁴ President Trump originally stated he wanted to phase out the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) after the 2025 hurricane season,²³⁵ and he signed an executive order to establish the FEMA Review Council to advise him on how to do it.²³⁶ More recently, his administration has walked back his commitment to eliminate FEMA, leaving the agency’s future in limbo.²³⁷

Although only Congress can fully eliminate FEMA, the executive branch does have the authority to restructure the agency within certain limits.²³⁸ However, the Trump administration has made significant changes, some of which are being contested in court—including freezing billions of federal dollars that help fund programs. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting sued FEMA to challenge its withholding of funds to modernize alert systems.²³⁹ FEMA also ended its door-to-door canvassing,²⁴⁰ a service that can especially help disabled survivors who may be unable to leave their homes. At the same time, FEMA decided not to renew four call center contracts a day after catastrophic floods in Texas, during which documents show the agency was unable to answer two-thirds of calls.²⁴¹ FEMA is shedding staff at an alarming rate, with 16 senior level staff exiting²⁴² and more than 2,000—or one-third—of the full-time employees either quitting or being laid off.²⁴³ Moreover, funding delays have led some local emergency management departments to lay off staff.²⁴⁴ All of this leaves residents, in particular disabled people, more vulnerable to environmental disasters that are becoming more frequent and more destructive.²⁴⁵

The Trump administration is also rolling back administrative rules, including ones attached to Section 504 protections, which protect disabled people from discrimination in programs or activities funded by the federal government.²⁴⁶ In May 2025, the Department of Energy (DOE) released a proposed rule that would eliminate the physical accessibility requirements on any building constructed or altered using federal funds.²⁴⁷ A letter signed by more than 20 state attorneys general, including California and Arizona, vehemently opposed the proposed rule and stated that the Trump administration violated the Administrative Procedure Act by failing to abide by rulemaking procedures.²⁴⁸

Another rule being rolled back sets minimum staffing standards for long-term care facilities. About 1.2 million people live in Medicare- and Medicaid-certified long-term care facilities,²⁴⁹ and approximately 900,000 disabled people under the age of 64 live in institutional settings.²⁵⁰ COVID-19 put a spotlight on the disproportionate deaths of long-term care facility residents or staff.²⁵¹ That said, higher-quality facilities that likely had less staffing shortages and better ways to isolate were better able to mitigate mortality rates at the beginning of the pandemic.²⁵²

The Biden administration had finalized these staffing rules on April 22, 2024, in an attempt to “prioritize safety and health care quality.”²⁵³ But the American Health Care Association filed suit against the minimum staffing rule, and U.S. District Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk vacated it on April 7, 2025. A few months later, President Trump signed the OBBBA, which placed a 10-year moratorium on enforcing the rule.²⁵⁴ Delaying or vacating the rule will ensure disabled people and seniors continue to live in understaffed facilities with increased risks of pressure ulcers, infections, and mortality.²⁵⁵

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is an independent federal agency that enforces nondiscrimination laws in the workplace.²⁵⁶ Notably, the percentage of EEOC claims related to disability discrimination in the workplace has increased for the past three fiscal years.²⁵⁷ Yet in late January 2025, President Trump removed Commissioners Jocelyn Samuels and Charlotte Burrows.²⁵⁸ As a result, the EEOC, which is typically composed of five commissioners, can no longer have a quorum of at least three members²⁵⁹ since there had been a vacancy before the two commissioners were removed.²⁶⁰ Without a quorum, the EEOC cannot adopt any new rules, issue new policies, or provide legal guidance.²⁶¹ This affects the overall ability of the agency to utilize its full authority to protect employees’ civil rights.

Furthermore, the administration is withdrawing a proposed rule that would have phased out a waiver that allows employers to pay disabled workers less than the federal minimum wage. Waiver 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act allows businesses to pay disabled workers subminimum wages.²⁶² However, a push to eliminate 14(c) encouraged 16 states to pass laws outlawing its usage,²⁶³ and the number of facilities utilizing the waivers has decreased for years.²⁶⁴ In December 2024, the U.S. Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor under the Biden administration released a request for comment on a proposed rule that would have phased out the use of 14(c) certificates.²⁶⁵ Only a few months after the confirmation of Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer,²⁶⁶ the Trump administration withdrew the proposed rule.²⁶⁷ By withdrawing the notice of proposed rulemaking, the Department of Labor is maintaining a policy that continues to reinforce the idea that certain disabled people are second-class citizens. Subminimum wages keep disabled workers in poverty.²⁶⁸

The Trump administration also signed an executive order rescinding a Biden administration order that would have moved most disabled workers under 14(c) to at least the minimum wage for federal contract workers.²⁶⁹ The Department of Labor released a proposed rule that intends to eliminate affirmative action for disabled people working under federal contracts by removing two Section 503 rules. The changes would eliminate the goal of having 7 percent of staff members at a workplace identify as disabled and would remove the federal government’s ability to collect data on workers who voluntarily self-identify as disabled.²⁷⁰ These actions limit disabled people’s ability to gain competitive integrated employment and earn a fair wage.

In the first six months of his second term, the Trump administration has waged what appears to be an all-out war against disabled people. The administration has used every lever to remove the federal government’s ability to enforce disability civil rights laws; dismantle DEIA efforts that protect disabled people; undermine health care affordability and access for disabled people; destroy public health infrastructure; damage the ability of disabled children to receive free, appropriate public education; slash services, benefits, and regulations that help keep disabled people in their communities; and decrease disability protections in employment.

As the United States commemorates the 35th anniversary of the passage of the ADA and celebrates Disability Pride Month, it is crucial that disabled people do not let the barrage of harmful policies demoralize or divide the community. Disabled people have led the way to protect services and support during both Trump administrations.²⁷¹ Utilizing the many principles of disability justice that were laid out by disabled, LGBTQI+, Black, and brown people,²⁷² the disabled community can build toward collective access and interdependence that move all communities toward collective liberation.

The authors would like to thank Andrea Ducas, Caleb Smith, Hua Hui Vogel, Jill Rosenthal, Lily Roberts, Margaret Cooney, Mariam Rashid, Natasha Murphy, Sara Estep, Shannon Baker-Branstetter, Silva Mathema, Weadé James, and William Roberts for their reviews; Kennedy Andara for her help with data analysis; Rosa Barrientos-Ferrer for her fact-checking; and CAP’s Editorial and Legal teams for their guidance.