On October 16, I was honored to receive the Thomas Menino Award for Public Service from the statewide Disability Policy Consortium (DPC) at DPC’s annual John Winske Memorial Awards ceremony.
Read on for my remarks accepting this award.
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I am deeply honored to receive this award from the Disability Policy Consortium.
This recognition means a great deal to me personally and more so because tonight also allows us an opportunity to cheer for Christine Barber, Carl Richardson, and Health Law Advocates.
Tonight also allows me to celebrate the work of our team.
I want to also acknowledge the incredible work that Disability Policy Consortium does every single day. You are tireless advocates—fighting for dignity, and for equity.
Your credo, about us, by us is a guiding star.
You’re a watchdog when government fails, and a partner when it’s willing to do better.
When we set out to scale back Massachusetts’ Medicaid estate recovery program, the goal was simple: to bring fairness, compassion, and humanity back into a policy that for too long caused unnecessary pain.
The reforms we passed reduce the scope of estate recovery to just what’s federally required. They create transparency, clearer exemptions, and—most importantly—real protections for low-income families which already bear more than their share of hardship.
I want to take a moment to thank the people who made this legislation possible.
First, to the advocates—many of you in this room—who brought this issue out of the shadows. Your research, your expertise, your moral clarity—all of it was essential.
Your courage changed minds. You turned numbers into names. You showed legislators that estate recovery wasn’t an abstract policy—it was your mother’s house, your brother’s future.
I want to particularly acknowledge Charlie Carr and Joe Tringali – two lifelong friends who were committed to changing this law.
I want to acknowledge the Healey-Driscoll Administration for its willingness to engage deeply in the weeds of this policy and implement this law—amid every other single thing it’s juggling at this perilous moment.
There is still so much more we must do.
We must continue to dismantle policies that deepen poverty, exclude participation, or treat care and dignity as nice-to-haves instead of the rights they are.
We must redouble our lines of defense in the Commonwealth, endeavoring to shield our people from the worst consequences of current national actions.
So tonight, I accept this award not as a conclusion, but as an urgent call to keep going. Together, we will continue to fight for a Commonwealth where disability rights are human rights and where justice is not a promise, but a practice.
Thank you again for this incredible honor. I am proud to be in this fight with you.
