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The Biden-Harris
Administration recognizes that the COVID-19 pandemic has
had tremendous impacts on disabled individuals and has
resulted in new members of the disability community.
Over the past year, the Administration has collaborated and
consulted with the disability community and taken several
key actions to address the unique needs of individuals with
disabilities. Among other actions, the U.S. government
released key civil rights guidance to protect disabled
individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic or any public
health emergency; prioritized Long COVID services,
supports, and research in the context of disability;
established a call line dedicated to ensuring individuals
with disabilities can equitably utilize the
Administration’s at-home test distribution program; ensured
disabled individuals and other high-risk individuals have
access to at-home testing; and invested American Rescue
Plan (ARP) resources to build COVID-19 vaccine confidence
and access among people with disabilities.
Moving forward, the Administration will take several key
steps to further our work to ensure that disabled
individuals, regardless of where they live or the level of
community transmission of the virus, have equitable access
to COVID-19 testing, masks, and other critical mitigation
strategies. The Administration remains committed to
implementing these policies and developing additional
policies in close collaboration with the disability
community – keeping equity and accessibility at the center
of our COVID-19 response and beyond. The Administration
will:
- Equip schools with guidance and
support to keep vulnerable students safe and learning
in-person. The Department of Education (ED)
will work with school administrators and educators on
strategies they can use to continue providing safe,
in-person instruction for all students in their
classes. ED will engage the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) to ensure that its
guidance is fully aligned with the latest public
health guidance and that schools have clear recommendations
and strategies to help protect the safety of and
access to rigorous learning that all children deserve.
ED will also provide resources for parents who would
like additional support in understanding how to
navigate their child’s in-person learning experience
through local regional parent training and information
centers. Parents may find their local center here and
reach out for direct assistance and referrals to other
organizations, as well as to gain skills to
effectively participate in the education and
development of their children. States and school
districts should use the unprecedented resources
provided through the ARP to implement these
recommendations and ensure access to a high-quality
education for all students, including students with
disabilities. Children learn best in-person, and are
better able to engage with rigorous instruction and
access services and supports tailored to their needs
when they are learning alongside their peers. The
President has been clear since Day One that we need
students back to school for full-time, in-person
learning, and thanks to the unprecedented resources
provided through the ARP, schools have what they need
to safely remain open, keep students and staff safe,
and address the impact of the pandemic on student
learning and mental health. Some students may need
additional protections to ensure they can remain safe
in the classroom – including students who are
immunocompromised, with complex medical conditions, or
with other disabilities that may put them at higher
risk of severe outcomes from COVID-19. For nearly two
years, educators across the country have provided
services and supports to children with disabilities in
ways never anticipated prior to the COVID-19 pandemic,
and the Administration is committed to ensuring that
children with disabilities continue to receive the
services and supports they need so they can reach
their highest potential.
- Expand the Department of Health and
Human Services (HHS) Administration for Community
Living’s Disability Information and Access Line to
support people with disabilities who face difficulty
using or cannot use a self-test. The
Disability Information and Access Line (DIAL),
available at 1-888-677-1199, is launching a new
initiative to support disabled individuals who need
assistance using at-home tests distributed by the
Administration or support in finding alternatives to
at-home testing. For individuals who can use an
at-home test, DIAL operators are available to assist
with ordering free tests; understanding instructions
for test administration and test results; or providing
alternative instructions for those unable to access,
read, or understand the manufacturer’s version. For
those who cannot use an at-home test, DIAL operators
can assist individuals with ordering tests to collect
a specimen that can be mailed back for results. For
individuals who cannot use either an at-home test or
an alternative “swab and send” test, DIAL operators
can assist callers with locating their state or local
health department and/or aging and disability
resources for additional assistance with other testing
options that may be available in their community,
including identifying potential in-home testing
options or assistance with transportation or companion
support to visit a community-based testing site.
- Launch new COVID-19 testing
guidance in American Sign Language and review all
existing COVID-19 guidance to confirm accessibility
for all disabled individuals. CDC
recently released “How to Interpret Positive Self-Test
Results” guidance in American Sign Language (ASL), a
first step towards ensuring that deaf or hard of
hearing individuals can access key information about
how to protect themselves and their communities. CDC
is also collaborating with the CDC Foundation, Georgia
Tech’s Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation, and
their partners across HHS to pursue key improvements
for all COVID-19 guidance available on CDC’s website
that cannot be accessed elsewhere: information in
Braille, ASL translation, simplified text, and other
alternative formats.
- Execute a new effort to develop
at-home COVID-19 tests that are accessible to all. The
National Institutes of Health (NIH)’s RADx program has
launched a new effort to seek both short- and
long-term solutions to improve at-home test
accessibility. RADx will consult and work with
national organizations who represent communities in
need of accessible tests, and test manufacturers to
inform the modification or development of more
accessible at-home tests, including device design,
packaging, and modes of instruction, and challenges.
Though at-home COVID-19 tests were only invented last
year, the Administration’s investment in this
technology has rapidly scaled up manufacturing to the
millions per day. This effort strives to ensure that all
individuals have an option for at-home testing that
can be used and interpreted without assistance, and
will set the course towards accessible testing in the
weeks and months to come.
- Incentivize all at-home test
manufacturers to prioritize accessibility of at-home
tests. The Administration has published a
formal Request for Information (RFI) to ensure the
preservation and expansion of current domestic
manufacturing capacities for at-home rapid tests and
point-of-care tests. The RFI specifically asks manufacturers
to prioritize the accessibility of at-home tests for
people who are blind or visually-impaired; individuals
with physical, cognitive, or other disabilities; and
individuals who need non-English language or literacy
support. The Administration will use the information
gathered in March 2022 to inform near-term investments
– towards ensuring that accessible at-home tests are
available for federal purchase.
- Request accessible instructions
from manufacturers who have received a Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) Emergency Use Authorization
(EUA). The FDA has reached out to all test
developers that have received an EUA to request that
they provide instructions that are accessible and
compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act,
including alternative text for all images as well as
html versions. FDA will use all authority available to
receive these accessible instructions as quickly as
possible, while working with RADx to identify other
wraparound services that can be provided immediately
to make existing at-home tests more accessible.
- Distribute masks to disabled
individuals through community-based organizations and
jurisdictions. HHS will support health centers
and aging and disability networks as they collaborate
on efforts to distribute N95 masks to individuals with
disabilities who cannot leave their homes. As the
President announced in January 2022, the
Administration is making 400 million N95 masks from
the Strategic National Stockpile available to all
individuals in the United States for free. HHS is
sending tens of millions of free, high-quality masks
to community health centers and rural health clinics –
organizations that play a critical role in serving
communities across the country, including individuals
with disabilities.
- Call on states to directly
distribute high-quality masks through community-based
organizations serving individuals with disabilities. Over the
past year, the Administration has also sent millions
of high-quality masks to states and territories across
the country. We encourage all jurisdictions to work in
partnership with community-based organizations to
expand access for the hardest-hit and highest-risk
individuals – including people with disabilities who
may be unable to leave their homes.
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