Susan Goodman, Director of Governmental Affairs for NDSC, and other representatives of APRAIS, (the Alliance to Prevent Restraint, Aversive Interventions and Seclusion) met recently with representatives from the U.S. Department of Education and the Department of Justice to explore ways to curb abusive practices against students with disabilities in schools.

The representatives from these agencies expressed a great deal of support for APRAIS's agenda and a desire to see practices prevented and ended. Recently, we met with staff of the Senate and the House of Representatives about the reintroduction of the Keeping All Students Safe Act, a bill that would prohibit the use of restraint and seclusion in schools, except in truly dangerous situations.

We will continue the dialogue with Members of Congress and agency representatives to advance our goal of the banning the use of these practices. Parents who want to share their experiences with the use of these practices against their child are encouraged to contact susan@ndsccenter.org.

The Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act will be reintroduced in the U.S. Congress soon. The new members of the 113th Congress were just sworn into office, so legislation like the ABLE Act of 2013 must be introduced into the new Congress.  During the last Congress (the 112th Congress), over half of the legislators (236 Representatives and 41 Senators) supported this important legislation.

The ABLE Act provides a means for families of individuals with Down syndrome and other disabilities to save for disability-related expenses, without risking eligibility for important federal benefit programs such as Social Security, Supplemental Security Income (cash support) and Medicaid (health and long term support services). Some of the things for which the funds could be used are educational, medical and dental, technology, and transportation, to name a few.

Please contact your senators and representative and ask them to co-sponsor the ABLE Act.  For a list of your congressional representatives, please go to: http://congress.org. Scroll down to Advocacy 101 and click on Communicating with Congress.

Share your personal story and tell your legislator that the ABLE Act will enable you to save for disability related expenses for your son/daughter without risking eligibility for important public benefits.

If he or she is interested in co-sponsoring the ABLE Act, they may contact:

Jennifer Debes in Rep. Crenshaw's office, (Jennifer.Debes@mail.house.gov)  or Karen Summar in Rep. McMorris Rodgers (Karen.Summar@mail.house.gov) office.