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Lois Curtis Center

@loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social
78 followers 10 following 113 posts

Services, supports, and guidance at the intersection of systemic racism and disability. www.loiscurtis.org

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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 28/07/2025
The disability community has a homelessness problem, the Freedom Church of the Poor at the LCC this Sunday, and watch last week's recording of framing disability the LCC way: www.loiscurtis.org/so/c5PXHMxHM...
loiscurtis.org
The Disability Community Has a Homelessness Problem...
This week from the Lois Curtis Center
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 26/07/2025
*SPOILER ALERT: MCO DISABILITY ADVISORY COMMITTEES WILL NOT SAVE YOU* (Part 2) As Medicaid gets chopped and screwed, folks aren't talking enough about who's going to be doing the "screwing": MCOs and other profiteering contractors who states contract out the administration of Medicaid to.
youtube.com
We Should Probably Be Talking About MCO's Right Now, Part Two
YouTube video by Lois Curtis Center
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 25/07/2025
As Medicaid gets chopped and screwed, folks aren't talking enough about who's going to be doing the "screwing": MCOs and other profiteering contractors who states contract out the administration of Medicaid to. Part One of our unpacking of this issue (link to Part Two in the description):
youtube.com
We Should Probably Be Talking About MCO's Right Now...
YouTube video by Lois Curtis Center
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
This is the opening plenary from the NCIL 2021 Annual conference, as given by then-NCIL ED, @reymamccoyhyten.bsky.social. In it, she clearly articulates the systemic gaps that both #IndependentLiving and #BigDisCo grapple with and offers solutions: Plenary begins at 11:07.
youtu.be
#NCIL2021 Opening Plenary Feat. Reyma McCoy Hyten
YouTube video by Lois Curtis Center
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
The ADA Didn't Save Lois... and #FreeOurPeople Didn't, Either. Read this week's blog here: www.loiscurtis.org/post/the-ada...
The ADA Avoids the Intersection of Systemic Racism and Disability

Trauma causes disability. 

Trauma exacerbates disability. 
 
And many Black and Brown people who find themselves at the intersection of systemic racism and trauma find themselves facing a door to the disability community that is seemingly locked shut.This exclusion has led to the significant skewing of understanding regarding the disability experience that is at the core of disability research, policy, legislation, service provision, and advocacy. It ensures that Black and Brown people with disabilities, particularly those grappling with cPTSD and/or other trauma-induced disabilities, are woefully pathologized and criminalized by #BigDisCo and society, as a whole. The preschool to prison pipeline, police violence, and exploitative prison subminimum wage practices are, therefore, disability issues, whether decisionmakers within #BigDisCo want to acknowledge them or not as such. 

 (They don’t)
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 21/07/2025
The ADA Didn't Save Lois, framing disability the LCC way (this Wednesday!), and a throwback from #ADA2021 from the Washington Post featuring our co-founder, @reymamccoyhyten.bsky.social :
loiscurtis.org
The ADA Didn't Save Lois...
This week from the Lois Curtis Center
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 20/07/2025
Four years ago, a DEI consultant and her cohort blackmailed the National Council on Independent Living (NCIL) for $30,000, payable to her. Tomorrow, she'll give the opening plenary at #NCIL2025. We discuss:
youtube.com
The Infamous #NCIL2019 "Listening Session", Six Years Later...
YouTube video by Lois Curtis Center
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
Framing Disability the LCC Way, take a virtual tour of our resource room, and navigating community abuse: this week from the Lois Curtis Center-
loiscurtis.org
Framing Disability the LCC Way
This week from the Lois Curtis Center
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
Is Easterseals about to help create the newest stop on the preschool to prison pipeline? We ponder further about the "Helping Communities with Better Support (HCBS) Act", which was signed into law underneath the umbrella of the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" on 7/4: www.youtube.com/live/SwMsoZQ...
youtube.com
Helping Communities with Better Support (HCBS) Act... Whoo Boy
YouTube video by Lois Curtis Center
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
Read- and share!- this week's blog, "The HCBS provision #BigDisCo isn’t talking about, or, did the federal government just create a funding stream for the newest stop on the preschool to prison pipeline while nobody was looking?": www.loiscurtis.org/post/the-hcb...

