Today marks the 27th anniversary of the Supreme Court case Olmstead v. L.C. This case was a landmark in that it established the right of people with disabilities to live independently and not be segregated to institutional living. Olmstead was a critical civil rights decision for the disability community. Based on the Americans with Disabilities Act, it held that people with disabilities have a right to receive supports and services in their communities whenever it’s decided that: 1) a treatment team agrees that community living is possible, 2) the person wants to live in the community, and 3) community-based services constitute a reasonable accommodation. It established that unjust segregation of people with disabilities in institutions constituted discrimination under the ADA.
Unfortunately, the Department of Justice took actions last week which would undermine the decision in Olmstead. The Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) within DOJ released a memo which misinterprets the Olmstead decision. In the memo, OLC takes the position that the ADA and other disability laws do not require states to provide care in the least restrictive setting. This is in direct contradiction to what the Supreme Court said when it decided Olmstead in 1999.
At a time when our federal government is cutting Medicaid, this memo signals a retreat from federal enforcement to affirmatively further community living through Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS). The DOJ is signaling that they will not uphold years of court precedent to protect disabled people from discriminatory and harmful institutionalization and will allow states to enact even further cuts to their HCBS programs. This shift in federal priorities will harm the independence and health of people with disabilities. This is just the most recent in a series of attacks undermining civil rights and supports for the disability community.
AAHD stands together with many other disability organizations in supporting the promise that was given to the disability community in the Olmstead decision. In response to the OLC memo, AAHD Executive Director Karl Cooper said the following, “The decision in Olmstead promised those of us in the disability community the opportunity to live fully in the community with our families and friends and not have to choose an institutional setting just to receive the care we need. The memo released by DOJ last week represents a huge step back in our fight for fulfilling the American dream of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. As we approach the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding, it is deeply disturbing that the disability community is still not able to fully realize the freedoms promised by the founding vision.
AAHD will continue to fight for the rights of people with disabilities to live freely in their community and the promise that was made in the Olmstead decision. Several other disability organizations have released statements regarding the DOJ memo and they can be found below:
- AAPD: DOJ Memo Is Attempting to Turn Back the Clock on Integration and Olmstead’s Promise
- Bazelon Center: Bazelon Center Statement on DOJ Memo Attacking Longstanding Protections for People with Disabilities
- DREDF: We Belong in the Community, Not in Institutions
- NCIL: NCIL Statement Condemning and Rejecting the Department of Justice’s Memo Attempting to Undermine Disability Civil Rights
- The Arc: DOJ Opinion on Olmstead Threatens the Right of People With Disabilities to Live in the Community
- Commentary from Nicole Jorwic – Caring Across Generations
- The Global Disability News Network – Olmstead Under Threat: The Supreme Court Case That Protects Disabled People from Institutionalization