The Trump administration is trying to limit access to lawyers who defend the rights of Americans with disabilities, lawyers say.
Most lawyers work for either the Justice Department or the disability rights agencies that Congress established in each state decades ago. Many Justice Department lawyers left in 2025 after being transferred to other positions, their supporters say. And Trump budget officials have proposed sharp cuts to federal grants to support state legal teams.
People with disabilities have the right to live in their own communities if possible. Federal laws and court decisions say they can go to school, work, restaurants, movie theaters and other public places. If they can find lawyers, they can take legal action if they are denied these rights.
Federally funded lawyers are quietly working to ensure the U.S. lives up to the promises made by the Americans with Disabilities Act and other laws, said Alison Barkoff, a health law professor at George Washington University.
“I think a lot of families of people with disabilities, or even a lot of people with disabilities themselves, don't hear about it until they do a Google search: 'Where can I get help?' said Barkoff, who helped lead such efforts under Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama.
Advocates' job is to ensure that people with disabilities have the services they need to live in their own homes, rather than having to move into nursing homes or other institutions, Barkoff said.
“These are people who, if this support is taken away, will have to leave their communities and their families, at a higher cost to taxpayers,” she said.
Government disability rights groups are known as “advocacy and advocacy” organizations. Most of them are non-profit groups.
Congress approved the federal funding system in the 1970s after television journalist Geraldo Rivera abuses exposed at a New York institution for people with mental and intellectual disabilities, revelations that caused a national outcry.
President Donald Trump has proposed cutting federal funding for the system from $148 million to $69 million for fiscal year 2026, according to the National Disability Rights Network, which represents state-level groups.
The Appropriations Committees in the US House of Representatives and Senate recommended that Congress maintain funding at the same level. But advocates for the agencies are concerned that even if Congress maintains current support, the administration will again try to cut their support in the future. “This will definitely put people in our communities at risk,” said Marlene Sallo, executive director of the national network.
White House officials declined to comment on why the Trump administration proposed such deep cuts.
Isaac Schreier's family can attest to the value of government legal teams.
Isaac, age 7, lives in Ankeny, Iowa. He has a rare condition called osteogenesis imperfecta, also known as brittle bone disease. The disease caused about 60 bone fractures, including limbs, spine and skull. This can cause severe pain and leave him unable to walk.
At times, Isaac's disability is almost invisible, said his father, Jake Schreier. Unless he recently broke a bone in his leg, he walks fine. “But he gets tired much faster than you and I.”
Isaac's doctor said he needed a special wheelchair that could be adjusted so he could be in different positions depending on which bones were broken. But the private insurance company that administers his Medicaid coverage refused to pay for the $3,500 wheelchair. “They wanted proof that this was a permanent, long-standing condition,” Jake Schreier said. “We were very upset.”
Schreier appealed the refusal, but lost. Then a specialty clinic nurse recommended he contact Disability Rights Iowa, a federally funded advocacy and advocacy group that has helped other families in similar situations.
The group put Schreier in touch with two of its lawyers, who filed a new appeal. The attorneys wrote a detailed letter explaining why Isaac had a legal right to a new wheelchair and cited specific Iowa codes and court precedents.
The insurance company ended up paying for Isaac's special wheelchair.
The chair allows Isaac to participate in school and community activities even though he has broken bones. “It's absolutely night and day. I can't imagine a world where we wouldn't have this,” his father said.
Isaac may once again need people like disability rights lawyers to fight for him so he won't be marginalized, Schreier said. “We’re really trying to keep as many doors open for him as possible.”
The threat to the funding of government groups arises as The Trump administration is seeking to force More people with mental illness or addictions are being institutionalized.
David Hutt, deputy executive director of legal services at the National Disability Rights Network, noted that groups have a legal right to enter facilities where people with disabilities live to inspect conditions and treatment. These institutions include government agencies and private nursing homes.
More Americans could find themselves in such conditions if Trump succeeds in his push to institutionalize people with mental illness living on the streets, Hutt said.
At the same time, states face layoffs in federal contributions to Medicaid, a public health program for people with low incomes or disabilities. They may be tempted to cut Medicaid coverage in response. public assistance programsmany of which are considered optional under federal law, Hutt said. If that happens, “you'll get more institutionalization, which will actually cost more,” he said.
Disability rights organizations have often intervened when states have failed to provide the care and services to which people with disabilities are entitled. So did lawyers in the Justice Department's civil rights division.
For example, Disability Rights Iowa filed a lawsuit in 2023 alleging that the state failed to provide adequate mental health resources to children on Medicaid. State agreed to a settlement agreement it could lead to “radical changes” to the system, advocates say.
In 2021 the Ministry of Justice warned Iowa officials that the lack of support for public services meant that too many people with intellectual disabilities were forced to live in institutions. Government officials vowed to do more.
Since Trump returned to office, many of the Justice Department's most experienced disability rights lawyers have been given buyouts or transferred to other areas, said Jennifer Mathis, the former top Justice Department administrator under Biden. “The staffing at this point is really skeletal,” said Mathis, now associate director Bazelon Centerwhich protects the rights of people with mental disabilities.
The civil rights department's overall staffing has dropped to about 300 people, less than half the number it had under Biden, Mathis said.
New Civil Rights Director Mother Dillon said conservative commentator Glenn Beck More than 100 lawyers left the department in April, but they did not support Trump's priorities. “The job here is about enforcing federal civil rights laws, not about woke ideology,” she told Beck.
In a statement to KFF Health News, Dillon said the division continues to be a “vigorous advocate for Americans with disabilities.”
Dillon recently noted the department sued Uber due to complaints that the taxi service was turning away customers with service dogs or wheelchairs; entered into agreements with Arkansas And North Carolina improve the treatment of disabled prisoners; And investigates the activities of major bus companies regarding allegations of failure to provide adequate accommodations for people with disabilities.
The department refused to comment on the number of lawyers working on issues of the rights of persons with disabilities. However, this is public recruitment “civil rights activists”, including lawyers, to join the civil rights division.
Jake Schreier, an Iowa parent, hopes the issue will be addressed at the national level. “I really can’t believe this is a partisan thing,” he said.
