News

Are you a provider? Share your perspectives about: abuse of people with disabilities by personal care attendants the support survivors need for healing and justice. Please take Activating Change’s short five-minute survey by August 2, 2024. Activating Change will use your answers to create resources for professionals and people with disabilities who use personal care attendants and direct service providers. All answers will be anonymized. Image Description: Invitation to take Activating Change’s Personal Care Attendant…

Public Comment Period The Wisconsin Department of Health Services wants you to share your experiences with Include, Respect, I Self-Direct (IRIS). This is part of the renewal process the department started for the program waiver. Learn about the waiver renewal process here. Please share your experiences if you are: a person using the program. a family member of someone using the program. a caregiver of someone using the program. You can share your experiences by:…

Disability Rights Wisconsin’s Victim Advocacy Program faces a huge gap in victim rights advocacy funding. Federal funding for these grants went from $44.5 million per year to only $13 million. Wisconsin’s government passed bills to fill these funding gaps. However, we do not qualify for some of these funds. Our program serves people with disabilities who are victims of crimes beyond what the funds can cover. In the meantime, Disability Rights Wisconsin has applied for…

Last week, Disability Rights Wisconsin, through their attorneys, Stafford Rosenbaum and WilmerHale, filed a motion for a temporary injunction in our recently filed case seeking to ensure that Wisconsin voters with disabilities are able to cast their votes by absentee ballot. In this lawsuit, we have argued that Wisconsin’s election procedures currently prevent some voters with disabilities from voting absentee on the same terms as other Wisconsin voters. Disability Rights Wisconsin, along with the other…

On April 4, 2024, Governor Evers signed Senate Bill 668 into law, which directs the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions to create an ABLE (Achieving a Better Life Experience) savings account program for people with disabilities. ABLE accounts are saving accounts for people with disabilities. They can be used to pay for expenses that happens when living with a disability. Some of these expenses can be rent for accessible housing, buying needed assistive technology, or…

Did you know that Disability Rights Wisconsin and dozens of organizations across Wisconsin are facing Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) funding cuts in the coming year? Today, we are celebrating the passage of Wisconsin Act 241. Thanks to this action by the legislature and Governor Evers, domestic violence and sexual assault programs across the state will have access to $10 million in funding to support critical services for survivors. Unfortunately, this funding will not cover…

The Big Share officially closes on Monday, March 11, so take a moment to show your support for Disability Rights Wisconsin and the impactful work we do with and on behalf of the disability community of Wisconsin. We’d like to highlight how important DRW’s advocacy work is for Wisconsinites with disabilities with our Lead Advocacy Specialist, Ellie, and our Administrative Assistant, Lourdes. Watch Ellie’s video on Youtube here. Watch Lourdes’ video on Youtube here. Your…

The Results… Thank you! The Big Share was a success! Disability Rights Wisconsin’s Big Share campaign was amazing! We raised $13,309 from 98 donations. We have been part of The Big Share for 10 years and this has been our best event ever since we started! It is so wonderful to know that so many support our important work to improve the lives of persons with disabilities throughout Wisconsin. Thank you for your support! Gratitude…

With only twelve hours of The Big Share 2024 left to go, your support means that we are nearly a quarter of the way to our $12,000 goal! Peer Fundraiser Shout-outs DRW would like to give a huge shoutout to Jill, our Executive Director, for her peer fundraiser challenge meeting her $1000 goal this morning! Catch her update on how the day’s been going very soon. We’d also like to shout-out Corissa’s peer fundraiser, Corissa’s…

The Big Share Kicks Off Tonight! The Big Share kicks off tonight at 6:00 p.m. and continues all day on March 5. We hope that you are excited to support Disability Rights Wisconsin and that you have set a time during your day to contribute to our goal to raise $12,000 over the next 24 hours. We have already raised almost $1600! Learn about Disability Rights Wisconsin’s Impact on Wisconsinites with Disabilities Please check out…