Legislative Priorities

People with disabilities are frequently the victims of explicit and implicit bias in the healthcare system, often with harmful and even deadly consequences. Some disabled patients have been denied treatments, medications, and even removed from life support, while others report being pressured to sign Do Not Resuscitate orders–all based on the presumption that the lives of people with disabilities have less worth and are less worth saving than the lives of people without disabilities. During the worst days of the COVID-19 pandemic, our own state government took the same approach, adopting Crisis Standards of Care that would have sent thousands of people with disabilities to the back of the line for lifesaving ventilators and ICU beds.

By strengthening warranty protections for Massachusetts residents with disabilities, we can level the playing field for consumers, shorten repair wait times, save taxpayer money, and ensure that we are all treated with dignity and respect.

Wheelchairs and scooters are often prone to defects and sudden failure. It is commonplace for consumers to be left stranded or isolated in their homes for weeks, or even months, awaiting repairs, unable to get to work, school, medical appointments, the grocery store, and in some cases to move around their own home.

Parents with disabilities, especially psychiatric or intellectual disabilities, lose custody or parenting time at alarming rates due to disability discrimination – while 6.7% of parents in the U.S. have a disability, families in which a parent has a disability are disproportionately involved in the child welfare system. Across the board, disabled parents are 22% more likely to have their parental rights terminated, and parents with psychiatric disabilities are 26 times more likely to have their children removed from their homes. Parents should not be denied the right to raise their children solely on the basis of their disability.