Trump's actions signal a move toward institutionalizing people with disabilities, advocates warn

By — Annie Ma, Associated Press Annie Ma, Associated Press Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trumps-actions-signal-a-move-toward-institutionalizing-people-with-disabilities-advocates-warn Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Trump's actions signal a move toward institutionalizing people with disabilities, advocates warn Politics Jul 1, 2026 5:20 PM EDT WASHINGTON (AP) — For decades, disabled people have fought for their rights to go to school and live alongside peers without disabilities — rights that some fear could be losing ground under the Trump administration. Last month, the Department of Education announced it would shift oversight of special education to the Department of Health and Human Services, led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose comments on the limits of disabilities such as autism have drawn sharp rebukes from advocates and lawmakers. WATCH: News Wrap: Civil rights, special education oversight shifted from Department of Education Meanwhile, after a White House push to police homelessness, the Department of Justice released guidance that lowered the barrier to institutionalizing any person with a disability. Educate your inbox Subscribe to Here’s the Deal, our politics newsletter for analysis you won’t find anywhere else. Taken together, the actions signal a worrying return to a reality where people with disabilities are pushed to the margins of society, advocates said. "It's a direct, frontal assault on the rights of people with disabilities to live their lives the way that people who are nondisabled live their lives," said Selene Almazan, legal director for the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates. "I can't imagine that as a country, that would be something that we would agree we should go back to." The move away from confining people with disabilities Since the 1960s, legislation and court decisions have expanded supports and protections for people with disabilities to go to school with nondisabled peers and to live and work in their communities. Before that, people with mental illnesses or developmental and intellectual disabilities were largely confined to institutions. Advocates have pushed back on what is known as the "medical model," where an individual's disability is viewed as a defect to be cured. Instead, under a "social model" of disability, differences can be accommodated and supported, as people with and without disabilities learn and work alongside each other. Families and advocates have warned that moving special education to a health department marks a return to the medical model. They also have been angered by Kennedy's attempts to link vaccines to autism, going against decades of research that show no such link, and his framing of autism as a debilitating disease. READ MORE: Families of kids with disabilities warn Education Department changes could break a flawed system Kennedy's comments last year, where he said children wi