A lawsuit filed by 17 states against the U.S. government argues that Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is unconstitutional based on updated regulations that bolstered nondiscrimination protections for people with disabilities. At its core, Section 504 requires all programs or activities that receive any federal funding not to discriminate against people based on their disability(ies).

While this lawsuit is specifically based on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' final rule on Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in Programs or Activities Receiving Federal Financial Assistance and would thus seem to be confined to health care services, it’s almost certain the claim that “Section 504 is unconstitutional” would have implications for education settings as well. These efforts to undermine Section 504 are dangerous because of the potential sweeping impact for people with disabilities in health and educational settings, including nondiscrimination protections for individuals with gender dysphoria and communication access protections.

Please complete this form to send a message to your state’s attorney general (AG) and consider adding your own examples of how Section 504 protections have positively impacted your clients/students/patients into the middle section of this letter. Examples of this could include how:

• Your patients’ experiences and outcomes are improved when they have access to appropriate auxiliary aids and services to ensure effective communication with people with disabilities in health care settings. This could include interpreters, assistive listening devices, captioning, and speech-to-text services

• A 504 Plan allows your students to fully participate in school.

• A reasonable accommodation helped you or your client, patient, or student gain or maintain employment

• Collaborating with an interpreter supported interaction between the client/patient/student and provider.

Including any personal or professional experience can help strengthen your message.

Some ASHA members have reported that when contacting their attorneys general, they are told there is no intent to eliminate the entire Section 504 from the law. However, ASHA is still concerned about the scope of the lawsuit because the text of the complaint specifically asks the court to "declare 504 unconstitutional.” It will be critical for a judge to weigh in and determine the scope and breadth of the lawsuit's impact.

Please note, if you are in one of the 17 states that are part of this lawsuit, your form template should default to a letter with language urging your AG to withdraw from the lawsuit. If you are in the other 33 states, your letter template should default to thanking your AG for not taking part in the lawsuit and encouraging them to continue defending people with disabilities.

Questions? Contact reimbursement@asha.org.

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