"Roe labels the issue an “impossible situation” since the federal Head Start Act contains many of the words that programs are now being forced to avoid. One of Head Start’s longstanding responsibilities is “to create inclusive and accessible classrooms for children with disabilities,” but now HHS is pushing against the words “disability,” “disabilities,” and “inclusion” in funding applications. With the list now out in the public, Head Start centers could be forced to eliminate the definition of DEI, which the former lead of the Office of Child Care, Ruth Friedman, calls fear. "Grantees are sort of self-selecting out of those activities beforehand because of fear and direction they're getting from the Office of Head Start that they can't do these important research-based activities anymore that are important for children's learning and that are actually required by law," Friedman, who served under former President Joe Biden, said, according to Associated Press. The move is another attack on DEI handed down by President Donald Trump who signed a January 2025 executive order labeling “illegal DEI and DEIA policies not only violate the text and spirit of our longstanding Federal civil-rights laws" but "also undermine our national unity, as they deny, discredit, and undermine the traditional American values of hard work, excellence, and individual achievement in favor of an unlawful, corrosive, and pernicious identity-based spoils system.” Since then, the domino effect targeted college campuses, retail, nonprofits, grants, and more."