FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For more information, contact:
June 22, 1999 Mike Auberger: (303) 733-9324
Bob Kafka: (512) 442-0252
Ken Ervin: (304) 5978-0171

ADA Victory in the Supreme Court

Denver, CO-- ADAPT, a national disability rights organization based in Denver joins people with disabilities across the nation to declare a victory for community integration as the Supreme Court today announced it's decision in the lawsuit Olmstead v. L.C. & E.W.

This ruling will dramatically affect how the civil rights law, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), can be used to assure that people with disabilities and their families have the right to choose where they live and receive support services.

The ruling upholds a key civil rights provision in the ADA, known as the "integration mandate", which maintains that individuals with disabilities must be offered services in the " most integrated setting".

The high court, in upholding the mandate, has reinforced the fundamental intent of the ADA, which is to prevent discrimination and promote the integration of people with disabilities into our communities.

Specifically, the Supreme Court ruling supports lower courts rulings that Georgia's Department of Human Resources may not segregate two women with mental disabilities in a state psychiatric hospital long after the agency's own treatment professionals had recommended their transfer to community care.

This Georgia appeal to the Supreme Court has mobilized disability advocates, who have compared the lawsuit to Brown v. Board of Education. Last month, 800 members of ADAPT representing ADAPT chapters from 39 states traveled to Washington, D.C. There they joined 4,000 people in a march to the Supreme Court, organized by ADAPT,. The rally and march demonstrated unified support in the disability community for the ADA integration mandate.

While the high court clearly reinforced what Congress intended when it passed the ADA nearly a decade ago, disability rights activists recognize that Congress also needs to ensure that community integration is in the public policy of this country. ADAPT has drafted the Medicaid Community Attendant Services and Supports Act (MiCASSA) which will focus our public policy on community services.

"Today's decision is a critical step in changing how and where people with disabilities receive services necessary for everyday life," said Mike Auberger, national organizer with ADAPT. "It tells states that segregated services will no longer be tolerated. But our fight for REAL choice continues." Auberger, who both uses and provides attendant services in Colorado, has worked with ADAPT for nearly a decade to push for a national program of attendant services.

ADAPT's legislation, MiCASSA, will change federally funded Medicaid which currently only requires states to provide services in segregated institutions and spends 80% of its long term care funds on these segregated services. ADAPT vows to change this, declaring Integration NOT Segregation.

FOR MORE INFORMATION on American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT) Please visit the National website at http://www.adapt.org/ or the West Virginia website at http://www.labs.net/adapt/adaptwv.htm

For direct inquiries regarding this press release please use the contact information at the beginning of this message or Email adaptpr@adapt.org