On March 19, 2025, the United States Justice Department announced that they were rescinding (removing) 11 pieces of guidance related to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The ADA, a bipartisan piece of legislation that passed in 1990, prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in various areas of public life, including employment, transportation, public accommodations, and access to state and local government programs.
The end is in sight, for better or for worse. But don’t despair (too much) friends, not all is wrong with the world, and not all that’s wrong with the world is permanent. It’s why we do what we do and why our perspective, as the disability community, is so important. Read about it here!
President Trump issued an Executive Order to close the U.S. Department of Education. Dispersing special education expertise across multiple departments and agencies will have a negative impact on the education of students with disabilities. Contact your federal legislators to protect special education for Tennessee students.
5 weeks, TDC family. That’s all we’ve got left of the session; keen readers will note that those final 1.5 to 2 weeks are “flow-motion”, where the General Assembly hammers out the budget (cough $4.5M for Network bill, cough). That means, that we’ve got maybe 3 weeks to get to our final destination.
Hang in there folks, DDH is just around the corner. I hope to see as many of you there as I can (and again, please come and say hello if you see me – talking about this stuff is my favorite thing). For those that can’t make it this time, know that you’re with us in spirit, and your presence in our community makes our individual impacts all the more real. Get ready for the big day with our latest policy update.
It is go time, friends. Not just because things are starting to pick up speed at Cordell Hull, but also because they need to. Believe it or not, we’re at about the halfway point of the session. The Senate has set a hard stop date of April 17th, and this time I believe them.
