Know Your Rights:

COVID-19

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People with disabilities still have the right to live, work, and access our community free from discrimination

During the COVID-19 public health crisis, people with disabilities still have the right to live, work, and access our community free from discrimination. Disability Rights Oregon has been hard at work promoting and defending these rights.

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Frequently Asked Questions

  • No, your legal rights do not change. Although the situation is changing quickly, you still have the right to live, work, go to the doctor, and access your community free of discrimination based on your disability. This means that information should be distributed in an accessible format, and that you have the right to request reasonable accommodations to have equal access to public places or services.

  • The National Association of the Deaf created the guide COVID-19: Medical Communication Access for Deaf and Hard of Hearing to help you prepare in the event you need to go to the hospital. You can also watch the video in ASL..

  • No, you may not be discriminated against because of your disability. The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) enforces the federal law (Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act), which prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability in federally funded services. These laws, like other civil rights laws, remain in full effect. This means that persons with disabilities should not be denied medical care on the basis of stereotypes, assessments of quality of life, or judgments about a person’s relative “worth” based on the presence or absence of disabilities. Medical decisions should be based on an individualized assessment of the patient based on the best available objective medical evidence.

    See HHS Office for Civil Rights, “BULLETIN: Civil Rights, HIPAA, and the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)” (March 28, 2020, Revised)

If you are being denied COVID-19 related healthcare because you are a person with a disability, please contact Disability Rights Oregon.

We can talk to you about your questions, determine how we can help, and get you the information you need.