July 2025 eNews

Happy Disability Pride Month from SDA! We hope that the month ahead can bring its fair share of joy and strength – as we mark the 35th anniversary of the ADA with many celebrations locally. At the same time, our collective power and commitment to principled struggle continues to be crucial, as we face compounding crises in our world. The US imperialist war machine is bombing Iran and funding continued genocide in Palestine, while at home, ICE ramps up deportations on immigrant communities and we face attacks on Medicaid and trans healthcare, among so many other essential programs that should be funded instead of police and the military. Our guiding disability justice principlesremind us that our liberation struggles are interconnected, and it will take all of us to win.

In the interest of connectivity and solidarity for those of us who can be in the streets at this time, we are creating a protest Signal chat to stay in touch and coordinate participation in protests. Sign up here if you’re interested in joining the protest chat or learning more about what it entails.

Internally, we are also considering the meaning of SDA membership and invite you to join in these reflections. In lieu of a regular General Meeting this month, we will be holding a membership discussion on Thursday, July 10, 11am to noon on Zoom. At this meeting, we will be asking for reflections from SDA community members on your involvement in our work and what membership means to you. Whether or not you are a dues-paying member, we would love to hear from you! Click this link on July 10 to join the Zoom. Additionally, if you’d like to share written feedback on your SDA membership experience, please fill out our membership survey. 

Read on to learn more about our campaigns and actions over the last month, and how you can get involved!

A group of SDA staff and members gathered at a domestic worker-employer exchange in June to support our continued coalition work towards implementing paid sick leave for all domestic workers in SF! Photo by Brooke Anderson.

SDA News & Highlights

Call your legislators and phonebank to protect Medicaid!

At the federal level, the Senate Republicans passed their budget reconciliation bill this morning, and now it moves to the House for final approval and could be on the President's desk by the end of the week. This bill contains even deeper cuts to Medicaid than those reflected in previous versions, and if passed, would cut almost $1 trillion from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, stripping healthcare from an estimated 17 million people. It also excludes gender affirming care from Medicaid and state marketplace health plans for people of all ages. This budget has a very narrow margin of support, and there are a number of Republicans voicing concerns about the healthcare cuts it contains – a sign that our pressure is working, and we need to keep it up!

Join us to this week to call voters in states where we can push Representatives to vote against healthcare cuts. Phone banks and direct action worked in 2017 to save the Affordable Care Act and preserve healthcare, so let’s do it again! We are partnering with larger organizations that have the budget to offer regularly scheduled phone banks. If you’re interested in phonebanking to protect Medicaid for trans and disabled communities, sign up here for more information.

You can also sign up directly for phonebanks this week through Medicaid Defenders and call your Representatives at 202-224-3121 to urge them to vote against the budget!

Volunteer for our CommUNITY Celebration – August 14!

We're looking for volunteers for our CommUNITY Celebration on August 14! Volunteer shifts will all take place on the day of the event and include tasks such as setup, greeting, registration, and more! All volunteers receive free entry to the event, which includes food and drink. Many volunteer tasks can be performed seated. In the sign-up form, please let us know of any other access needs you may have and we are happy to accommodate.

Details on the CommUNITY Celebration on our website. Sign up to volunteer here. Come join in the fun and support our event at the same time!

Through our participation in the Long-Term Services and Supports for All (LTSS4All) Coalition, staff and members have worked hard in the last several weeks to oppose cuts to Medi-Cal in the state budget. On June 9, we took part in an action in Sacramento (pictured above) to protest cuts to Medi-Cal, IHSS, and childcare, which were being negotiated at the State Legislature.

Read more about the state budget fight and its outcome on our website.

If you’re interested in joining the work of the LTSS4All coalition through SDA, contact grace@sdaction.org. We would love to have you with us, and thank you to the many members who turned out over the last several weeks to support our efforts!

Last week, the Board of Supervisors passed the final version of the SF city budget for the coming year. Thank you to everyone who showed up at Public Comment Day, and at the emergency action at City Hall last Wednesday evening, as the Mayor was attempting to stall the budget process. Read our full SF budget recap and find continuing calls to action on our website.

