Opportunities and resources of interest to disability rights advocates
Advocacy Opportunities &
Resources
Welcome to our monthly Advocacy Opportunities & Resources email detailing available opportunities and resources of interest to disability rights advocates.
Whole Person Project
The Arc of Texas and the Whole Person Project, in partnership with the Texas Council on Developmental Disabilities, created a mini-documentary series featuring five adult Texans with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their efforts to
expand access to quality mental health services. This video, featuring The Arc of Texas Board member James Meadours, is the first of the four-part series.
Grant Opportunity: Prepare Your Community for Emergencies Through Inclusive Volunteering
The Arc of the United States is awarding $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000 grants to develop 2023 September 11 Day of Service and Remembrance projects. Help increase safety and resilience within your community while demonstrating the power of
inclusive communities by having volunteers with and without disabilities serve their communities side-by-side.
The Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in the case Health & Hospital Corporation of Marion County, Indiana v. Talevski. The Arc of Texas Board member Ali Gentry writes in the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review about the case and whether or not beneficiaries of federally funded
programs, such as Medicaid, will lose their most effective tool for holding states accountable for violations of the rights guaranteed by public benefit programs. Read The Arc of the United States' amicus brief in this case. Read more from The 19th here.
Voters have returned to Austin a legislature very similar to the previous two legislatures. What this means for us is that everything that was on the table in the past is likely still on the table, everything that wasn’t likely still
isn’t. The Arc of Texas will continue to pursue individual legislative measures that improve Medicaid for Texans with IDD, allow for greater access to justice, preserve the civil rights of those with IDD, and advance competitive integrated employment. Largely, however, Arc staff anticipates that we, and the grassroots, will again have to defeat the same harmful legislative proposals that have been tried in the recent past, including "voucherization" of special education, adverse changes to
guardianship laws, and efforts to deny Texans Medicaid benefits.