The President's Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities held its first in-person meetings since 2019 on September 25 and 26, 2024. This year's committee was notable in that self-advocates comprised a majority of committee members.

While the reports from HHS - sponsored agencies were informative and covered a variety of issues, all of the subject matter was directed to Home- and Community-Based Services. People with intellectual disabilities who receive long-term supports and services through the non-HCBS silo of Medicaid were once again left out of the conversation.

On August 30 and September 2, 2024, the Washington Post published a series of highly biased articles opposing sheltered workshops and 14(c). The articles went beyond mere bias. They cherry-picked comments from both sides and made several statements misrepresenting the programs and those that provide these opportunities. Several VOR members wrote to the Post to complain. Only one paper, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, which reprinted the Post's stories, printed a full response to the articles.

Attached below are a few of those letters.

The Department of Health and Human Services has issued a proposed rule "Discrimination on the Basis of Disability in Health and Human Service Programs or Activities", intended to update, clarify, and strengthen the implementing regulation for Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

VOR contends that the policies of HHS, notably the actions taken over the years by the Administration for Community Living and several of the organizations they subsidize (including State P&As and DD Councils, University Centers for Excellence, and the National Disability Rights Network) have regularly committed acts of discrimination against those with the most severe and profound intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families.