Accessibility

The National Paralysis Resource Center has launched a new partnership with Kakana, an accessible fitness platform, to offer free adaptive fitness opportunities to people living with paralysis. Kakana is designed to provide inclusive and accessible workouts for individuals of all abilities and includes fitness instructors with disabilities to guide the sessions.

The White House has released a fact sheet outlining how the Administration has collaborated with the disability community and taken action to address the needs of individuals with disabilities while considering the impacts of the pandemic. The Administration has communicated eight key steps they will take to further ensure that individuals with disabilities, regardless of where they live or the level of community transmission of the virus, have equitable access to COVID-19 testing, masks, and other critical mitigation strategies.

FEMA is seeking qualified individuals with expertise on the needs of people with disabilities and older adults for emergency preparedness, response, and recovery to serve on the agency’s National Advisory Council. Selected council members will guide future recommendations on topics including equity, climate, readiness and workforce. Applications are due on Thursday, March 31, 2022.

The Administration's new COVID-19 testing initative will now allow people in either Original Medicare or Medicare Advantage to get up to eight over-the-counter COVID-19 tests per month at no cost starting this spring. Tests will be available through eligible pharmacies and other participating entities. This is the first time that Medicare has covered an over-the-counter test at no cost to beneficiaries. Through the new initiative, payment from Medicare will be provided directly to participating pharmacies to allow Medicare beneficiaries to pick up tests at no cost.

On Friday, January 14, 2022 the White House announced that free at-home, rapid COVID-19 tests are now available for order online. Those who do not have internet access or who need additional assistance with ordering can call 1-800-232-0233 (TTY 1-888-720-7489) to place their orders. The Eldercare Locator and the Disability Information and Assistance Line (DIAL) also can assist older adults and people with disabilities with placing orders, and connect people to accessible instructions.

As part of its ongoing efforts across many channels to expand Americans’ access to free testing, the Biden-Harris Administration is requiring insurance companies and group health plans to cover the cost of over-the-counter, at-home COVID-19 tests, so people with private health coverage can get them for free starting January 15, 2022.

On December 31, 2021, the FCC has launched the Affordable Connectivity Program, the $14.2 billion successor program to the Emergency Broadband Benefit which has helped almost 9 million afford internet access during the pandemic. This program was created by Congress in the Infrastructure and Jobs Act, and replaces the Emergency Broadband Benefit program. This investment in broadband affordability will help ensure households can afford the internet connections they need for work, school, health care and more.

USAging and the Eldercare Locator have launched the 2021 Home for the Holidays campaign. The campaign brochure, Healthy Aging in a Pandemic World: What Older Adults and Caregivers Need to Know Now, describes the changes that families, friends and caregivers may notice among themselves and the older adults in their lives. The brochure poses questions readers should ask themselves and their loved ones as we all navigate this stage of the pandemic. It also and provides information on how older adults, caregivers and families can connect to services that agencies provide to address these changes.

The Research & Training Center on Disability in Rural Communities has released a report on the effects of social isolation and loneliness have on people with disabilities living in rural and urban areas. Findings from the research report include: -People with disabilities report more than double the rates of social isolation and loneliness than people without disabilities -Rural people with disabilities report significantly fewer social connections but similar rates of loneliness compared to urban people with disabilities -Structural barriers related to employment and transportation may play a role in social isolation and loneliness disparities among people with disabilities

COVID-19 is a long-lasting and complex disaster situation involving a public health emergency and an economic crisis, with particularly acute impacts for older adults, people with disabilities, and others with certain health conditions. States are responding with changes in policies and procedures to ensure individuals have access to public benefit programs (e.g. Medicare Savings Programs, LIS/Extra Help, SNAP, and LIHEAP). ADvancing States has a new brief highlighting where states are with benefit access and enrollment since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Results in the brief comes from the 2021 ADvancing States Membership Survey: COVID-19 Benefits Access and Enrollment, a follow-up to the 2020 survey.