Advocate: The December 2025 Issue Is Now Online

Ways to Give: Making an Impact, Your Way

Supporting The Arc of Massachusetts has never been easier or more meaningful. In addition to making a contribution online or via mail, there are several other ways to advance the rights and inclusion of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and autism across our state.

Explore the many ways you can give that fit your life, maximize your impact, and sustain The Arc’s vital advocacy for a more equitable future for all at thearcofmass.org/giving.

Letter from the CEO

By Maura Sullivan

In November, I completed my first year as CEO of The Arc of Massachusetts. I want to express my deepest gratitude for the honor of leading the advocacy efforts for this extraordinary community. This past year has been characterized by a coordinated series of attacks on the infrastructure and safeguards that protect our most vulnerable children and adults.

The Arc has doubled down on our advocacy with all of you for essential programs like Medicaid, SNAP, and Special Education that are facing existential threats. The Arc has pushed back on dangerous immigration policies, such as those impacting people with Temporary Protected Status (TPS). These policies would dismantle our workforce and directly harm members of our community. And, on a broader scale, we are all facing profound concerns about the devastation of our democracy itself. This fight is bigger than our community alone.

15 Years with The Arc of Massachusetts: Celebrating Growth, Leadership, and the Power of Families as Educators

By Maura Sullivan

On October 22, The Arc of Massachusetts and Operation House Call (OHC) celebrated 15 years of partnership at the historic Gore Place Carriage House in Waltham. As the Director of Operation House Call, I had the privilege of facilitating the event. The evening honored Susanna Peyton, an OHC champion, as well as families, teachers, and co-teachers who shaped OHC into a nationally recognized model for inclusive medical education and healthcare equity.

Operation House Call began in 1991 at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM), where Dr. David Coulter and Dr. Benjamin Siegel responded to parents’ concerns that future physicians lacked understanding of patients with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Their innovative solution placed families at the center of medical education, inviting students into their homes to learn directly from lived experience. The power of family as the educator became, and remains, OHC’s foundation.

A Crucial Time for Advocacy: What’s to Come in 2026 

By Nora Bent

While 2025 has been a year of twists, turns, and challenges, it also showcased our community’s resilience and strength. We saw record-breaking engagement and advocacy in amplifying the priorities and concerns of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and autism at both the state and federal levels. As 2026 promises to be equally demanding, we are ready to face it with focus, strategy, and determination.

Your advocacy has never been more important. As we navigate the challenges stemming from Medicaid cuts, the persistent human services workforce shortage crisis, and the federal changes impacting state budgets, we need your voices and your stories to break through the noise.

Despite uncertainty, we must do all we can to prepare and protect our community. Here is an overview of our plan and focus areas for 2026.

Change in Graduation Rule Requires Early Focus on Transition

By Jackie Doherty

In November 2024, Massachusetts voters removed passing MCAS as a requirement for earning a high school diploma through a ballot initiative that passed with 59% of the vote. For some students, both with and without disabilities, this decision eliminated a major graduation obstacle. As the statewide test that measures student academic performance, MCAS will continue to be taken at various times in a student’s education, and school districts will continue to be judged by their overall student test scores. For individual students, however, passing MCAS is no longer a graduation requirement.

Instead, the state requires students demonstrate competency by passing classes in key subjects such as English, math, and U.S. history, as well as meeting local requirements determined by their individual school district. While removing MCAS as a graduation requirement may enable more students to earn their diplomas more quickly, it also may cause challenges for those who achieve academic success but need additional support before being able to fully engage in the adult world.