WASHINGTON, DC —Today, a federal court denied the three motions to dismiss litigation filed by The Arc and others challenging Georgia’s anti-voter law S.B. 202, allowing the case, Sixth District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, et al. v. Kemp, et al. to proceed.

The Arc is counsel and a plaintiff in the litigation along with plaintiffs the Georgia Muslim Voter Project, Women Watch Afrika, Latino Community Fund Georgia, and co-counsel with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), ACLU of Georgia, and law firms Davis, Wright, Tremaine and WilmerHale.

“We are pleased that the Court has denied the motions to dismiss, allowing this case to move forward. Voter suppression is a disability rights issue. People with disabilities have the fundamental right to vote and participate in our democracy, but this right has too often been denied. S.B. 202 disenfranchises voters with disabilities and denies them equal access to voting in violation of federal disability rights laws,” said Shira Wakschlag, Senior Director, Legal Advocacy & General Counsel at The Arc.

The Arc advocates for and serves people wit­­h intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), including Down syndrome, autism, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, cerebral palsy and other diagnoses. The Arc has a network of 600 chapters across the country promoting and protecting the human rights of people with IDD and actively supporting their full inclusion and participation in the community throughout their lifetimes and without regard to diagnosis.

Editor’s Note: The Arc is not an acronym; always refer to us as The Arc, not The ARC and never ARC. The Arc should be considered as a title or a phrase.

Washington, D.C. – The Centers for Disease Control announced that autism rates are once again rising among children. The new data says 1 in 44 children in the U.S. is on the autism spectrum, or 2.3% of children. The CDC made the announcement Thursday.

In a commentary published this week in Pediatrics, a group of epidemiologists, toxicologists, and physicians with decades of expertise in research, public health, and clinical practice says the interaction of toxic chemicals with genetic susceptibilities is a major contributor to autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The experts, members of Project TENDR, urge a national shift in research, funding, and regulation toward protecting children’s developing brains from harmful exposures.

Heather Volk, PhD, associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and lead author says: “Mounting evidence tells us the key to understanding autism is to examine toxic chemicals and pollutants in combination with genetics. Typically, researchers look at genetics separately from environmental factors. But the greatest risks for autism and its related impairments may result from gene-environment interactions.”

Deborah Hirtz, MD, pediatric neurologist and professor at University of Vermont Medical Center and co-author notes, “My practice sees children who are on the spectrum and their parents. To make a real difference moving forward, we need to focus our efforts where the science is clearly pointing – toward preventing toxic exposures that may do lasting harm to children’s brains.”

The commentary outlines three starting points for action based on growing scientific evidence:

• Air pollution exposures during pregnancy and early infancy, resulting from fossil fuel combustion and at levels typically found in large cities, have been associated with ASD in multiple studies.
• Children exposed prenatally to certain pesticides (“organophosphates”) appear more likely to develop ASD.
• Emerging evidence indicates prenatal exposures to phthalates– ubiquitous endocrine-disrupting chemicals used in plastics, food processing and packaging, and personal care products – are associated with ASD.

Likewise, some environmental factors can reduce the probability of ASD.  Folic acid around the time of conception may protect the developing brain from toxic chemicals. Exposures to air pollutants, pesticides, and phthalates appear to be more strongly related to ASD in children of women who did not take folic acid or needed higher levels of folate during pregnancy.

Irva Hertz-Picciotto, PhD, professor at UC Davis and co-author, states, “We need far more research studying how environmental exposures are altering brain development, and identifying those that are more potent in combination with underlying susceptibilities.”

“From what we’ve already learned, we know what is necessary to protect pregnant women and children: regulation to prevent exposures to neurotoxic pesticides and phthalates, and to quickly achieve further reductions in air pollution from fossil fuels, starting with communities most highly impacted.”

Project TENDR is a collaboration of leading scientists, health professionals, and advocates working to protect children’s brains from toxic chemicals and pollutants. Project TENDR is a program of The Arc, the largest national organization advocating for and with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and serving them and their families.

Heather Volk, PhD, is an associate professor, Dept. of Mental Health, and Dept. of Environmental Health and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Volk is Associate Director of Johns Hopkins’ Wendy Klag Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities and co-Director of the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center (IDDRC) at the Kennedy Krieger Institute. Her research seeks to identify factors that relate to the risk and progression of neurodevelopmental disorders. Dr. Volk has particular expertise in how air pollution exposures combined with other factors, including genetics, impact autism risk.