Anyone with a vested interest in disability rights, criminal justice, labor exploitation, systemic racism, the preschool to prison pipeline, and/or “at-risk” youth should, at least, have a passing curiosity about “wellness farms”, about which RFK Jr proudly stated:

“Wellness farms are my ‘Peace Corps’… they are going to be my major program.”
The prospect of developing a community-based wellness farm system as a Home and Community Based "alternative" for children should be incredibly alarming to advocates who for years have pushed for de-institutionalization and control over decision-making for disabled people. 

Unless, of course, #FreeOurPeople doesn’t apply to these people.
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
Funding for a new stop on the preschool to prison pipeline? RFK Jr said WHAT about Bird flu? People actually have fun at the LCC? It all in this week's newsletter: loiscurtis.org/so/74PVbjXdD...
loiscurtis.org
The HCBS Provision #BigDisCo Isn’t Talking About...
This week from the Lois Curtis Center
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 04/07/2025
Dr. Haunani-Kay Trask died in an institutional setting on July 3rd, 2021. We discuss her life, as well as the circumstances around her institutionalization, during this livestream: www.youtube.com/live/MLe3G9k...
youtube.com
Remembering Haunani-Kay Trask
YouTube video by Lois Curtis Center
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 04/07/2025
CALLING BLACK NONPROFIT LEADERS- the Giving Gap wants to hear from you about challenges you/your organization are experiencing. Consider filling out this Google form and sharing with your colleagues:
docs.google.com
The Weight We Carry: A Check-In on Black Nonprofit Leadership
We’re holding space to hear how you and your organization have been navigating the first six months of the new administration. Real talk — your voice, your grind, and your truth matter. This quick sur...
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 02/07/2025
As someone who was tossed and turned through many of the same systems Lois Curtis navigated through her life, Alyze Chicago recognizes how art and a place of support for expression through art can offer a way to survive and a pathway to thrive:
loiscurtis.org
Artist in Residence | Lois Curtis Campus
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 30/06/2025
Meet our new artist in residence, our ASL interpreter kicks off a new series, and the latest letdowns from the Supreme Court: this week from the Lois Curtis Center- loiscurtis.org/so/31PV13KKo...
loiscurtis.org
Meet Our 2025 Artist in Residence!
This week from the Lois Curtis Center
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
Check out this week's blog, "White Supremacy on Wheels": www.loiscurtis.org/post/white-s...

Nearly any attempts by Black and Brown people to speak about racism in disabled/ity spaces results in disciplinary action (if they are employed in the space), alienation (if they are seeking community), gatekeeping from racially marginalized peers, and demonization.

This was the case when there are no melanated people at the table.

it is the case when DEI has resulted in superficial changes to the racial makeup at the table. 

And, as long as #BigDisCo joins the rest of society in upholding and maintaining the oppressive system by merely working to make it wheelchair accessible, it will remain the case.
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 23/06/2025
Did u know that we're named after the person whose efforts led to the Olmstead Decision, which affirmed that disabled people have the right to live in the community? In honor of the 26 anniversary of that historic Supreme Court ruling, we want to send u a copy of our comic book about Ms. Curtis:
docs.google.com
"The History of Lois Curtis" Comic Book Order Request
Please fill out this form if you would like paper copies of "Alliance for Equality in The Broken Curriculum: the History of Lois Curtis" mailed to you/your organization. The Lois Curtis Center is ple...
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 19/06/2025
FREE! The Strategy and Solidarity 2025 Global Summit is generously allowing folks to drop in on a session for FREE and we'd love for you to join ours, "White Supremacy on Wheels", on Wednesday, June 25th at 1pm Pacific!
loiscurtis.org
Join us for FREE!
Click the button below to join us on Wednesday, June 25, 2025 at 1p Pacific for this free live session!
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 16/06/2025
Juneteenth, nationwide listening tour for Native Hawaiians, and the LCC at the Strategy & Solidarity 2025 Global Summit: this week from the Lois Curtis Center- loiscurtis.org/so/f0PTutBjR...
loiscurtis.org
Resistance Is Its Own Reward
This week from the Lois Curtis Center
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
"Join the co-founders of a pioneering organization as they shed light on the often-overlooked manifestations of white supremacy and inspire us to work together towards a brighter, more inclusive tomorrow." Register at: strategyandsolidarity.com #strategyandsolidarity #disabilityjustice
WHITE SUPREMACY ON WHEELS
Reyma McCoy Hyten and Ami Hyten
Topeka, KS

Join the co-founders of the ONLY disability service provider in the US that is openly and freely operating at the intersection of systemic racism and disability in a presentation on the manifestation of white supremacy that nobody wants to talk about. 

