Today, while this fight is by no means won, we have made significant progress. There is still significant opposition to the idea of doing anything to stop discrimination against our community in this sector, but we have begun to move from arguing about whether we should address the way these metrics devalue disabled life to how we should address it, and that is exciting.

February has been action-packed for DPC, including legislative updates, opportunities to take action, job openings, and more.

The Affordable Housing Act is THE housing bill of the session. Governor Healey wrote it as an overarching bill that will touch all parts of the housing landscape in Massachusetts. We’re asking for improvements to the bill. Please consider writing testimony or signing up to testify in-person.

Our Housing Bond Bill advocacy is far from over. Governor Healey's version of the Affordable Homes Act has a lot of promising proposals for affordable and accessible housing, but we (along with our allies at CHAPA, the Boston Center for Independent Living, and Stavros) will be advocating for a few key changes.

As reported in the State House News, one of our priority bills, the Wheelchair Warranty Bill (now labeled S.2541), will be voted on by the Senate tomorrow, and we expect it to pass!

2024 has gotten off to a great start for DPC. Last week saw a huge milestone in our campaign to fix our state's broken wheelchair repair system, as the wheelchair warranty bill we've been championing passed the state Senate and was sent over to the House.

The Personal Care Attendant (PCA) program enables over 40,000 people with disabilities and elderly people to live in the community with dignity and independence. It also serves as an important source of work, disproportionately for women of color.  We support the retention of funding for the PCA program which reduces reliance on nursing homes, and advocate that the language curtailing the program in future years be removed. 

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