In another round of tense budget discussions and steep cuts to disability services, budget leaders and advocates anticipated impassioned and challenging dialogue as families across the state pleaded with lawmakers to fund those services.
What they didn’t anticipate was this: Verbal and online harassment of lawmakers and their staff over those cuts that reached a new intensity this year, to the point where some groups issued not one, but two, statements calling on advocates to tone down the rhetoric and remain respectful.
“I’ve worked in this field for 22 years and we’ve never even had to contemplate issuing a statement,” said Laura Howell, CEO of the Maryland Association of Community Services, part of the Maryland Developmental Disability Coalition. “But unfortunately, this session, the DD Coalition had to issue two statements condemning imagery and then the harassment that occurred.”
One of the biggest challenges for lawmakers during the 2026 session was how to fund the Developmental Disabilities Administration, which oversees a Medicaid waiver for about 19,000 Marylanders with developmental disabilities, but has been struggling with “unsustainable” enrollment growth and spending in recent years.
Lawmakers ultimately cut $126 million from the DDA in fiscal 2027 — down from the $150 million cut proposed in Gov. Wes Moore’s (D) initial budget — to help rein in that spending.
It came one year after the administration budget was cut $164 million in DDA, as the state faced a more than $3 billion budget gap. The final cut was originally targeted at $400 million, but advocate activism was able to restore some of the funding.
Howell said that over the last year, frustrations over the cuts and administrative hurdles with the DDA have grown, and a small but vocal number of advocates within the community have taken a new approach in tone and communications “that was perceived as harassing.”
“The reality is, families and people with disabilities are very scared about what these cuts will mean to them, their services and their lives,” she said. “What we saw this session was a growing frustration, with a second year of significant budget cuts being proposed to the Developmental Disabilities Administration, and unfortunately, there were advocates in the DD community who really took a different tone in their advocacy that was harassing at times.”
The incendiary rhetoric continued, to the point where some lawmakers or their staff were getting harassing calls to the lawmaker’s office, or they saw comments that wished for their deaths over the cuts. One lawmaker even allowed staff to temporarily let calls go straight to voicemail after one staff member had an emotional breakdown, giving them a break from screening the comments.
Lawmakers were hesitant to discuss it in detail but said the harassment, both by phone and online, ranged from hurtful characterizations to threats of personal lawsuits, name calling, and joking about the deaths of elected officials.
Del. Emily Shetty (D-Montgomery), who chairs a House Appropriations subcommittee involved with the DDA funding, said that she and her staff got verbal harassment from people calling her office, which she said was “really disappointing to see.”
“I have a strong belief in the importance of advocacy, but verbal abuse against our staff has been an all-time high,” Shetty said in early April.
Del. Mike Griffith (R-Cecil and Harford), who has a son with autism, said that he has also seen what he called “online invective … directed at lawmakers,” including himself.
While I thought some of the mainly online invective comments directed at lawmakers … was at times inappropriate … you’ll never hear me criticize a parent fighting for the needs and the hopes of their child.
– Del. Mike Griffith (R-Harford and Cecil) on the level of emotion surrounding this year’s DDA debate
The DD Coalition issued a statement on April 1, responding to those reports and others.
“This conduct does not reflect the views or actions of the Developmental Disabilities Coalition, nor the majority of developmental disability advocates,” the statement said. “While fear and frustration are certainly understandable, the hostility towards our public servants is not acceptable and is not who we are as a community.”
That statement followed a separate one in late March condemning unflattering artificial intelligence-generated depictions of Moore that circulated online that month. One cartoonish image depicts the governor – a vocal sports fan – drawing up his March Madness bracket and ignoring protesters behind him who are yelling to protect DDA services. Another shows him making balloon animals while a money-filled dumpster, labeled “disability services,” is engulfed in flames behind him.
Leaders of another advocacy group called Concerned Citizens of Self-Direction Maryland also issued an April 1 statement in a private Facebook group urging advocates to turn down the animosity toward lawmakers.
“Some legislators are receiving death threats, and that puts everything we are working toward at risk,” Shari Dexter, co-founder of the Concerned Citizens group, said in that social media post. “And as upset as we are, we cannot lose the relationships that carry us forward.”
That said, Dexter said this week that while some comments may have been “hot-tempered” and some advocates “said things that they should not have,” she also wanted to emphasize “that these are devastating cuts” that will impact families across the state.
She said some advocates feel like they’ve been “left out to dry” by state lawmakers because of the cuts, particularly those in the self-directed program of the Medicaid waiver who employ their own care staff rather than participate in a community provider.
“We’re trying to keep the community calm, but we’re also reaching out to state lawmakers and asking for help,” she said.
Dexter and other Concerned Citizens leaders continue to call on their members to ensure that discussions remain respectful. Another co-founder of the group, Cody Stevens, put out a statement Thursday to other advocates urging them “lead with purpose.”
“We are all carrying frustration, fear, and exhaustion. When our loved ones are affected, it cuts deep and it’s natural to respond emotionally and defensively. We have all been there more times than we should have had to, myself included,” Stevens said in the post.
“When we act in anger or impulse, it can sometimes create more barriers than breakthroughs. But when we channel that same energy into focused, respectful, and intentional action, it becomes one of our greatest strengths,” his social media post said.
Meanwhile, Griffith, Shetty and other lawmakers familiar with the issue say they are sympathetic to the impacts of the cuts and know that those constituents are stressed, frustrated and afraid — even if language and tone sometimes crossed lines of acceptability.
“As much as anyone, I understand how emotional it is when these programs are at issue,” Griffith said in a recent statement. “As I have a developmentally disabled son dealing with the same challenges, I share these concerns.
“While I thought some of the mainly online invective directed at lawmakers … was at times inappropriate, you’ll never hear me criticize a parent fighting for the needs and the hopes of their child,” he said.