June 25, 2025
STRATEGY AND SOLIDARITY
2025 GLOBAL SUMMIT
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 09/06/2025
Why we do what we do, our new inclusive immigration information hub, and Juneteenth fun: this week from the LCC: loiscurtis.org/so/43PTL3bsI...
loiscurtis.org
Walking Our Talk
This week from the Lois Curtis Center
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 02/06/2025
Who's joining us at the Strategy & Solidarity 2025 Global Summit?
loiscurtis.org
Strategy and Solidarity 2025 Global Summit- Join Us!
This week from the Lois Curtis Center
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 30/05/2025
#BIGDISCO 's "inclusive" disaster strategy, unpacked: youtube.com/live/OwJ3qA8...
youtube.com
#BigDisCo 's "Inclusive" Disaster Strategy...
YouTube video by Lois Curtis Center
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 29/05/2025
LCC's own Ami Hyten recently brought our mission and story to FOX 43 AM Live- catch that interview here: www.ksnt.com/video/fox-43...
ksnt.com
Fox 43 AM Live Giving Back Lois Curtis Center 052825
Fox 43 AM Live Giving Back Lois Curtis Center 052825
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
It takes a village to uphold and maintain the oppressive system. Read this week's blog from the LCC, "There Will Never Be Another George Floyd", here: www.loiscurtis.org/post/there-w...

If George Floyd’s murder has revealed anything, it’s this:

the Powers That Be, including #BigDisCo leadership, in a moment of perceived loss of control in 2020, made promises that threatened the status quo. They then spent the Biden years refortifying the status quo- including making it slightly more racially diverse in the interest of giving melanated people who are more invested in their careers than in their communities the incentive to uphold and maintain the oppressive system (“It’s not racism if the one doing the oppressing on behalf of the oppressive system is a member of the oppressed class…”)- to ensure that the powerlessness they felt in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder would never, ever, befall them again.Their efforts have ensured that there will never be another George Floyd.

Not because the oppressive system has been dismantled and police have stopped killing Black people- that’s happened hundreds of times since May 25th, 2020.

