Disability Rights New Jersey

📣We're wrapping up our 2027 Priority Setting Initiative and Disability Rights New Jersey wants to hear from you in our Public Input Survey. We want to ensure the issues that matter most to you are reflected in our goals and objectives and our teams can serve the needs of the disability community to the best of our expertise and resources.

👉👉Deadline Extended‼️ Surveys will be accepted until Thursday, June 18, 2026.

Why does this matter❓ The survey collects feedback from a wide range of people about disability issues, and this valuable input helps us make decisions about the work we will do, including the cases we will accept.👈

👉Who do we want to hear from?

✅People with disabilities
✅ Family and friends of individuals with disabilities
✅Stakeholders and advocates
✅ State agency representatives
✅ Court, criminal justice, and law enforcement personnel
✅ Disability service providers, caregivers, and support personnel
✅ Other individuals and agencies involved in disability advocacy and service provision

🔗Read the full email and complete the survey: https://conta.cc/4v8i4KQ

With great sadness, Disability Rights New Jersey shares the passing of our dear friend, esteemed colleague, and longtime board member, Eleanor K. Byra, earlier this spring.

Ellie, as she was affectionately known, was a dedicated volunteer and champion for disability rights, inspired by her son, Matthew, and sister, Karen. She served for many years from the early inception of Disability Rights New Jersey through our PADD Advisory, multiple committees, and three terms on our Board of Directors, before retiring in 2021. Determined to affect positive change for people with disabilities, Ellie became a guiding light for many on the pathway to advocacy.

On behalf of the entire Disability Rights New Jersey staff, our board, and the community we serve, we express our profound gratitude and deepest sympathies to Ellie's family, and all those whose lives were touched by her courageous heart.

Happy Pride!! 🌈 Advocates celebrate and share resources at the Jersey Pride Fest in Asbury Park 🌊

Today is Primary Election Day! 🇺🇸
Your Vote Matters. Make Your Voice Heard!

Polls are open from 6am to 8pm tonight. Whether you are voting by mail or in-person, head out to your polling location or your county's secure drop box and cast your ballot by 8PM tonight to make your voice heard.

Your vote-by-mail ballot must be postmarked by 8pm or delivered in person to your county's Board of Elections office. You can find a secure drop box and polling location information at: http://Vote.NJ.Gov.

❓Do you have questions concerning disability-related voting issues? Disability Rights New Jersey can help you navigate voting in this year's election. If you experience accessibility or discrimination issues when voting, or if you want to report an inaccessible voting location, please contact us at:

☎️(866) 493-0023
📧[email protected]

Our Election Hotline Will Be Open today,Tuesday, June 2nd from 7:00 am - 8:00 pm.

Tomorrow, June 2nd is the New Jersey Primary Election. Your voice matters! Make a plan to vote 🗳️

If you are a person with a disability and you have questions or concerns about the voting process or issues, we can help.

☎️Contact our voter hotline at 866-493-0023
📨[email protected]

Happy Pride!❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

Let love, acceptance, and inclusion be our guiding lens in all that we do, today, and always. Make Pride your mindset! 🏳️‍🌈🧠✊

Tomorrow, June 2nd is the New Jersey Primary Election. Your voice matters! Make a plan to vote 🗳️

If you are a person with a disability and you have questions or concerns about the voting process or issues, we can help.

☎️Contact our voter hotline at 866-493-0023
📨[email protected]

Disability Rights New Jersey advocates were in attendance at the Mental Health Association in New Jersey, Inc. Wellness Event sharing resources.

🔗 event at Ancora for Month 💚 Disability Rights New Jersey shared for VR, voting, and the Representative Payee program to attendees. raise mental health awareness. The event featured lived-experience speakers and panel discussions designed to challenge misconceptions surrounding conditions like schizophrenia and addiction. In attendance Elena Kravitz, Jessica Lax, Denise Lugo-Fowler, Lynne Blecher-Vicari, Maggie Leppert, and Shapree Barlow.

"A sweeping federal spending package signed by President Donald Trump last year — his “big, beautiful bill” — is expected to slash Medicaid funding by about $1 trillion over the coming decade, just as many states are already struggling with rising costs. At the same time, a growing chorus of conservative policymakers and activists has begun to question whether the government should pay family caregivers at all, portraying the programs as wasteful and prone to fraud. The result, advocates warn, could destabilize services that keep millions of elderly and disabled Americans..."

Families caring for disabled relatives face unthinkable choices as Medicaid cuts loom President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” state budget turmoil and new attacks on paid family caregiving have people fearing financial ruin as they fight to keep loved ones out of institutions.

📣 NEW Webinar Alert! 🚨

Disability Rights New Jersey's Children and Youth Practice Group attorneys will host a for users of our recently launched "Navigating Your Rights to Special Education in New Jersey: A Self-Advocacy Guide" to provide users with an inside look and demonstrate how to navigate through the features included.

✅When: Wednesday, May 27th at 3pm
✅Who Should Attend: Students with disabilities, Parents and Guardians of students with disabilities, and Advocates who support them
✅ What: Special Education Resource

👉Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/PFV0EKqVQbKOsb94ZWG5cw #/registration