The Native American Disability Law Center is hoping the Navajo Nation Council will finally pass a law to protect tribal members who have disabilities.

The center has been working for the past three years on the bill. But the council has yet to take action.

"There has never been an adult protection act on the Navajo Nation," Therese Yanan, the center's executive director, told The Farmington Daily Times. "They have a children's code, which covers children up to age 18, and they have an elderly protection act for people over 55. But people between 19 and 54 have no statutory protection."

According to the Navajo Nation, about 30 percent of Navajos between the ages of 16 and 64 live with disabilities. For Navajos ages 65 and older, that rate jumps to 70 percent.

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Falling through the cracks: Center pushes for act to protect disabled adults (The Farmington Daily Times 1/15)