But because, as we saw with the 2023 murder of Tyre Nichols by five police officers- all of whom were, like Tyre, Black men, the oppressive system is now more Diverse, Equitable, Inclusive, and Accessible than it’s ever been.
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
There Will Never Be Another George Floyd- this week from the Lois Curtis Center:
loiscurtis.org
There Will Never Be Another George Floyd.
This week from the Lois Curtis Center
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
Why wasn't George Floyd's murder enough for you? It's a simple question. And we discuss it here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0N4K...
youtube.com
Why Wasn't George Floyd's Murder Enough For You?
YouTube video by Lois Curtis Center
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 19/05/2025
Beauty (lots of art stuff in the works for us), and the beast of systemic racism: this week from the LCC-
loiscurtis.org
George Floyd: Five Years Later
This week from the Lois Curtis Center
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
HCBS is an immigration issue. Download "Self Direction and Immigration Enforcement Guide" here: www.loiscurtis.org/resources/48...
DO YOU USE IN-HOME SERVICES FOR SUPPORT WITH DAILY LIVING?
If you use a program where you select your worker, schedule their shifts, tell them their tasks, and have the ability to fire them, you are an employer and your home is a workplace.
If the person or people who provide services in your home immigrated to the US, they may be at risk for detainment/deportation. It does not matter if the person is in the United States “legally” or not. It does not matter if the person has all necessary work permits or has been naturalized. Any person who was born in another country, especially if that person has brown or black skin, may be impacted by immigration enforcement activities. 
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR YOU?
It means that immigration enforcement can come to your home and try to take action against your worker. 
It may mean that you or your worker may be questioned or detained by immigration enforcement officers.
It may mean that the friends or family members of your worker may be questioned or detained by immigration enforcement officers. 
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS WHEN YOUR HOME IS THEIR WORKPLACE
Your home is a private space, not a public space. Immigration enforcement officers can only come into private spaces if they have a warrant. 
-	Keep exterior doors locked at all times
-	Do not open a door to speak with any officers 
-	Do not allow any officer into the home without a court warrant signed by a state or federal court judge, NOT an immigration officer.
-	If they have a warrant, have them slip it under the door, or leave it in the door while they move far away from the door so you can retrieve it and review it behind your locked door
-	You and your worker do not have to answer any questions from the enforcement officers
-	You and your worker have the right to an attorney and can refuse to talk to officers without one present
-	Video or audio record the encounter if possible
If a worker leaves the home (tries to run or escape), they can be immediately arrested.
RESOURCES TO …
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 13/05/2025
What's disability got to do with immigration, guidance for those whose homes are a workplace, and "tour" our newly remodeled fully-accessible shower: wix.to/a2DcBpb
wix.to
What's HCBS Got to Do With Immigration?
This week from the Lois Curtis Center
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
Visit our newly renovated, fully accessible shower room! Or come by and see it for yourself if you're in/near Topeka, KS. youtube.com/shorts/jsnEO...
youtube.com
Tour of accessible shower room
YouTube video by Lois Curtis Center
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
This week's blog has got a bunch of hit dogs hollerin' in the #BigDisCo: www.loiscurtis.org/post/bigdisc...
If #BigDisCo actually cared about transgender people, then #BigDisCo would have loudly and publicly fought for transgender people the minute Texas v Becerra was filed in September of 2024.


It didn't.


It's as simple as that.


