[NFBF-L] FW: Florida, End the Assault on Disability Protections!

Tue Aug 18 20:44:54 UTC 2026

Florida Federationists: 

We have been monitoring and working diligently to encourage our Attorney General, James Uthmeier, to withdraw Florida from the harmful Texas v. Kennedy lawsuit. We have discussed this issue for nearly two years; I will not go into the deep dive on the issue, but just give the highlights. 

*	Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973: This is our oldest and broadest anti-discrimination law to protect disabled people from discrimination by any entity that receives federal funding. Declaring Section 504 unconstitutional or weakening it will have a devastating effect on many programs aimed at educational and employment training for disabled people to be employed, such as Vocational Rehabilitation, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the Independent Living for Older Blind programs. It could negatively affect programs such as public transportation (more specifically, paratransit programs), hospitalizations and hospital care and employment services. 
*	Integration Mandate: Under law, states are required to provide community-based services to disabled people so they may live independently, freely and fully in their home communities, when appropriate. Olmstead v. LC, a Supreme Court decision in 1999, upheld that states had an obligation to provide these services, where appropriate, to avoid unnecessary and expensive institutionalizing of disabled people; this also reduced segregation from home communities whenever possible. 

The information below is a strong response from Disability Rights Florida, the state’s Protection and Advocacy Agency (PNA). Please review and if you wish to do so, participate in this greater effort to withdraw from Texas v. Kennedy. This is our time to defend our right to live in the world! 

  Camille Tate, president

National Federation of the Blind of Florida 

Board of Directors 

www.nfbflorida.org <http://www.nfbflorida.org/> 

Tel: 321.372.4899

With love, hope and determination, we transform dreams into reality.

From: Disability Rights Florida <noreply at disabilityrightsflorida.ccsend.com> 
Sent: Tuesday, August 18, 2026 10:31 AM
To: president at nfbflorida.org
Subject: Florida, End the Assault on Disability Protections!

Help Us Protect Vital Community Integration Rights - Add Your Name Now!

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 <https://pkj5abdab.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001K9ZwYIZaUHHeuh16Q3FE_prapL7BGU5PJQMnPGkYjqWrpqlQB6IiBqe4n2P2kwHVHLpDfdmbEwsHNyTOegV5A8sBSktML8-XAo4vw1xu6aFdpmZ9IBe5y60qzlYC59wi0oRllIxMT43GkygILUn0RDwWQU7uhffbTvEkiD24gKUPkR0KfJsPEHF5UVkkeSdQRh-r1PkCaGxZj__xh_gHc8c22drftEQgj6WFhhYIKF4xGP1g4rksCtmZuHbXaYM1YWyb7luyJtp50W1YZHekff3St1noPGbx&c=7hA0jLjQevj9DxvgqMiskzosDyejTehIWdplTEwuYliGNwCyIgTwMQ==&ch=ewmlQEUZCSpNiaptvXFiV4K7DYpBTtdFEKHlaqN6HSkErSrsk1S6LA==> 

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Tell Florida: Stop Threatening the Right to Live in the Community

Join us in calling on Florida's Attorney General to stop the state's assault on the right to community integration and defend Section 504 protections for people with disabilities and older adults.

Florida is one of only three states still participating in Texas v. Kennedy, a lawsuit that threatens decades of Section 504 protections for people with disabilities and older adults.

We need your voice now.

 <https://pkj5abdab.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001K9ZwYIZaUHHeuh16Q3FE_prapL7BGU5PJQMnPGkYjqWrpqlQB6IiBqe4n2P2kwHVHLpDfdmbEwsHNyTOegV5A8sBSktML8-XAo4vw1xu6aFdpmZ9IBe5y60qzlYC59wi0oRllIxMT43GkygILUn0RDwWQU7uhffbTvEkiD24gKUPkR0KfJsPEHF5UVkkeSdQRh-r1PkCaGxZj__xh_gHc8c22drftEQgj6WFhhYIKF4xGP1g4rksCtmZuHbXaYM1YWyb7luyJtp04DYQsMcRfh-odzvD7xZV&c=7hA0jLjQevj9DxvgqMiskzosDyejTehIWdplTEwuYliGNwCyIgTwMQ==&ch=ewmlQEUZCSpNiaptvXFiV4K7DYpBTtdFEKHlaqN6HSkErSrsk1S6LA==> SIGN ON TO THE LETTER 

WHAT’S AT STAKE?

For more than 50 years, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act has protected people with disabilities from discrimination in programs and services receiving federal funding.

Those protections include the right to receive services in the most integrated setting appropriate, helping people with disabilities participate in their communities instead of being unnecessarily segregated or institutionalized.

For older adults with disabilities, these protections can help make it possible to receive needed services at home or in the community instead of being unnecessarily placed or kept in a nursing facility.

Florida is continuing to participate in Texas v. Kennedy, a lawsuit challenging Section 504 regulations that help make those rights real.

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RIGHTS MATTER

Section 504 protections help ensure that people with disabilities can:

*    Live and receive services in their homes and communities

*    Receive community-based supports when appropriate

*    Avoid unnecessary segregation in nursing facilities and other institutional settings

*    Be protected from disability discrimination in federally funded programs

*    Receive services in integrated settings

*    Participate fully in community life

These protections were won through decades of disability advocacy and civil rights action.

We cannot allow them to be stripped away.

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This is about whether people with disabilities and older adults can live, receive services, and participate in our communities.

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Florida Has a Choice

Fourteen states have already withdrawn from this litigation.

