For Immediate Release: September 30, 2026
For Information Contact;
Christopher Murphy at 507-340-3889
Lydia Nunez at 832-630-8419
Washington, D.C.—-Twenty activists from the national disability rights organization ADAPT
were arrested at the U. S. Capitol for protesting the Medicaid cuts passed by Congress last
year in what the Trump Administration labelled as the Big Beautiful Bill (BBB.)
“The cuts in that bill are killing people,” said Lillian Carrillo of Texas ADAPT. “For the three
quarters of a million people that have been cut off already it means no health care, no
medicines, no emergency care, and no home and community services to keep us in our homes
and out of nursing homes where we lose control over our lives. And more cuts are coming.”
Before arriving at the Capitol, ADAPT stopped at the U.S. Department of Justice Headquarters
(DOJ) to protest the memo issued earlier this year by the DOJ Office of Legal Council that
stated that despite what is in current law and legal decisions, people with disabilities have no
guaranteed right to community integration. The memo referred to Section 504 of the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended which reads…
“No otherwise qualified individual with a disability in the United States, as defined in
section 705 (20) of this title, shall, solely by reason of his or her disability, be excluded from the
participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program
or activity receiving Federal financial assistance or under any program or activity conducted by
any Executive agency or by the United States Postal Service.”
For the disability community, the DOJ memo is tantamount to saying the government no
longer recognizes their rights and can lock them away in institutions and not provide the
services and supports and accommodations that currently assist them to be integrated into all
facets of the community that receive federal funding.
“It was Section 504 that assured I would have an equal education after I was born with a
disability and then suffered an injury causing another disability,” testified Anthony Chase of
Austin ADAPT. “Because of 504 I was able to shatter the tyranny of low expectations of my
doctors and educators, and and I am now a professional- teaching and advocating for others.”
In addition to Anthony, many other ADAPT members delivered testimony on the importance of
Section 504, how it helped them, and that it must be preserved and enforced as it was
intended.
ADAPT concludes a week of activism on October 1. News and updates can be found on the
National ADAPT Facebook page.