Experts note that cuts to services for people with disabilities are often the first to take place, but they’re vital for ensuring independence.

New reporting from The Nevada Independent reveals how the disability community in Nevada is under assault by the Lombardo-Trump agenda. According to the report, Republican cuts to Medicaid passed in Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill”, as well as other policy decisions like eliminating the Administration for Community Living, are affecting supportive services that help disabled Nevadans live independently. As a result, there are going to be even fewer providers offering in-home service and funding cuts to programs for community-based health screenings, a statewide dementia initiative, and a medication therapy management program. The Nevada Center for Excellence in Disabilities at the University of Nevada Reno is also at risk of closing, jeopardizing the more than 30 projects it supports that provide professional training, direct services, community education and public policy research to support the disability community. 

Making matters worse, the Trump administration has also dismantled the Department of Education, which supports students with disabilities receive an education. 

Despite the damage it’s going to do to Nevada, Joe Lombardo has on multiple occasions praised Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill”, saying Nevadans should be “excited” by it and thanking Speaker Mike Johnson for coming to Nevada to try to sell the bill.  Lombardo also fully supports Trump’s move to eliminate the Department of Education, and with it the disability services and billions of dollars in support it delivers to schools and students in Nevada. 

Read more below:

The Nevada Independent: ‘Not just a number’; Nevada’s disability community fears backslide amid funding cuts

Key points:

• Shelby Benzing is a 21-year-old UNR student who lives with cerebral palsy — a neurological condition that disrupts control of muscle movement and coordination. Benzing uses a power wheelchair and is able to live independently with support from a host of safety net programs. […] But Benzing is now worried about the pending federal health care cuts to Medicaid passed as part of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” and separate budget changes to disability services that federal lawmakers are considering.  “[Medicaid] helps cover my wheelchair, covers doctor’s appointments, medications, medical supplies … this is not only affecting me, but thousands of other people,” Benzing said. “I know how vital these accommodations are, and they don’t know what they’re messing with.”

• Though the reconciliation bill has gotten its fair share of headlines and is projected not to create a major immediate budget shortfall in Nevada, disability advocates and community members are increasingly afraid of a backslide stemming from additional cuts and changes being weighed at the federal level that are expected to affect supportive services that help disabled people live independently.

• In addition to Medicaid work requirements implemented as part of the bill for adults without a documented disability, the Trump administration has dismantled the federal Department of Education (which supports students with and without disabilities) while removing disability-related information resources from federal websites and lawmakers are considering federal cuts to programs that help Nevada’s disabilities network.

Already, at the state level, health officials implemented waitlists for new applicants seeking various contracted services, including supportive living arrangements for individuals who need help living independently, job training, service coordination and family support services.

• There’s also a budget proposal that could jeopardize federal dollars supporting Nevada’s developmental disability network, or a group of organizations working to improve the lives of people with disabilities established under the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act. […] In Nevada, that network includes the council, the Nevada Disability Advocacy and Law Center and the Nevada Center for Excellence in Disabilities. Though potential cuts could affect all members of the network, Nielsen identified the Nevada Center for Excellence in Disabilities on the campus of UNR as being most at risk.  The center is one of only 68 University Centers of Excellence in Developmental Disabilities nationwide. 

• As the potential for federal cuts to the center looms and shifts to disability offerings are being made to federal agencies, families and individuals who may not know what to ask for or how to navigate the system will struggle, Owen said, especially without support or guidance from the federal government.

• “It’s going to mean that everything falls on the state. They’re going to need to know what the best processes are,” he said. “Without a federal component to it, I just don’t know where that oversight is going to come from and I’m worried about the people in our state.”

• As a Nevada state employee who helps connect individuals with severe disabilities or complex medical needs to resources and care, Maria Jacobi said she’s worried Medicaid cuts within the “One Big Beautiful Bill” are likely to lead to fewer providers offering in-home services.

• Reed noted that cuts to Medicare and Medicaid home and community-based services that enable people to hire in-home care providers may mean that people might not get the support they need, resulting in providers losing clients and putting a greater strain on assisted living facilities, which has broader implications.

• Dora Martinez, a 51-year-old who is blind and lives in Northern Nevada, said existing services are already failing many Nevadans. She said she’s had an open case for six years and has not received vocational training as a blind person. More cuts and less federal oversight are not going to help an already struggling system, Martinez said. She said she’s lucky to have family members who can help her out, but a blind friend of hers who is 61 and has a husband, 67, with brain cancer, is without support and struggling to keep up with assisted living costs.