I’m a mother of two incredible children with autism and intellectual disabilities. Every day, I watch them navigate a world that wasn’t built for them—one that’s often loud, confusing, unkind, or just plain inaccessible.

What keeps them afloat—what keeps me afloat—is the support we receive through programs like IHSS (In-Home Supportive Services) and the Self-Determination Program (SDP). These aren’t luxuries. They’re civil rights in action: the right to be included, supported, and safe in one’s home and community.

Now, California wants to take that away.

The proposed 2024–2025 state budget includes devastating, discriminatory cuts to services for people with disabilities:

IHSS could be slashed or limited for adults with disabilities
SDP supports could be stripped or frozen
Regional Center services and provider rates could be reduced—making services harder to find and keep
No other population is being targeted so directly.

California is not proposing similar cuts to public education. It’s not walking back Medi-Cal expansion. It’s not gutting programs for able-bodied adults. But somehow, it’s willing to place the full burden of its budget deficit on the backs of the disabled.

That’s not just immoral—it’s potentially illegal.

📜 Disability Is a Protected Class
Under federal civil rights law, including:

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act
The Olmstead v. L.C. Supreme Court decision
…the state is required to ensure equal access to public services and avoid actions that discriminate—whether intentionally or through “disparate impact.”

These proposed cuts violate those principles. They would force disabled people out of their homes, into institutions, or into homelessness. They would destroy quality of life and erase decades of progress in inclusion, community living, and dignity.

If California made these kinds of cuts based on race, religion, or gender, it would be a civil rights crisis. And that’s exactly what this is—a civil rights crisis for the disability community.

 
🧠 What Message Does This Send?
If we can’t eliminate disabled people outright, we’ll make life so hard for them—so unsupported—that they disappear on their own.

That’s not budgeting. That’s modern-day eugenics by policy.

 
📣 We Demand Action
We call on Governor Newsom and the California Legislature to:

Fully restore all funding to IHSS, SDP, and Regional Center services
Conduct a disability equity audit before enacting any changes that affect this protected group
Publicly affirm that disability rights are civil rights
We’re not asking for special treatment. We’re asking for the basic civil protections every other group is owed under the law.

We are not invisible. We are not disposable.
We are California’s disabled children, adults, caregivers, and allies—and we are done being silent.

Please sign and share this petition. Let’s remind California what justice looks like.