Meanwhile, transgender people continue to be left with the exhausting but necessary task of not only reading hateful rhetoric articulated by those who wish them harm but also reading between the lines of the performative rhetoric articulated by those who wish to use the plight of transgender people to appear "progressive" while they, too, cause harm.
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
🧵1-4/7
5 typical behaviors in an “inclusive” community that are actually toxic
www.loiscurtis.org1. Black and Brown members are punished for expressing any “negative” emotion or feedback and Black and Brown members who express positive feedback- and outright brown-nose, or “fawn”- are rewarded2. Black and Brown members are dismissed and demonized for having needs that could expose the community’s structural and attitudinal barriers to actually being an inclusive space3. Black and Brown members are policed by leadership- and peers- to ensure they are not threatening the status quo
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
The LCC Anyway 5k, more on #BigDisCo 's trans excluding fight to protect 504, and is your "inclusive" space making you SICK? Check out this week's newsletter for more: www.loiscurtis.org/so/d4PQbHAWC...
loiscurtis.org
ANNOUNCING OUR INAUGURAL "ANYWAY 5K" AND 1 MILE FUN-DRAISER!
This week from the Lois Curtis Center
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
CW: White Tearjerker Alert We focus on the status update on TX vs Kennedy (formerly TX vs Becerra) that was recently released by DREDF and other #BigDisCo orgs, as well as breach the subject of the ineffectual letter writing campaign approach to systems advocacy that #BigDisCo persists in employing
youtube.com
#BigDisCo 's Letter Writing Campaigns Won't Save You...
YouTube video by Lois Curtis Center
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
🧵 1/9:
Lois Curtis Center, copyright 2025 www.loiscurtis.org
THE SOCIAL MEDIA MODEL: SELF DIAGNOSIS, VIRTUAL SUPPORT, AND HOW DISMISSING SIMILAR INNOVATIONS OUTSIDE OF THE TRADITIONAL HEALTHCARE PARADIGM…
is racist, ableist, and classist. Read on for more. (Image is of the Lois Curtis Center logo, which features a solarized profile of Ms. Curtis, as well as her signature.)
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
This week from the LCC:
loiscurtis.org
The Social Model Ain't It.
This week from the Lois Curtis Center
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
From George Floyd to John Scott, or, The LCC Continues To Scream Into The Void: youtube.com/live/Wc4XfVy...
youtube.com
Another Disabled Black Man Was Murdered By Police This Week.
YouTube video by Lois Curtis Center
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
Another Black man with a disability has been murdered by police. apnews.com/article/alab...
apnews.com
Black man hospitalized after police shocked and punched him during arrest in Alabama dies
Law enforcement says a Black man hospitalized for a week following an arrest in which Alabama police shocked him with a Taser and punched him has died.
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Reposted by Lois Curtis Center
southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
A US citizen with a learning disability who has just suffered a medical emergency asks a CBP officer for directions outside the emergency room. He ends up detained in an icebox for ten days and has the assistant secretary of DHS lying about him to the public at large. popular.info/p/us-citizen...
Tricia McLaughlin &
@TriciaOhio
0...
The narrative being pushed about Jose Hermosillo is false. On April 8, Hermosillo approached Border Patrol in Tucson and stated he had entered the U.S. illegally through Nogales. He said he wanted to turn himself in and completed a sworn statement identifying as a Mexican citizen who had entered unlawfully.
He was processed and appeared in court on April 11. Afterward, he was held by the U.S. Marshals in Florence, AZ. A few days later, his family presented documents showing U.S. citizenship. The charges were dismissed, and he was released to his family.
This arrest was the direct result of Hermosillo's own actions and statements.In an interview with Popular Information, his first with any media outlet, Hermosillo said DHS'.
's account was false.
According to Hermosillo, he was visiting his girlfriend's family in Tucson from his home in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Several hours before his arrest, Hermosillo was transported to a hospital in Tucson by ambulance after suffering from a seizure. He has a New Mexico state ID, but did not take it with him during the medical emergency.
After being released from the hospital following treatment, Hermosillo did not know how to return to where he was staying.
He approached the Border Patrol officer because he was looking for someone to help him. "I saw a car, and I askled] him for help," Hermosillo said. He told the officer that he was staying in Tucson."You"
re not from here. Do you have your
papers?" the officer said, according to Hermosillo. When the officer asked where he was from, Hermosillo said he told the officer,
"New Mexico." The officer then accused Hermosillo of lying. "Don't make me lout] like [I'm] stupid," the officer said. "I know you're from Mexico." After that, Hermosillo said, he was arrested.
Hermosillo said that he never told the officer that he was born in Mexico, was a citizen of Mexico, or entered the country illegally. And he would not have said those things because they are not true. He signed the transcript released by DHS because the officer ordered him to "sign everything." But Hermosillo did not read it, because he cannot read.
According to Hermosillo's girlfriend, Grace Hernandez, Hermosillo has learning disabilities and can only write his name.
Hermosillo said he did not graduate from high school and dropped out after the 10th grade.The officer also signed the document, which said Hermosillo "read" the document or had
it read to him. But Hermosillo said no one read him the document.
Other documents created by the officer have inaccuracies. For example, the criminal complaint says that Hermosillo was detained
"at or near Nogales, Arizona." But Hermosillo was detained in Tuscon, which is more than 70 miles from Nogales. John Mennell, a spokesperson for the U.S. Border Patrol, said that it was an "unintentional" error.
Hermosillo said he was detained with about
15 other men in a cell at the Florence Correctional Center. He was served only cold food. He said he contracted the flu because
"they have it cold in there and everybody's getting sick." Hermosillo said he requested medicine but was not provided with any.
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
Expect #BigDisCo to simultaneously return to advocating for accessibility via avenues outside of DEIA AND affirm to not engage in DEI activities... They can’t jeopardize their funding, after all. More here: www.loiscurtis.org/post/dei-but...
 #BigDisCo 's push for inclusion within DEI was particularly apparent during the Biden years when engaging in DEI rendered applicants for federal funding more attractive.

This wasn’t done to acknowledge the shocking levels of inequity that personal care attendants (PCAs) and other direct support professionals (DSPs), workers that are, more often than not, melanated, female, and, increasingly, immigrants, that are pervasive throughout the disability services sector.

This also wasn’t done in solidarity with melanated people with disabilities to acknowledge and address the barriers to access to services and supports that lead to a disproportionate number of Black and brown disabled people being cut off from Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) and, thus, vulnerable to institutionalization, incarceration, homelessness, and death.