Muni Now, Muni Forever: updates and calls to action

Muni Now, Muni Forever is working to prevent service cuts that will harm seniors and people with disabilities. We are planning a theatrical “bake sale” to raise awareness of the severe service cuts, and to show that transit-dependent San Franciscans are tired of fighting for crumbs while billionaires get tax breaks. 

There will be more information on the bake sale soon, but right now we could use your help in creating signs for the sale that will help draw in people to talk with us about this critical campaign. 

Stop by our Art Builds to help us make signs for the Bake Sale!

• Art Build for Bake Sale (part 1)

• Art Build for Bake Sale (part 2)

Survival Schools spread across the city!

SDA wrapped up our five-week free English/Cantonese education course at Mary Helen Rogers Senior Community at the beginning of June. Over 40 seniors, people with disabilities, and low-income tenants attended and learned about their rights and how to fight for them. We covered ongoing work to defend Medicaid and SSI; medical racism, the history of Medicare, and the desegregation of hospitals; training on fall prevention and free in-home accessibility modifications for SF residents; scam prevention and elder abuse resources; eviction defense, tenants rights, and rental assistance programs, and more. 

In line with SDA’s language justice principles, Survival Schools can be taught in Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, Burmese, Tagalog, Russian, Korean, and more languages upon request. 

We also began two new Survival School series at North Beach Place Housing and Rosa Parks Apartments. 

Our class topics include understanding your Medicare and SSI options, how to get on and increase your IHSS hours, SDA organizing about long-term care services, transit justice, and how to file complaints about your healthcare with an Ombudsman. 

Survival School will be coming to Bob Ross LGBT Senior Center in July and TelHi drop in center in August.

Interested in bringing Survival School to your neighborhood? Do you have suggestions for topics you want to learn more about? Contact Education and Partnerships Manager Liza at liza@sdaction.org.

Updated SDA Grievance Policy

In compliance with our funders at the SF Department of Disability and Aging Services (DAS), we have updated our grievance policy.  If you have a grievance with SDA's services, please follow the steps detailed in the policy so we can work together towards a solution!

Our Peer Advocates can help answer your questions and direct you to the appropriate resources. Call 415-546-1333 and leave a message or come by during our drop-in hours. To find our up-to-date hours of operation, or to send us an email, visit the Community Resource page on our website.

PeoplesHub is hosting a series of Community Care peer support groups for chronically ill and disabled movement folks to gather and explore what it means to bring our full selves to liberation work, while honoring needs for care and healing.

Upcoming clinics will be held on July 8, July 21, August 12, and September 9.

Community News & Events

Celebrate 35 years of the ADA with us!

When: Friday, July 11, 2025 | 🕒 3–7PM

Where: Ed Roberts Campus, Berkeley

Hosted by SDA and a coalition of racial justice and disability rights & justice organizations, this protest-meets-celebration event will feature art, music, performers, workshops, speakers, an art build and story quilt unveiling, a kids area, food, and more.

We’ll honor the radical legacies of the Disability Rights movement, uplift strategies from past and present struggles for justice, and build the collective power this moment demands. We can’t wait to see you there!

🌐 More info: thecil.org/ada35 

Remembering Patty Berne

We at SDA are heartbroken to learn of the passing of Patty Berne, renowned Bay Area Disability Justice leader and co-founder of Sins Invalid. Our hearts go out to their loved ones, and to our beloved disabled community, who has been forever impacted by Patty’s contributions to our movements

Patty Berne was an incredible leader and architect of the Disability Justice movement, one of the writers of the DJ principles and someone who brought art and culture to the movement through their leadership of Sins Invalid. It's impossible to count the number of people who have been influenced by their work

Illustration above via Sins Invalid. Read more on Patty’s legacy here.

Join an Action Pod with SF Bay Mutual Aid

We’re living through a time of escalating repression. Raids, bans, and policies are being used to normalize fascism. Families are torn apart, neighbors targeted, and communities made to feel afraid.But our strength lies in each other.

SF Bay Mutual Aid invites you to join a pod: a small group of 3 to 20 people who commit to mutual support and coordinated action. For more info on SF Bay Mutual Aid, click here.