<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.S. Department of Justice released an opinion<\/a> last week that argues core civil rights laws\u2014the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act, and the 1999 Supreme Court Olmstead decision–do not require states to integrate people with disabilities into the community. U.S. DOJ\u2019s new opinion is contrary to decades of interpretation and long-standing legal precedent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis U.S. DOJ opinion undermines the core civil rights laws that protect all people with disabilities from being forced into institutions,\u201d said Tami Jackson Survival Coalition co-chair. \u201cPeople with physical disabilities, intellectual and developmental disabilities, people who have acquired disabilities through illnesses or age, people with mental health conditions are all protected by the same laws. An attack on these laws is an attack on all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n For decades, the Olmstead v. L.C.<\/em> decision has affirmed a simple truth: segregation of people with disabilities is discrimination. The integration mandate is not optional \u2014 it is the foundation of disability civil rights, ensuring that people with disabilities can live, work, and participate fully in their communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFederal dollars should be spent in a way that ensures people have access to the promises of the constitution,\u201d said Jason Glozier, Survival Coalition Co-Chair. \u201cPeople who are institutionalized unnecessarily are fundamentally unable to pursue life, liberty and happiness. We will not be told that the basic expectations every able-bodied person has, to live at home with people they choose, to work, to find joy is out of reach for us because we are disabled.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf states decide they don\u2019t want to invest in home care, it\u2019s not only people with disabilities who are impacted,\u201d said Patti Becker, Survival Coalition co-chair. \u201cMake no mistake, home care keeps older adults out of nursing homes, and most home care is paid for by states through Medicaid. Sending a signal to states that they can stop spending on home care for people with disabilities reduces the ability for everyone to get support in their homes and guarantees states will return to spending far more taxpayer dollars to put fewer people in more expensive institutions where they do not want or need to be.\u201d The U.S. DOJ opinion does not change the law, but advocates are concerned federal agencies will now not enforce current law or repeal rules that help people live in the community. This opinion is part of a larger pattern attacking disability rights. A separate legal case Texas v. Kennedy<\/em><\/a> is challenging Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act. The lawsuit wants to overturn that protection and let states decide whether to provide community services and not worry about creating conditions that force people into institutions. Link to press release.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The U.S. Department of Justice released an opinion last week that argues core civil rights laws\u2014the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act, and the 1999 Supreme Court Olmstead decision–do not require states to integrate people with disabilities into the community. U.S. DOJ\u2019s new opinion is contrary to decades of interpretation and long-standing legal precedent. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.survivalcoalitionwi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3265"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.survivalcoalitionwi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.survivalcoalitionwi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.survivalcoalitionwi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.survivalcoalitionwi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3265"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.survivalcoalitionwi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3265\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3267,"href":"http:\/\/www.survivalcoalitionwi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3265\/revisions\/3267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.survivalcoalitionwi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.survivalcoalitionwi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.survivalcoalitionwi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}