If you receive Empower (The Arc’s national newsletter), the Spring issue is on its way to your doorstep right now! If you have not received Empower in the past, we are excited to announce that Empower is moving to an online platform. You can learn more at thearc.org/Empower. If you visit this site and sign up to receive an e-copy of Empower instead of a paper copy, you’ll be entered to win a free registration to The Arc’s 2018 National Convention in Nashville, TN! Take a moment to update your subscription today. If you’re having trouble accessing the page, please contact Solomon Lissanu atLissanu@thearc.org for account access. For questions and more information related to Empower, contact Kristen McKiernan at mckiernan@thearc.org.

One important benefit for chapters is the opportunity to advance research that supports people with I/DD. Our partners at Got Transition worked with The Arc to create a quiz to better understand the experiences of young adults in their transition from pediatric to adult health care. The short, 6-question Health Care Transition Quiz is ready to distribute to young adults. Thanks for sharing this quiz link with young adults in your community. Got Transition’s Social Media toolkit includes messages for your use.

A new documentary, Intelligent Lives, has been released and will be screened at venues around the country in the coming months. The Arc’s national staff got a sneak peak, and the film beautifully portrays the stories of Micah, Naomie, and Naieer as they enter young adulthood, and navigate college, employment, and other opportunities that lie ahead for a life in the community.

We had the opportunity to be a national outreach partner on the film, but we declined because of the film’s approach to the validity of the IQ test. As you know, the IQ test has been misused over the years, and it can be irrelevant to a person’s potential over a lifetime. But it is a part of the diagnostic tool used to set in motion what medical, educational, and community supports an individual may need.

While we recognize that service systems far too often use the IQ number incorrectly and inappropriately to pigeon-hole people with ID and lower expectations, we understand that an IQ score – and its subscores – can provide some useful information. For instance, in our education advocacy, we are focused on ensuring that schools properly focus on the whole of the student, not just the IQ score, and to individually assess and meet the student’s needs as required under federal law.

The Arc, along with a few other organizations, is also a leader in filing amicus briefs in cases where someone with ID is on death row. Despite the Supreme Court’s decisions that it is unconstitutional to execute people with ID, we keep finding ourselves in the position of trying to stop unconstitutional executions of people with ID, and IQ is a key element in our arguments.

For these reasons, The Arc’s national office decided not to be a national outreach partner on this film. We wanted to make you aware of this film, and why we chose to not publicly partner with the film. Questions? Contact Kristen McKiernan (mckiernan@thearc.org), Senior Executive Officer, Communications and Marketing.

The Arc released the following statement after news that the Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018, also known as the “Farm Bill”, failed to pass the United States House of Representatives. The Farm Bill reauthorizes farm programs and policy as well as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

“The current version of the Farm Bill was just the latest attack on programs that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities rely on. If enacted as is, the Farm Bill voted down by the House today would have cut basic food assistance for children, adults, and seniors who are struggling to put food on the table. We are grateful to Members of Congress who recognized what this legislation would have meant for their constituents and voted no.

“We fundamentally disagree with the notion embedded throughout the proposed bill that some people are more “deserving” of basic food assistance than others. Approximately 11 million people with disabilities across the United States rely on SNAP to help them eat. Cutting off SNAP – including through new and harsher work and reporting requirements – would only make it harder for people with disabilities and their families to access the food they need to work and to survive. If policymakers want to increase employment, Congress needs to make major new investments in job training and supports and services for job-seekers with disabilities and their families – not cut off their basic food assistance.

“We are relieved that the current version of this legislation was not passed, but recognize there is still work to do. The Farm Bill has a long history of bipartisan collaboration and support. Our hope is that Congressional leaders will work together to develop a bipartisan proposal for reauthorizing the Farm Bill that strengthens and protects SNAP,” said Marty Ford, Senior Executive Officer of Public Policy, The Arc.

On net, the bill voted on by the House today proposes deep cuts to food assistance under SNAP. As taken up by the full House, an estimated 2 million people would lose their SNAP food assistance or see their benefits reduced under the bill.

• The bill would significantly expand SNAP’s existing work requirements, forcing SNAP beneficiaries age 18 to 59 to engage in work or job training activities for at least 20 hours per week. The bill’s exceptions for people raising very young children or supporting a family member who is “incapacitated” (as stated in the bill) are likely to prove woefully inadequate and extremely difficult for people with disabilities to navigate. Ultimately, these new requirements would cause many people to lose their food assistance, making it harder for them to work, based on experience with existing work requirements in SNAP and other programs.
• While the bill calls for greater access to job training programs, new federal investments would be funded largely by cuts to SNAP food benefits, and analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities indicates that funding levels for job training would be highly insufficient.
• The bill also includes extensive new reporting requirements with harsh consequences if a person misses a deadline.