A federal class action lawsuit filed this month accuses Harris County and County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth of violating the rights of voters with disabilities by failing to provide accessible mail-in voting options.

The few private schools that offer special education for disabled students have strict conditions and are clustered in metropolitan areas.

The Senate’s main “school choice” bill would prioritize vouchers for children with disabilities, among other underprivileged groups. But advocates and parents raised concerns that voucher recipients who choose private school would no longer be protected by federal law.

Advocates say better accounting of deaf and hard-of-hearing children in the state’s care and better access to translators are needed.

Students with disabilities can succeed in college with the right kind of help. There are programs that can support them. The programs help them live on their own, find jobs, and make a difference where they live.

Disability rights advocates say the state has not provided enough guidance about the type of help people with disabilities can and cannot receive under new voting laws passed last year.

Plaintiffs say the governor’s order denies children with disabilities, who are at a high risk of illness and death from the coronavirus, access to public education.

The U.S. Department of Education announced the inquiry days after the Texas Education Agency quietly updated its guidance to say school districts can’t require masks.

Because of the pandemic, access to the state Capitol could be limited this year: Many Texans with disabilities, including Broussard, do not want to risk testifying in person. With uncertain rules on virtual testimony, and at such an urgent and precarious time, many worry pandemic process changes could leave them out of an all-important session focused on managing a virus that has killed people with disabilities at uniquely high rates. Instead, advocates for those with disabilities and some lawmakers worry that high-profile lobbyists will have the ears of the policy makers if virtual testimony is limited and in-person visits remain the norm. Before the pandemic, Broussard used to travel around the state, speaking at different schools about self-advocacy and self-determination for people with disabilities. “We always need to be at the table when you're making big decisions,” Broussard said, directing his request toward lawmakers.

Children in Texas’ youth lockups are suffering from widespread sexual assault and other constitutional violations, reform advocates wrote Wednesday in a complaint urging a federal investigation into the state’s five youth lockups. “The state facilities are not just failing the youth in them, they are hurting them,” said Brett Merfish, director of youth justice at Texas Appleseed. As TJJD has encouraged more reliance on county facilities and reduced the number of state youth lockups from 12 in 2007 to five today, there has been a sustained drop in juveniles detained in state lockups. “Mental health is key to youth rehabilitation,” said Beth Mitchell, a top attorney at Disability Rights Texas. The plan requests more funding for county facilities and proposes more state facilities closer to urban centers to address staffing shortfalls.

The Texas Supreme Court has ruled that a lack of immunity to the coronavirus is not in itself enough to qualify. During a typical year, Texas is one of only 16 states that doesn’t offer no-excuse mail-in voting, which allows voters to request ballots for any reason. Local election officials, who oversee the distribution of mail-in ballots, do not have the authority to verify a voter’s disability status. But election experts say it’s unclear whether the Texas attorney general’s office would try to pursue the issue. Disability rights activists say they’re worried the confusion may deter at-risk Texans from voting, or cause them to needlessly put their health at risk to show up in person at the polls despite being eligible for mail-in voting.