BEFORE LEAVING for Christmas vacation, President Obama signed a law that allows people with disabilities to open tax-free savings accounts to pay for certain life expenses.

That’s a big deal. Until now, people with disabilities couldn’t do what the rest of us can — set aside money, safe from the IRS, for certain purposes. Before this law, money saved outside a trust account disqualified those with disabilities from Medicaid-based benefits and Social Security.

The Achieving a Better Life Experience, or “ABLE” Act, dramatically changes that, said Representive Ander Crenshaw, the Florida Republican who fought for it. Its overwhelming passage in the House and Senate shows some causes ultimately defy partisan warfare. The vote was 404-17 in the House; and 76-16 in the Senate, where it was part of a larger tax credit extension bill.

To read the rest of this column in The Boston Globe, click here.

To see pictures from Yachad’s latest mission to Washington, D.C., click here.