Deborah Hirtz, MD, is a pediatric neurologist and attending physician at the University of Vermont Children’s Hospital, and a professor of neurology and pediatrics at the University of Vermont College of Medicine. Prior to her tenure at U. of Vermont, Dr. Hirtz was a director of clinical trials for the Office of Clinical Research at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Strokes (NINDS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Her work as a clinician and scientist has had a profound impact on child neurology, neuroscience, and children’s health and welfare.

Irva Hertz-Picciotto, MPH, PhD, is Professor of the Department of Public Health Sciences and Director of the NIH-funded Environmental Health Sciences Center at UC Davis, representing over a dozen disciplines. A renowned epidemiologist, her 300+ publications have examined environmental chemicals, social factors, and gene-environment interaction associated with pregnancy and child development, and most recently, health effects of climate change. For the last 17 years, Dr. Hertz-Picciotto has directed a research program on Environmental Epidemiology of Autism and Neurodevelopment, which has shaped the field by generating seminal results linking autism to an array of risk and protective factors.

Disability rights organizations filed friend-of-the-court briefs today urging the Supreme Court to uphold disability rights by rejecting CVS’s attempt to dismantle non-discrimination protections under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.

The case, CVS v. Doe, involves a CVS-managed prescription drug plan that requires people who need “specialty medications” to receive them by mail, instead of at their local pharmacy. Five individuals living with HIV sued over the requirement, arguing that it effectively prevents them from receiving adequate care for their condition and represents discrimination based on their disability.

CVS is arguing in the case that Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act does not protect against claims of “disparate impact,” or when neutral policies or practices have disproportionate impacts on a protected class, in this case people with disabilities.

In one of the amicus briefs filed today by 17 disability and civil rights organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Association of People with Disabilities, The Arc of the United States, the Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center, Public Justice, and the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund, the groups argue that long-standing Supreme Court precedent makes clear that most discrimination against people with disabilities comes from “benign neglect” or thoughtlessness — and that removing the ability to get relief from such discrimination would undermine the entire purpose and history of Section 504. The court explained in Alexander v. Choate that congressional intent would be decimated if Section 504 were interpreted to require intent to discriminate.

In the other amicus brief, filed by the Paralyzed Veterans of America, Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, National Disability Rights Network, and eight other disability rights organizations, the brief argues that the Supreme Court should not decide the issue of whether disparate impact claims are permitted under Section 504 in this case because the claims brought are, at their core, claims concerning differential treatment and failure to make reasonable accommodations rather than disparate impact claims.

“People with disabilities continue to experience widespread discrimination in all areas of life. Congress passed federal disability rights laws to ensure people with disabilities have comprehensive protections to be included in society and have meaningful access to public life. The disability community has fought hard for these rights over the course of decades and we will continue fighting to ensure the broad protections intended by Congress are not undermined,” said Shira Wakschlag, Senior Director of Legal Advocacy and General Counsel at The Arc of the U.S.

“CVS’s position is not just wrong on the law, it’s dangerous. Disparate impact claims are the backbone of disability rights litigation. If the Supreme Court agrees with CVS, disability rights could be set back decades,” said Susan Mizner, director of the ACLU Disability Rights Program. “CVS cannot in good faith say it supports people with disabilities while simultaneously urging the Supreme Court to gut disability rights. The company should withdraw this case from the Supreme Court docket.”

“The Section 504 regulations were finalized in 1977 after years of serious negotiation between the disability community and government and business representatives,” said DREDF board member Judith Heumann, a leader of the disability rights movement who is featured in the 2020 documentary Crip Camp. “We knew that we had to cover neutral policies — we are so often excluded that way. So that’s what we did. It was foundational.” Heumann was a key witness during the hearings leading up to the Americans with Disabilities Act, and testified about her many experiences with discrimination based on paternalism, restrictive criteria, and stereotypes that were couched in neutral terms.

“The protections of the Rehabilitation Act have existed for almost 50 years. Disabled people rely on the protections within the Rehabilitation Act and section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act to assert our right to demand accountability and recourse when we experience discrimination,” said Maria Town, President and CEO of the American Association of People with Disabilities. “Despite the progress spurred by both disability community advocacy and the presence of these civil rights laws, discrimination is still a daily occurrence for most disabled people. If the Supreme Court sides with CVS, people with disabilities will lose one of the primary avenues we have to defend our rights and seek justice.”

The Rehabilitation Act was passed in 1973, and alongside the Americans with Disabilities Act, established safeguards against disability discrimination. As a result of these laws, society has become increasingly accessible for people with disabilities. Before the Rehabilitation Act, people with disabilities had no resource to challenge discriminatory practices. A decision in favor of CVS would eviscerate the ability to challenge policies and practices that have a disproportionate impact on people with disabilities.