No, #BigDisCo engaged in systems advocacy pertaining to DEI to get an “A”- for “accessibility”- being added to the acronym.
In fact, #BigDisCo ‘s history has always been fraught with exclusion and inequity when it comes to melanated people: despite the fact that the bottom rung of the disability services workforce is primarily comprised of racially marginalized people (Black people, who comprise 12% of the US population, are 40% of the PCA/DSP workforce), that is typically where racial diversity ends. A 2024 article published by the National Institute on Health (NIH) notes that:

(t)hirty years of deinstitutionalization and the development of community living options would not have been possible without DSPs. Although life for people with IDD improved greatly, working conditions, wages/benefits, demands, stress/burnout, and trauma experienced by DSPs have worsened. Turnover and vacancy rates threaten the availability of community supports for too many people with IDD. DSPs from diverse racial, ethnic, linguistic, and cultural backgrounds face significant workplace disparities.

Meanwhile, #BigDisCo has done nothing to address and remedy the barriers to accessing disability services and supports: that particular manifestation of “accessibility” was not a priority when it pushed for the addition of the “A” to DEI during the Biden years.
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 21/04/2025
DEI(but carve out the A) is Dead, Autism, and Family Fun Nights at the LCC:
loiscurtis.org
DEI(but carve out the A) is Dead
This Week from the Lois Curtis Center
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 19/04/2025
According to this leaked memo, HHS grantees that engage in DEI *AND* DEIA activities will be defunded of federal funding. Effective immediately. What say ye, #BigDisCo ? Y'all spent the Biden years fighting to get that "A" tacked when DEI was lucrative, so...
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Office of the Secretary
Washington, DC 20201
Office of Grants
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Financial Resources
Room 511D- Hubert Humphrey Building
200 Independence Ave, SW
Washington, DC 20201
ACTION TRANSMITTAL- INTERNAL
Transmittal No: OG AT 2025-02
Issuance Date: April 16, 2025
TO: HHS Grants and Cooperative Agreements Awarding Agencies
FROM: Dale Bell
Deputy Assistant Secretary
Office of Grants (OG)
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Financial Resources (ASFR)
US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
Digitally signed by CHAD CLIFFORD S-
Date 04-16-2025 17:17:24 -04’00’
SUBJECT: Department of Health and Human Services Grant Policy Statement (GPS) Update
APPLICABILITY: HHS awarding agencies making discretionary and non-discretionary grant or cooperative agreement awards (collectively grants)
EFFECTIVE DATE: Effective immediately.
PURPOSE AND BACKGROUND:
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) maintains the HHS Grants Policy Statement (GPS), which is incorporated as a standard term and condition of award on all HHS financial assistance awards via the Notice of Award (NoA). The GPS provides information on HHS agencies that make awards, the award process, and where to find and apply for awards, as well as legal and regulatory rules that apply to awards.
This Action Transmittal notifies HHS agencies of an update to the HHS GPS and identifies a prospectively for new awards, not retroactively.
Internal OnlyOFFICE OF GRANTS ACTION TRANSMITTAL
US DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
ACTION:
With this action transmittal, HHS agencies are notified that the HHS GPS has been updated effective April 16, 2025 to include the below term of award in the section titled “Civil Rights Assurance” (pages 18-19).
Agencies are instructed to apply the following condition to all new awards effective immediately:
Recipients must comply with all applicable Federal anti-discrimination laws material to the
government’s payment decisions for purposes of 31 USC § 372(b)(4).
(a) DEI means “diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
(b) DEIA means “diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility.”
(c) Discriminatory equity ideology has the meaning set forth in Section 2(b) of the Executive Order 14190 of January 29, 2025.
(d) Discriminatory prohibited boycott means refusing to deal, cutting commercial relations, or otherwise limiting commercial relations specifically with Israeli companies or with companies doing business in or with Israel or authorized by, licensed by, or organized under the laws of Israel to do business.
(e) Federal anti-discrimination laws means Federal civil rights law that protect individual Americans from discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, and national origin.
(2) Grant award certification.
(a) By accepting the grant award, recipients are certifying that:
(i) They do not, and will not during the term of this financial assistance
award, operate any programs that advance or promote DEI, DEIA, or
discriminatory equity ideology in violation of Federal anti-
discrimination laws; and
(ii) The do not engage in, and will not during the term of this award
engage in, a discriminatory prohibited boycott.
(3) HHS reserves the right to terminate financial assistance awards and claw back all funds if the recipients, during the term of this award, operate any program in violation of Federal anti-discriminatory laws or engages in prohibited boycott.


