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With a minor change, Google is making it more obvious to users whether businesses and other public places are accessible to people with disabilities.  Google Maps now displays a wheelchair icon by default on a location’s entry if the place has a wheelchair-accessible entrance. Previously, this information was only visible to users who opted into a feature called Accessible Places.

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Project SEARCH provides vocational training for people with disabilities. The program works to transition high school students into the workforce. Participants learn things such as soft skills and workplace etiquette. Upon completion of the program, participants are on as permanent employees of the specific site where they interned.

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Medical diagnostic care is essential to everyone, including people with disabilities, and often requires people to transfer onto diagnostic equipment, such as examination tables and chairs, for evaluation. Historically, medical diagnostic equipment (MDE) has been, and continues to be, inaccessible to many people in wheelchairs, which can lead to misdiagnosis or barriers to basic care and examinations. The U.S. Access Board has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) on standards for accessible medical diagnostic equipment regarding one provision on the low transfer surface height for certain types of MDE used by patients in a supine, prone, side-lying, or seated position. Public comments for the NPRM are due by July 24, 2023.
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Generally, stock photos often don't include people with disabilities. The Consumer Product Safety Commission is working to change that. The CPSC, the government agency that focuses on accident prevention and has amused the internet for years with its public safety awareness memes on Twitter, recently released some new stock photos that include people with physical disabilities. 

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It's no secret that Wisconsin advocates for people with disabilities and the elderly have been tiredlessly advocating for better pay for caregivers. Advocates are asking for a significant increase in the state budget. Over the last several years it’s been getting harder for agencies and individuals to find enough care workers, but the COVID-19 pandemic escalated the problem to crisis levels. 

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More than half a million Americans with intellectual and developmental disabilities are currently waiting for government funding for long-term care in their homes. Many states are working to clear their waitlists for IDD services by investing in more funding for waiver programs, while others are streamlining the application process or working to recruit more professionals to work in these fields.

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Reliable health data is important to supporting people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). Being counted is a health equity and civil rights issue. Although data collection about people with disabilities generally has improved in recent decades, there is still not enough information on how many people with I/DD live in the U.S., how healthy they are, and what things affect their health.  Since 2016, ACL has worked with federal agencies and other stakeholders to address these issues through the I/DD Counts initiative. I/DD Counts is a cross-agency initiative to improve how information about the health of people with I/DD is collected, analyzed, and understood. 
In November 2022, ACL organized a national summit that included people with I/DD, representatives from federal agencies, advocacy groups, researchers, and health care providers. The group discussed progress on its 2030 roadmap for health data equity, remaining gaps, and priorities for the future. The summit focused on six areas: 
  • Data needed by federal agencies
  • Data needed by advocacy groups
  • What federal agencies are doing to improve data
  • What other organizations are doing to improve data
  • How to share information from improved data
  • Tools and skills needed to use improved data
This report summarizes the key ideas from the summit and actions recommended by and for the I/DD Counts initiative. 
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 the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced in a national coverage decision that Medicare will now cover seat elevation devices for power wheelchairs. This decision follows years of advocacy by disability and aging organizations. Seat elevation devices are critical to power wheelchair users who use them to perform activities of daily living, such as transferring to and from their wheelchair, preparing food, and dressing. Beneficiaries will be responsible for applicable cost-sharing.
The decision by CMS follows a formal request from the Independence Through Enhancement of Medicare and Medicaid (ITEM) Coalition and other supporting organizations. Their request was supported by public input from numerous individuals and aging and disability organizations and the National Council on Disability, an independent federal agency that advises on disability policy. Research funded by ACL’s National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) helped provide the evidence base to inform the decision. ACL and its network of disability and aging organizations will partner with CMS to help make sure wheelchair users are fully aware of this new benefit.
In their request for Medicare coverage, advocates also asked CMS to cover standing equipment for certain power wheelchairs. CMS is considering that request separately. 
Read the CMS Decision Summary
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