Florida’s Attorney General can do the same.

We are calling on Florida to end its participation in Texas v. Kennedy and stop putting critical disability rights protections at risk.

But state leaders need to hear from YOU.

 <https://pkj5abdab.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001K9ZwYIZaUHHeuh16Q3FE_prapL7BGU5PJQMnPGkYjqWrpqlQB6IiBqe4n2P2kwHVHLpDfdmbEwsHNyTOegV5A8sBSktML8-XAo4vw1xu6aFdpmZ9IBe5y60qzlYC59wi0oRllIxMT43GkygILUn0RDwWQU7uhffbTvEkiD24gKUPkR0KfJsPEHF5UVkkeSdQRh-r1PkCaGxZj__xh_gHc8c22drftEQgj6WFhhYIKF4xGP1g4rksCtmZuHbXaYM1YWyb7luyJtq1-eQgOqZpbzwJ2_Soq9eW&c=7hA0jLjQevj9DxvgqMiskzosDyejTehIWdplTEwuYliGNwCyIgTwMQ==&ch=ewmlQEUZCSpNiaptvXFiV4K7DYpBTtdFEKHlaqN6HSkErSrsk1S6LA==> SIGN ON TO THE LETTER 

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ADD YOUR NAME

Join Disability Rights Florida and disability advocates in urgently calling on Florida’s Attorney General to follow the lead of 14 other states and end Florida’s participation in Texas v. Kennedy.

This lawsuit threatens protections that help millions of Floridians with disabilities and older adults live, receive services, and participate in their communities. It also puts more than 50 years of hard-won disability civil rights protections at risk.

We welcome signatures from:

Advocacy groups. Civil rights organizations. Community organizations and other concerned entities. Advocates. Self-advocates. People with disabilities. Older adults. Family members. Allies. Supporters. Loved ones.

 <https://pkj5abdab.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001K9ZwYIZaUHHeuh16Q3FE_prapL7BGU5PJQMnPGkYjqWrpqlQB6IiBqe4n2P2kwHVe3Q4PAJpF2sfApkoOyYOZZC-KQ_3iy0hnYqPOd3kloDvTlXdYwmtLgRXnSZ79bsegiFX13Z3xkMg8T9YRM0NwGNFsya3G8WKwtKzLImlcy9u7tagK4x6AQDkP3ijAcTG-X-AIgnecnjeB29f8AZyCkNUqRt4bqDOx1rB9h68Id9R8kVy4xL1GCZm1LBhobEv_8wZU76ltL8=&c=7hA0jLjQevj9DxvgqMiskzosDyejTehIWdplTEwuYliGNwCyIgTwMQ==&ch=ewmlQEUZCSpNiaptvXFiV4K7DYpBTtdFEKHlaqN6HSkErSrsk1S6LA==> Add Your Name Now 

People and organizations from across the country are encouraged to sign. You do not need to live in Florida to stand with Floridians with disabilities and older adults.

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Read the Full Letter

Read our full letter to Florida’s Attorney General and learn more about what is at stake for Floridians with disabilities and older adults.

 <https://pkj5abdab.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001K9ZwYIZaUHHeuh16Q3FE_prapL7BGU5PJQMnPGkYjqWrpqlQB6IiBqe4n2P2kwHVHLpDfdmbEwsHNyTOegV5A8sBSktML8-XAo4vw1xu6aFdpmZ9IBe5y60qzlYC59wi0oRllIxMT43GkygILUn0RDwWQU7uhffbTvEkiD24gKUPkR0KfJsPEHF5UVkkeSdQRh-r1PkCaGxZj__xh_gHc8c22drftEQgj6WFhhYIKF4xGP1g4rksCtmZuHbXaYM1YWyb7luyJtpHq3oVFheLn80ya3M85dhP&c=7hA0jLjQevj9DxvgqMiskzosDyejTehIWdplTEwuYliGNwCyIgTwMQ==&ch=ewmlQEUZCSpNiaptvXFiV4K7DYpBTtdFEKHlaqN6HSkErSrsk1S6LA==> Read the Full Letter 

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Florida should be protecting disability rights, not helping dismantle them.

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Cherie Hall

Executive Director

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Thank you for standing with Floridians with disabilities, older adults, families, advocates, and communities across our state.

Together, we are calling on Florida’s Attorney General to leave this lawsuit and protect the right of people with disabilities to live and receive services in their communities.

 <https://pkj5abdab.cc.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001K9ZwYIZaUHHeuh16Q3FE_prapL7BGU5PJQMnPGkYjqWrpqlQB6IiBqe4n2P2kwHVe3Q4PAJpF2sfApkoOyYOZZC-KQ_3iy0hnYqPOd3kloDvTlXdYwmtLgRXnSZ79bsegiFX13Z3xkMg8T9YRM0NwGNFsya3G8WKwtKzLImlcy9u7tagK4x6AQDkP3ijAcTG-X-AIgnecnjeB29f8AZyCkNUqRt4bqDOx1rB9h68Id9R8kVy4xL1GCZm1LBhobEvBjL3Ak-T2nQ=&c=7hA0jLjQevj9DxvgqMiskzosDyejTehIWdplTEwuYliGNwCyIgTwMQ==&ch=ewmlQEUZCSpNiaptvXFiV4K7DYpBTtdFEKHlaqN6HSkErSrsk1S6LA==> Add Your Name Now 

Disability Rights Florida | 2473 Care Drive Suite 200 | Tallahassee, FL 32308 US

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