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Olmstead Decision Summary

    On June 22, 1999, the United States Supreme Court held in Olmstead vs. L.C. that the unnecessary segregation of individuals with disabilities in institutions may constitute discrimination based on disability. The court ruled that the Americans with Disabilities Act may require states to provide community-based services rather than institutional placements for individuals with disabilities. The decision is a victory in several ways

• It upholds the U.S. Department of Justice's regulations, which mandate that a state must administer its programs in the most integrated setting appropriate to the needs of individuals with disabilities;
• It states that unjustified isolation is properly regarded as discrimination on the basis of disability under the ADA; and
• It recognizes that Congress intended the ADA to step up earlier efforts in the DD Act and Rehab Act to secure community living opportunities for people with disabilities.

    Rather than merely affirming the 11^th Circuit's decision, the Court put a number of qualifiers on the state's obligation to place individuals in the community. Specifically, the Court held that:

• In evaluating a state's fundamental alteration defense, courts must consider not only the cost of providing community-based care to individuals, but also the range of services the state provides to others with mental disabilities and the state's obligation to mete out those services in an equitable manner;

• A state may generally rely on the "reasonable assessments of its own professionals" in determining whether an individual meets the essential eligibility requirements for a community-based program; and

• If a state demonstrates that it has a "comprehensive, effectively working plan for placing qualified persons with mental disabilities in less restrictive settings, and a waiting list that move[s] at a reasonable pace not controlled by the state's endeavors to keep its institutions fully populated," an individual cannot skip to the top of the waiting list by filing a lawsuit to obtain community services.

(Advocacy and Protection, 2001, Available Online: www.protectionandadvocacy.com/lcsummar.htm)

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