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Independent Living News & Policy from the National Council on Independent Living

Join Representative Sensenbrenner: Urge Your Senators and Representatives to Cosponsor the Disability Integration Act!

Representative Sensenbrenner (R-WI) recently sent out a Dear Colleague letter (PDF) inviting his fellow members of the House of Representatives to cosponsor S. 910 and H.R. 2472, the Disability Integration Act (DIA). The DIA would solidify into law the right of disabled people to live and receive services and support in our communities. NCIL thanks Representative Sensenbrenner for his ongoing efforts to see the DIA become law! We would also like to thank the Wisconsin Independent Living community for all of their work with the Representative and his staff.

NCIL logo - National Council on Independent LivingDIA is continuing to gain momentum, and we need to keep pushing for additional cosponsors. Please keep visiting, calling, and writing your Senators and Representatives. Urge them cosponsor the DIA. When you meet with Members of the House, please share this Dear Colleague letter with them!

Cosponsor the Disability Integration Act

Request for Cosponsor(s)

Sending Office: Honorable F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr.
Sent By: [email protected]

Dear Colleague,

I invite you to join me in supporting millions of people with disabilities across the country by becoming a cosponsor of the Disability Integration Act (S. 910/ H.R. 2472). This bipartisan, bicameral legislation – which I introduced in the House in May – secures in Federal law the Constitutional right to liberty for Americans with disabilities by ensuring that they have the choice to receive home and community based services and supports. 

Currently, the lack of adequate home and community based services forces people with disabilities into costly and restrictive institutional settings, or to pay high out-of-pocket costs for in-home care. This prevents disable people from exercising the liberty that non-disabled Americans take for granted. It also causes unnecessary financial and emotional distress for individuals with disabilities and their families, especially when disabled people are forced to rely on their family members for assistance because formal in-home supports and services are not available.

The Disability Integration Act ensures that any individual who is found eligible for institutional placement is also given the option to receive crucial services and supports at home or in the setting of their choosing. States and insurance providers will be required to cover home and community based services so people with disabilities can accomplish their activities of daily living – such as eating, bathing, medication management and housekeeping – outside of an institutional setting.

In addition to allowing disabled people to lead independent lives, these home and community based services will save taxpayer dollars when compared to the cost of institutional settings. Most importantly, these services will ensure that people with disabilities in the U.S. can exercise the liberty that is the birthright of all Americans.

I urge you to become a cosponsor of the Disability Integration Act. For more information or to become a cosponsor of the Disability Integration Act, please contact Amy Bos at [email protected].

Sincerely,

F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr.
Member of Congress