For many years, state courts have routinely assigned guardians to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities as they became adults. Older adults with dementia-related disorders also frequently have been assigned guardians.

The New Year Brings New HCBS Settings Rules … but NOT immediate changes in services! As states and stakeholders across the country assess their Medicaid-funded home and community-based settings for compliance with the 2014 regulations, many people with disabilities and their families have asked whether their current services will change immediately, due to the regulation. In other words, they want to know: If a state determines that a current HCB setting is not compliant with the new regulation, does it have to stop providing services in that setting immediately?

Implementation of the Department of Labor’s "Home Care Rule" requires careful thought and planning to ensure the rights of people with disabilities as provided under the Americans with Disabilities Act and clarified in the Olmstead decision.

December 1 is the 26th annual World AIDS Day. While raising awareness of the prevalence of AIDS and HIV, we also need to raise awareness about who is at risk. Unsafe sex is the most common way people contract HIV worldwide. Unfortunately, many people mistakenly assume that older Americans and individuals with a disability are not sexually active and therefore not at risk for HIV infection.

Each May, the Administration for Community Living (ACL) celebrates Older Americans Month to recognize older Americans for their contributions to the nation. In honor of the upcoming 50th anniversary of the Older Americans Act (OAA), we are focused on how older adults are taking charge of their health, getting engaged in their communities, and making a positive impact in the lives of others. The theme for Older Americans Month 2015 is "Get into the Act."

By Vicki Gottlich, Director of the Center for Policy and Evaluation, Administration for Community Living

Protecting the Voting Rights of People with Disabilities In this blog, we feature a conversation about voting rights for people with disabilities between Commissioner Aaron Bishop, of the Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AIDD), and Melvenia Wright, a program specialist with the Administration for Community Living (ACL) who manages grants related to the Help American Vote Act (HAVA).

By Bonnie Brandl, Director of the National Clearinghouse for Abuse in Later Life This week, the National Adult Protective Services Association (NAPSA) hosted their annual conference, which brought together hundreds of APS workers and other professionals from a variety of disciplines to address the abuse of older adults and persons with disabilities. This year’s theme, Stronger Together: Celebrating 25 Years Protecting America’s Vulnerable Adults, provides an important opportunity to shed light on why we need a comprehensive community response to elder abuse.

As Sharon Lewis, deputy administrator for the Administration for Community Living (ACL), noted in her Disability Employment Awareness Month blog post earlier this month, working is about more than earning a paycheck. It gives purpose and structure to our lives. In the late 1990s, the Medicaid Buy-In program launched historic changes for workers with disabilities. For individuals suppressing their income to gain or maintain access to critical community-based supports, it was life changing.

Expect. Employ. Empower. Everyone deserves the opportunity to find and perform meaningful work. This includes older adults and people with even the most significant disabilities.