On top of the Trump Administration’s reckless dismantling of the Department of Education, the Department of Justice has issued a legal memo that attacks the core right of disabled people to live independently in their communities.
It claims that long-standing federal laws (the ADA and Section 504) never actually guaranteed disabled people the right to receive services in the community instead of institutions.
It tries to hollow out Olmstead v. L.C. – the landmark Supreme Court ruling securing community living rights – just days before its 27th anniversary.
It declares decades of federal disability regulations “unlawful,” signaling that the government plans to roll them back. This gives states a green light to defund community services and push people with severe mental illness or disabilities back into institutions.
This memo changes how the federal government enforces the law – meaning the DOJ will stop fighting for integration. However, the ADA itself has not changed and federal courts are still bound by Supreme Court precedent. We know that our leaders in Massachusetts will stand with us.
For nearly 75 years, The Arc has fought against the isolation and institutionalization of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. We fought for the ADA, we fought for Olmstead, and we will fight to protect them today
