Please note additional info re Olmstead Case.
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The Governors of this country are attacking our right to live and receive
attendant services and supports in the community.
The Olmstead case, recently accepted as a case by the Supreme Court, will
test whether the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is truly a civil
rights law that protects our right to choose to live and receive services in
the "most integrated setting".
Disability activists must join together and send a powerful message to our
Governors, Congress, the Clinton Administration and the Supreme Court.
DON'T MESS WITH OUR RIGHTS
DON'T MESS WITH THE ADA
SUPPORT "MOST INTEGRATED SETTING"
Please distribute the enclosed flyer throughout your community.
"DON'T MOURN! ...ORGANIZE!"
__________________________________________________(flyer
below)_____________________
GOVERNORS ATTACK
AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT (ADA)
AND PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
Challenge the RIGHT of people with disabilities to live
and receive services in the community!!
Supreme Court will rule this spring if
Congress intended for forced institutionalization
(No Real Choice)
to be considered discrimination
under the ADA!!
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DISABILITY COMMUNITY MUST RESPOND
TO THIS CHALLENGE TO OUR
FUNDAMENTAL CIVIL RIGHT
TO HAVE CHOICE IN WHERE WE LIVE
AND TO RECEIVE SERVICES IN THE
"MOST INTEGRATED SETTING"!!
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Please take the following action:
1) On Friday, January 15, 1999 visit, call, fax or e-mail your State's
Governor with the following message:
DON'T MESS WITH OUR RIGHTS!!
DON'T MESS WITH THE ADA
SUPPORT "MOST INTEGRATED SETTING"
2) Join with other disability, aging, family and advocacy groups
to organize 6 month statewide strategies (January `99 - June `99) to
assure that people with disabilities have the RIGHT to live and
receive
services in the community!
For information: ADAPT 512/442-0252, 303/733-9324 [log in to unmask]
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ADAPT's Campaign for Real Choice received a potentially major threat in
early December when the Supreme Court decided to hear the Olmstead vs. L.C.&
E.W. case sometime this spring. If the Supreme Court overturns the lower
courts which have ruled in support of integrated services, people with
disabilities will loose a big chunk of their legal right (though not their
moral right) to be integrated into their communities.
Olmstead is one of the three cases referred to in the Sally Richardson
letter printed in the last issue of Incitement, and is similar to the Helen
L. case. For those not familiar with the details, this case is about L.C.
and E.W., two people with mental disabilities from Georgia who had to live
in a state hospital in order to receive the support services they need.
Similar to Helen L., these two sued the state under the ADA Title II, saying
that this arrangement violated their right to services in the most
integrated setting, and they won.
When the Helen L. case was appealed to the Supreme Court they declined to
hear it, implying they agreed with the lower courts. So why did they
decide to hear this one? The fact that 22 other Governors signed on to a
brief filed in asking them to hear the case and overturn the lower courts
decisions might have had something to do with it. In their brief these
Governors asked the court to find that 1) the ADA does not apply to services
like long term care, 2) the ADA is unconstitutional because of the states'
rights which are protected in the constitution. (The Court decided not to
take up the second issue at this time, but they may in the future.)
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The Governors of the following states signed on: GA (original appellant)
and
AL, CA, CO, DE, FL, HI, LA, MD, MI, MS, MT, NE, NV, NH, PA, SC, SD, TN, TX,
UT, WV, WY.
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Will Olmstead be our Brown vs. Board of Education, where school integration
was determined to be the right of all children and the law of the land? Or,
will Olmstead be our Dred Scott, in which the Supreme Court ruled a slave
could not sue for his freedom? Time will tell.
But in the meantime we should NOT be sitting our hands waiting to see our
fate, and the fate of our brothers and sisters. We know that morally we are
right and we need to make sure everyone is aware what is going down this
spring, and that the disability community is NOT going to take this lying
down. We need to hold accountable the Governors of the 22 states which
signed on, and make sure the other 27 Governors do not sign on as well.
1) On Friday, January 15, 1999 visit, call, fax or e-mail your Governor
with the following message: DON'T MESS WITH OUR RIGHTS!! DON'T MESS WITH THE
ADA
SUPPORT "MOST INTEGRATED SETTING"
2) Join with other disability, aging, family and advocacy groups to
organize 6 month statewide strategies (January `99 - June `99) to assure
that people with disabilities have the RIGHT to live and receive services in
the community!
Let's not let the end of this Century mark the end of our legal right to
integration and independence. FREE OUR PEOPLE!
For info on your Governor go to the NGA website http://www.nga.org
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