Easter Seals provides exceptional services, education, outreach, and advocacy so that people living with autism and other disabilities can live, learn, work and play in our communities.
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Legislative Action
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Easter Seals Public Policy Priorities
Easter Seals public policy priorities mirror the diversity of Easter Seals services offered throughout the country, the variety of issues affecting nonprofit charitable organizations, and evolving needs and expectations of people with disabilities. Our priorities focus on early intervention and education, employment, health care, child care, disability program funding, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the nonprofit role, services to older Americans, and supporting community living. Early Intervention and Education Easter Seals strongly believes that all children with disabilities of all ages must receive a free and appropriate quality education, including services and supports that promote development and learning. Easter Seals strongly supports the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Easter Seals played a lead role in the comprehensive revision and improvement of IDEA in 2004. Easter Seals supports effective enforcement of IDEA, and is advocating for full funding for all IDEA programs. These actions strengthen public commitment to early intervention, special education, teacher training, parental supports, and other services that enhance the ability of children with disabilities to reach their potential. Easter Seals supports the policies of the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act that created a system of accountability designed to increase student progress. Easter Seals strongly supports maintaining students with disabilities in this accountability system and will work with Congress and the Department of Education to increase the capacity of states to effectively meet their obligations under the law. Easter Seals strongly supports programs that help people with disabilities secure and sustain employment. For decades, Easter Seals has fostered employment for people with disabilities by providing a range of community and center-based services. Easter Seals urged Congress to enact the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act (TWWIIA) to create work options, incentives and extended health insurance for Social Security beneficiaries that facilitate entry into the workforce. Easter Seals contributed to the development of regulations implementing TWWIIA. in the hope that some 550,000 people with disabilities might achieve and sustain employment, in part, through the use of Easter Seals vocational and medical rehabilitation services. Easter Seals is analyzing federal and state efforts to integrate employment and training programs at the state level, supporting those strategies that increase access, efficiency and employment outcomes. Easter Seals will play a lead role in the reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act and the Rehabilitation Act, generally opposing approaches that erode the integrity of vocational rehabilitation programs or redirect resources now dedicated to helping people with disabilities achieve work. The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) establishes the structure of the nation’s worker training and job placement system. Originally passed in 1998, WIA consolidated over 70 job training programs from a number of federal agencies and created the one stop career center system, based in principles of universal access, being business driven, and customer service. WIA’s authorization expired September 30, 2003; reauthorization efforts have focused on increasing access to training, revision of performance measures, gaining efficiencies in administration of the one stop system, and increasing involvement of the mandatory partners in local one stops. Easter Seals has advocated for legislation that increases access to the one stops for people with disabilities and protects fiscal resources intended to serve people with disabilities. Easter Seals recognizes the critical importance of health care to people with disabilities and their families. Gaps in health care access, financing, and service delivery systems undermine achievement of education, employment, community living, and other life goals, often compromising quality of life. Easter Seals believes that access to appropriate and affordable health care is essential. Rehabilitation services, assistive technology, case management, respite care, and related services enhance or maintain vital functional and cognitive abilities. Such services represent a solid, cost-effective investment in all Americans, including those affected by disability. Easter Seals fully supports policies that preserve entitlement to federally-guaranteed comprehensive Medicare and Medicaid benefits, with greater access to health promotion, wellness and chronic condition management supports; seeks optimal health services and outcomes under managed care; and, endorses health insurance for all Americans. Easter Seals strongly supports strengthening Medicare through ongoing implementation and improvement of the Part D prescription drug benefit, emphasizing affordable access to needed medications, non-discrimination on the basis of disability, and full coverage of prescription drugs currently available through Medicaid and other programs. Easter Seals embraces efforts by Medicare to increase home and community service options, wellness, and self-determination and choice for people with disabilities and their families. Easter Seals has a national goal to increase the availability of affordable, quality child care services for young children with and without disabilities. There is a national shortage of quality care, especially for infants and children with disabilities. Children with disabilities continue to be barred from child care programs because of myths, fears and stereotypes. Child care providers too often lack the information and supports necessary to effectively meet the child care needs of children with disabilities and their families. Easter Seals advocates for legislation to increase funding for child care services, to increase the quality of services and for federal assistance to enable all child care programs to meet the unique needs of families with children with disabilities. Back to Top Easter Seals firmly believes that government support for programs that help people with disabilities achieve health, education, employment, and community-integration goals represents a wise and essential investment in America's future. Since 1919, Easter Seals has pioneered cost-effective approaches to assist people with disabilities to become independent by reducing their dependency on family, society, and government. This experience is crucial to Congress' informed pursuit of a balanced federal budget and a strong economy. Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Easter Seals championed the creation, enactment and implementation of the ADA to prohibit discrimination against people with disabilities in employment, public accommodation and public services. Easter Seals works with Congress and the federal agencies to strengthen and enforce the ADA and other protections against discrimination on the basis of disability. Easter Seals opposes efforts to weaken or erode existing protections under the ADA and other laws, including the Air Carrier Access Act and the Fair Housing Act Amendments that bar discrimination against people with disabilities in air travel and housing respectively. As a nonprofit agency, Easter Seals devotes all of its resources to meeting the needs of people with disabilities. Considerations granted nonprofits directly enhance Easter Seals' ability to assist people with disabilities and their families. Easter Seals strongly supports the role of nonprofit organizations in providing needed goods and services, and in contributing to public policy decision-making. Easter Seals embraces public-private partnership to maximize the effectiveness and efficiency of public investment in promoting the independence and productivity of people with disabilities, while supporting private initiative among individuals and communities to achieve this same goal. Easter Seals urges Congress to preserve tax exemptions for charitable organizations, expand incentives for charitable giving and avoid imposing reporting and disclosure requirements that are unnecessary or unduly burdensome. Easter Seals advocates for community involvement for all seniors. Easter Seals supports public programs that help seniors access transportation, employment, respite, healthcare, recreation and other services. Easter Seals supports the growth of funding for community-based and consumer-directed services for seniors and their families. Easter Seals is urging congress to include these services in the programs funded under the Older Americans Act, the primary source of funding for services to seniors in America. Easter Seals recognizes the importance of programs that support the ability of people with disabilities to be active members of the community. People with disabilities must have access to housing, assistive technology, telecommunications, transportation, and community-based services to be full participants in community life. These are just a few of the many keys to independence that Easter Seals encourages Congress to support through federal programs such as the Assistive Technology Act, federal housing programs, Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, federal highway and transit programs, and programs supporting implementation of the Olmstead decision. |
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