Internal Only
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
Link to the OMB document is included in the description. Alternately, you can find the pdf in our resources- "HHS Budget Cut Proposal 2026".
youtube.com
Budget Cuts at HHS, or, May the Odds Ever Be in Your Favor...
YouTube video by Lois Curtis Center
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
Worst Autism Awareness/Acceptance Month EVER:
youtube.com
Worst Autism Awarenesss/Acceptance Month EVER
YouTube video by Lois Curtis Center
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 17/04/2025
Throwback Thursday post: if you're interested in the intersection of autism and systemic racism, then this conversation is for you. It features LCC co-founder @reymamccoyhyten.bsky.social and @lamarhardwick.bsky.social tackling social service and faith spaces.
youtube.com
A Conversation About Autism Acceptance & Racial Justice
YouTube video by The Frontline
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
RIP Victor Perez. Our latest blog on the public health crisis everyone "forgot" about: www.loiscurtis.org/post/from-ge...
Black and Brown people are twice as likely to die as the result of police violence as white people.

Half of the people killed by police have one or more disabilities.

And, despite commitments to law enforcement reform made at the federal, state, and

municipal level coast to coast after the murder of George Floyd in 2020, more people are dying as the result of police violence than ever.

Connect the dots and see the picture: police violence is not only a public health issue- it's a crisis. 

But, unfortunately, to say that the public’s interest in this crisis has waned since 2020 would be one of the greatest understatements in US history.
By the time George Floyd was murdered in 2020, there had already been several high-profile instances of police violence against Black and Brown people, including those with disabilities, in the US. But outrage has devolved into indifference. Statements outlining commitments to addressing systemic racism, which used to be front and center on homepages for disability organizations five years ago are, today, are either figuratively or literally 

“404 file not found”.
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 14/04/2025
It's Autism Awareness and Acceptance Month. And Victor Perez, a seventeen-year-old Latine autistic boy from Idaho, is dead as the result of police violence. Click for more:
loiscurtis.org
The Public Health Crisis Everyone "Forgot" About...
This Week from the Lois Curtis Center
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
Black and Brown disabled people, as well as white people with significant intellectual/psychiatric disabilities, have been hidden away in congregate settings in contrast to white "it's my body that's disabled, not my mind" disabled people all along... More here: www.loiscurtis.org/post/free-ou...



Lois Curtis, A Black woman with intellectual/psychiatric disabilities, as well as the namesake for the Lois Curtis Center and one of the plaintiffs who brought Olmstead to the US Supreme Court, herself experienced chronic institutionalization in the years following the Olmstead Decision. “Free Our People” never pertained to her or those like her. This was brought into shocking focus in 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when congregate settings with predominantly melanated populations experienced infection rates that were at least double that of similar facilities with mostly, if not exclusively white populations.#BigDisCo has always pushed for a movement that prioritizes and creates a system that centers middle and upper class white children and adults whose are disabled in body, but not in mind. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is not intersectional. Neither is the Olmstead Decision. These historic civil rights developments offer no protections to individuals who experience barriers accessing disability services that are rooted in racism. Efforts further entrench and reinforce the rights extended in the ADA and Olmstead such as the “LaTonya Reeves Freedom Act” ignore existing institutional racial biases, offering melanated disabled folks the chance to have their experiences of disability validated as they languish in institutions of all kinds. And #BigDisCo’s fervor to “free our people” shows time and again that institutionalization is only worth fighting against for a very specific demographic of “our people.”
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Lois Curtis Center @loiscurtiscenter.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
"Free OUR People (But Not THEM)": Need we say more? Of course- click below on what we at the LCC call "institutionalized bias", as well as Medicare Part D Open Enrollment, and Easter fun for kids!
loiscurtis.org
"Free OUR People (But Not THEM)"
This week from the Lois Curtis Center
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