The Coalition

Coalition Statements/ Positions:

 

The Arc MichiganMental Health Association of MichiganNAMI MichiganMP&ASIncompass MichiganCommunity Mental Health Association Of MichiganCommunity Living ServicesMDRCACMH MichiganMALA

 

 

This coalition of statewide disability services and disability rights organizations fully expects hospitals, other health care providers, and governing bodies, to respect the civil rights of all citizens during the Covid-19 pandemic. This includes Michigan citizens with disabilities, especially in regard to access to health care. This past weekend, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a bulletin to health and governmental authorities to heed their obligations under Federal laws and regulations that prohibit discrimination based on disability. Included in the bulletin was this clear directive: “…persons with disabilities should not be denied medical care on the basis of stereotypes, assessments of quality of life, or judgments about a person’s relative “worth” based on the presence or absence of disabilities.”The bulletin also reminds government officials and health care providers that “obligations under federal civil rights laws to ensure all segments of the community are served by:

 

  • Providing effective communication with individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind, and visually impaired through the use of qualified interpreters, picture boards, and other means
  • Making emergency messaging available in plain language and in languages prevalent in the affected area(s) and in multiple formats, such as audio, large print, and captioning, and ensuring that websites providing emergency-related information are accessible
  • Addressing the needs of individuals with disabilities, including individuals with mobility impairments, individuals who use assistive devices or durable medical equipment, and individuals with immunosuppressed conditions including HIV/AIDS in emergency planning”

 

We will continue to communicate with our allies across Michigan to assure that members of our community are provided the same care that the rest of the state receives. We will use every tool in Federal and State law to prevent the abandonment of our families, our friends, because of stigma about the worth of persons with disabilities and ourselves. – 3/31/2020

Letter to Governor Whitmer re: Direct Care Workers

 

Coalition letter to Michigan Legislators