A recording from the OACB’s recent Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) training revealed troubling comments from government workers about family caregivers, calling them "lazy," “greedy,” “mental,” and other derogatory terms. These slurs weren’t just the typical performative anti-bias training content meant to shock and shame—they reflect deep-seated biases that shape Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities (DODD) policy. Now, those biases have made their way into a recent DODD guidance document on safety beds, which uses the “lazy caregiver” stereotype to endanger individuals with disabilities.
The disturbing part? Guidance documents like the one DODD issued don’t go through any public scrutiny. Unlike formal administrative rules, there are no public comments, no hearings, and no input from stakeholders. This lack of oversight allows DODD to embed bias, discrimination, and trendy identity politics in policy without ever answering to the public. The only remedies are legal and legislative action.
Spotting Bias in the Guidance Document
Let’s look at some of the language in DODD’s guidance on safety beds and how it mirrors the OACB’s “lazy caregiver” stereotype:
"Evaluate options of replacing restraints with personal interactions."
This implies that caregivers rely on safety beds out of laziness, rather than as medically necessary pieces of equipment prescribed by doctors. It’s a slap in the face to families who are doing everything possible to keep their loved ones safe.
“Some alternatives to enclosed beds: Lowering the volume on the TV”
Suggesting that caregivers could simply lower the TV volume—as if they’re stowing their loved ones away in safety beds so they can binge-watch the latest episode of The Bachelor—is insulting and completely detached from the realities families face. This recommendation trivializes the profound challenges of caring for someone with complex disabilities and characterizes caregivers as lazy couch potatoes.
"The use of enclosed beds for staff convenience is strictly prohibited and must be eliminated."
This assumes caregivers are using safety beds out of convenience or neglect, rather than medical necessity. It erases the fact that safety beds are prescribed by medical professionals to prevent the elopement, falls, and injuries that are intractable, involuntary symptoms of lifelong developmental disabilities.
"Restrictive measures should ensure environments where the person has access to preferred activities and is less likely to engage in unsafe actions due to boredom, frustration, lack of effective communication, or unrecognized health problems."
This statement once again shifts the blame for the symptoms of lifelong disabilities onto caregivers, suggesting that dangerous behaviors are the result of deficient, lazy caregiving rather than the result of intractable disabilities that require specialized care and doctor-prescribed medical equipment.
Guidance Documents: A Backdoor for Discrimination
Unlike formal administrative rules, “guidance” documents don’t go through Ohio’s formal rulemaking process. That means:
No public comments. Medical experts, people with disabilities, family caregivers, and Ohio taxpayers have no opportunity to provide feedback or challenge harmful policies.
No public hearings. The policies are issued without any accountability or transparency.
No stakeholder input. Medical experts, people with disabilities, and family caregivers are completely shut out of the policymaking process.
Difficult for transparency. To find out who wrote the guidance and how/why they did it, the public must submit a public records request, wait for a response, and review all the records. This can be a labor-intensive process for families who have a right to know how something like this could have happened.
This lack of oversight gives DODD free rein to pack their “guidance” with bias, discrimination, trendy identity politics, and even medical advice that is just plain wrong. Families are left to deal with the consequences—denial of medically necessary equipment, increased risks for their loved ones, and policies shaped by harmful stereotypes.
Safety Beds Are Like Wheelchairs for Sleep
Imagine if DODD decided that a person with a disability didn’t need a wheelchair anymore because—if only their caregiver weren’t so lazy—maybe they could teach their loved one to walk. It’s an absurd and offensive assumption, yet this is exactly how DODD is treating medically necessary safety beds. These beds are not optional—they’re essential medical equipment for safe sleep, just like a wheelchair is essential medical equipment for safe mobility. The idea that a caregiver can "phase out" their loved one’s medical need for a safety bed if only they’d put in a little more effort and stop being so lazy reflects a concerning endorsement of today’s politically trendy “diversity” view of disability—one that ignores the existence of individuals with severe challenges whose needs cannot be met through simple tweaks in caregiver behavior. Considering that this is coming from the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities, that’s a scary thought.
Legal and Legislative Action
Because DODD’s guidance documents bypass public scrutiny, families are left with no choice but to call for legal or legislative action. We need courts or the General Assembly to step in to stop the unelected, biased bureaucrats at DODD from jamming their out-of-touch identity ideology into Ohio’s public policy.
DODD’s guidance on safety beds isn’t just bad policy—it’s dangerous. It reflects the harmful biases county board workers laughingly expressed at the OACB’s DEI training, and it reinforces discrimination against individuals whose lives depend on access to doctor-prescribed, medically necessary medical equipment. It’s time to push back and demand accountability.
Call to Action
If you or someone you care for has a DODD waiver and relies on a medically necessary safety bed, please contact us at ohioparentpenalty@gmail.com to get involved with challenging this policy.
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