ADA National Network Special Session: Vaccine Access for People with Disabilities: Guidance, Funding, Strategies, and Best Practices

ADA National Network Special Session: Vaccine Access for People with Disabilities: Guidance, Funding, Strategies, and Best Practices

22nd April, 2021

ACL Acting Administrator Alison Barkoff and HHS's Office for Civil Rights Acting Director Robinsue Frohboese will discuss new information on guidance, funding, strategies and best practices related to vaccine access for people with disabilities. They will emphasize recently released resources on vaccine access. Alison will address strategies and promising practices that are helping improve vaccination access, and $100 million of funding provided to ACL by CDC for vaccination efforts,. Robinsue will address OCR's recently released Guidance on Federal Legal Standards Prohibiting Disability Discrimination in COVID-19 Vaccination Programs and the Fact Sheet: Disability Access in Vaccine Distribution

Learning objectives:

  • States and other stakeholders will learn how to meet and exceed federal accessibility requirements and ensure that older adults and people with disabilities get vaccinated quickly and in a welcoming, culturally competent, and culturally relevant environment.
  • States and other stakeholders will learn about legal standards under the federal civil rights laws prohibiting disability discrimination and providing concrete examples of the application of the legal standards in the context of COVID-19 vaccine programs and how to implement them.

Presenters:

Alison Barkoff is the Acting Administrator and Assistant Secretary for Aging. Alison Barkoff provides executive direction, leadership, guidance and coordination for ACL programs nationwide and advises the HHS Secretary on issues affecting individuals with disabilities and older adults. Ms. Barkoff came to ACL from the Center for Public Representation, where she served as Director of Advocacy and led policy advocacy with federal agencies and Congress and legal advocacy nationally to advance community living and inclusion, including in the areas of healthcare, Medicaid home- and community-based services, employment, housing, and education. She has previously served in numerous other government roles, including as Special Counsel for Olmstead Enforcement in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, leading efforts to enforce the rights of people with disabilities to live, work and fully participate in their communities.

Robinsue Frohboese is the Acting Director and Principal Deputy Director, Office for Civil Rights (OCR). Dr. Frohboese is the senior HHS OCR career official ensuring compliance with and policy development of Federal civil rights laws in HHS programs and protecting the privacy of individuals' health information under HIPAA. She has more than 40 years of experience in disability rights and community integration at grassroots, state, and federal levels. She began her federal career working on disability rights issues for Senator Ted Kennedy and served for 17 years as a senior litigation attorney and Deputy Chief at the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, focusing on institutional reform and community integration for people with disabilities before joining HHS in 2000. She has led a number of special projects for the HHS Secretary, including reports to the President on the Olmstead Federal blueprint, and represented HHS for ten years on the U.S. Disability Treaty Delegation to the United Nations.

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