April 18, 2025
The Boost News
U.S. autism rate rises, a look at what could happen to special ed after its move to Health and Human Services, a Maryland nightclub for people with disabilities, and more developmental disability news for the week ending April 18, 2025.
SPOTLIGHT: EDUCATION & HSS
Isolation & Neglect: Disability Advocates Fear Return to a Bleak Past Under HHS
While some say much of what the Trump administration envisions for special education is likely illegal, nonprofit news organization The 74 Million lays out what might happen if it goes through anyway:
- Moving responsibility for students with disabilities to HHS means taking oversight away from experts in specialized instruction and handing it to an agency ill-equipped to administer non-medical programs.
- Advocates predict that states and districts, freed of oversight and rules about spending IDEA dollars, will consign increasing numbers of disabled students to segregated special education classrooms.
- It could even mean “making some determinations that we just don’t think [some kids are] capable of learning.”
NEW YORK
Commentary: For independent living centers, Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP is about care, not money The network of disability-led organizations served as far more than “fiscal intermediaries.” (Times Union)
CDPAP rally outside PPL’s new headquarters in Latham over missing paychecks (CBS 6 Albany)
Families say new CDPAP payment system is a ‘mess’ (WHEC)
NYC commits $167 million to shore up early childhood ed system The move will restore $55 million to help address chronic shortage of seats for preschool children with disabilities. (Chalkbeat)
Former Eastchester convent now open for people with autism (Yahoo News via LoHud)
A perspective of New York from the eyes of a disabled person Bobby Greco, a quadriplegic man from Geneva, advocates for getting a 7.8% increase in the state budget for nonprofit providers. (Finger Lake Times)
AI tool aims to catch abuse in group homes after shocking video (Fox 5 New York)
OUTSIDE OF NY
Intellectually disabled teen shot by Idaho police dies after being removed from life support The autistic, nonverbal teenage boy shot repeatedly by Idaho police from the other side of a chain-link fence has died. (AP)
Michigan parents of students with disabilities feel ‘hopeless’ as civil rights cases remain in limbo (Chalkbeat)
Mass. Higher ed board approves new guidelines for students with disabilities They’re aimed at creating more opportunities for students with “severe” developmental disabilities. (CommonWealth Beacon)
Phoenix group home caretaker arrested after patient with disabilities dies in his care (Arizona’s Family)
MORE EDUCATION
Bills in Congress detail path to closing Ed Dept. (K12 Dive)
DOGE abruptly cut a program for teens with disabilities. This student is ‘devastated’ (NPR)
AUTISM
US autism rate continues to rise, CDC says, pointing to greater awareness and better screening (CNN)
RFK Jr. calls rising autism rate an ‘epidemic.’ (Stat News)
RFK Jr. said autistic people don’t work or play sports (Washington Post)
Kennedy pledges to figure out which ‘environmental toxins’ are causing autism (Politico)
What New Research Reveals about Autism, Stimming, and Touch (Univ. of Rochester)
The genetic mystery of why some people develop autism (BBC)
HHS
Sweeping HHS Cuts Will Put Disabled and Older Americans’ Right to Live in Their Communities at Risk Dismantling the Administration for Community Living (ACL) and its programs will put residents at risk of institutionalization and food insecurity. (Urban Institute)
ADHD
Have We Been Thinking About A.D.H.D. All Wrong? Some leading researchers express concern over a disconnect between emerging scientific understanding of A.D.H.D. and the way the condition is being treated. (New York Times)
NIGHT OUT
Maryland nightclub for people with disabilities celebrates 10 years (WBAL TV)