Published 8:10 am Monday, August 10, 2026

By Anna Claire Vollers Stateline
File photo

When Rob Stone finished high school in Bethesda, Maryland, in 2018, he was asked to identify three goals for his life. Stone loves art and baseball. He’s cheerful, sports a cheeky mustache, and he’s always up for an adventure.

Stone has a rare genetic movement disorder, dystonia-parkinsonism, that limits his mobility and speech. Setting specific goals would help him construct the life he wanted, and help his family identify the services he would need to live it to the fullest.

His parents suggested goals like “going on lots of walks” or “visiting state parks.” Stone just looked at them like they were ridiculous, said his mom, Jeneva Stone.

“We eventually discovered, through the right series of questions, that Robert wanted to protest,” she said. He’d watched disabled protesters dragged out of their wheelchairs from then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office at the U.S. Capitol the year before, as they demanded the preservation of the Affordable Care Act.

Now 29,



Rob has been a fixture on Capitol Hill and at the Maryland State House ever since, advocating alongside his parents for disability rights and healthcare. Earlier this year, he joined with other advocates to lobby the state legislature not to cut funding for services that help him and others live in their communities.

They weren’t able to prevent the cuts, but they did succeed in limiting them.

Disability advocates around the country are fighting a surge of federal and state actions that have eroded protections meant to keep people with disabilities living and working in their communities, rather than in institutions.

The federal government has walked away from decades-old requirements that states deliver disability services to people where they live. At the same time, state leaders, citing budget shortfalls, have rolled back community services the feds don’t require them to fund.

“It’s really hard,” said

📌 As federal protections fade, disabled Americans fear a return to institutions (Buenos Aires)
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