Health and Disability Advocates

Welcome to Health & Disability Advocates' website. Health & Disability Advocates (HDA) is a national organization, based in Chicago, Illinois, that uses multiple strategies to promote income security and improve healthcare access and services for children, people with disabilities and low-income, older adults.

HDA’s team of legal and policy experts provides a range of services including individual client services and legal representation, and customized trainings and technical assistance for a range of audiences, including consumers, service providers and state agencies. We also develop innovative projects and policies to protect and strengthen federal and state safety-net programs including Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), Medicare and Medicaid.

For information on current projects underway at HDA, go to the Technical Assistance & Training, Innovative Program & Policy Work, or Client Services & Legal Representation, sections of this website.

What's New at HDA

Think Beyond the Label - A National Ad Campaign Promoting the Hiring of People with Disabilities

Health & Disability Advocates is spearheading a collaborative of 30 states, which on February 1st, launched on a national ad campaign promoting the hiring of people with disabilities. The $4 million campaign is currently appearing on television, in print, on the Web, and on billboards throughout 2010. The goal of the humorous, edgy campaign is to change attitudes about hiring people with disabilities, raising awareness of the need for diversity in the workplace, and countering stereotypes about people with disabilities.

Created by the Chicago-based ad agency Wirestone, “Think Beyond the Label” emphasizes that all workplaces accommodate difference—from the “copy-incapable” office worker to the “pattern-deficient” dresser to the man with “volume control syndrome” (i.e., the loud-talking employee). The campaign acknowledges that workforce diversity is an asset to small, medium, and large companies. Interested businesses are encouraged to visit the campaign's digital hub, www.thinkbeyondthelabel.com, for information on hiring people with disabilities in their area.

The campaign was featured in the January 29th edition of the New York Times and has subsequently appeared in several other media outlets. Go to our Press Room to see the campaign's press releases and the full list of news articles on the campaign. Click here to see the campaign's television commercial.

Apply to Participate in Free Work Incentive Trainings!

Through funding provided by the Department of Human Service’s Division of Rehabilitation Services, HDA will be conducting a series of 1.5 day workshops throughout the state. These trainings will be held in Chicago, Elgin, Springfield, Mt. Vernon and Peoria. One set of trainings will be open to state agency staff and the other to community service providers, case managers and others who work directly with individuals with disabilities. The purpose of this training is to equip participants with a basic understanding of how employment impacts public benefits, including Social Security cash, Medicare and Medicaid. Participants will then be taught how to incorporate this new work incentive knowledge into their day to day counseling and support.

To view a flyer with more information, dates and times, click here:

To apply, please click on the appropriate link below:

DRS Staff Application All Non-VR Agency Staff and Community Application

Chicago Medical Legal Partnership for Children Ensures Access to Transportation for Special Education Services

The Chicago Medical Legal Partnership for Children's recent success in a state complaint investigation of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) will ensure that preschool-aged children receiving special education services and attending Head Start can obtain the special transportation necessary to receive all of those services. In the case of four-year-old J.H., the Illinois State Board of Education found that CPS' policy on providing special transportation services violated the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) by restricting special education transportation through arbitrary guidelines that precluded consideration of the individual needs of the child determined by his Individualized Education Program (IEP) team. This policy led CPS to deny J.H. transportation from his morning Head Start program to his afternoon Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) program. Instead, CPS would only provide him transportation between home and his afternoon ECSE program. As his mother's only alternative was to take three city buses to get J.H. from Head Start to his ECSE program every day, this policy denied J.H. the full scope of educational services that he needed and to which he was entitled by effectively preventing him from going to Head Start. CPS must now revise its special education transportation policy to reflect federal and state mandates that a school district provide special transportation when it is necessary to ensure that children receive all of the special education services they need. ISBE additionally awarded full transportation services to J.H.

Online Library

View these recent additions to the Library, or search our entire collection.

Health Care Coverage Case Study for a Person with a Disability In 2014 And Beyond

This hypothetical "case study" illustrates the health insurance options for people with disabilities that will be available when health care reform is implemented under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

What Medicaid Infrastructure Grants Need to Know about Health Care Reform: The Impact of Medicaid Expansion on the Medicaid Buy-In

This policy and practice brief is the first in a series of briefs helping to explain the expected impact of health care reform on Medicaid eligibility for people with disabilities. The brief explores the potential new Medicaid enrollment dynamics MIGs need to consider as health care reform is implemented under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and the interaction between the Medicaid Buy-In and new coverage options.

Medicaid Categories for People with Disabilities—Before and After PPACA

This table summarizes the impact of health care reform under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on Medicaid coverage, including the Medicaid Buy-In.