LIFTT Graphic
Last year, LIFTT joined Disability Rights Montana and more than forty organizations led by and serving people with disabilities in asking the Montana Attorney General to withdraw from a lawsuit challenging Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.
Section 504 is one of the nation’s most important disability civil rights laws. It protects people with disabilities from discrimination in programs and services that receive federal funding. This includes schools, healthcare systems, transportation programs, and many community services.
For many Americans with disabilities, Section 504 helps ensure equal access to education, healthcare, employment opportunities, and participation in community life. Thanks to the efforts of disability organizations and advocates across the country, the original lawsuit changed course. The attorneys general who filed the lawsuit withdrew their request to have all of Section 504 declared unconstitutional, and several states chose to leave the lawsuit entirely.
However, Montana has remained involved in the case. Montana’s Attorney General has now filed an amended complaint that challenges certain Section 504 regulations, including rules designed to ensure that people with disabilities can live, learn, and participate fully in their communities. The complaint also challenges protections related to the rights of parents with disabilities.
Disability Rights Montana and other disability-led organizations, such as LIFTT, are once again asking organizations and individuals across the state to speak up in support of disability rights. If you would like to learn more or add your name to the letter supporting Section 504, please visit: https://disabilityrightsmt.org/save-504-again/ Both organizations and individual Montanans can sign the letter.
Protecting disability rights laws like Section 504 helps ensure that people with disabilities can continue to live, work, and participate fully in their communities.
About Living Independently for Today & Tomorrow (LIFTT): LIFTT is a Montana 501(c)3 corporation organized as a Center for Independent Living (CIL). With team members based in Billings and Glendive, LIFTT provides aging and disabled members of the community with programs and services that help empower them to break down the physical, bureaucratic, and cultural barriers that prevent them from being fully independent participants in their lives and communities throughout 18 counties in southeastern and south-central Montana: Big Horn, Carbon, Carter, Custer, Dawson, Fallon, Garfield, Golden Valley, McCone, Musselshell, Powder River, Prairie, Richland, Rosebud, Stillwater, Treasure, Wibaux, and Yellowstone. For more information, please visit liftt.org or download our mobile app for your Apple device.
Our Vision: Empowering aging and disabled individuals to LIFTT themselves above the barriers of life.
Our Mission: Living Independently for Today and Tomorrow – LIFTT’s mission is to empower aging and disabled individuals to live independently through education, support, and opportunities.