Olmstead About-Face: Implications of the U.S. Department of Justice’s new stance on persons with disabilities’ right to community integration

In June, the U.S. Department of Justice released an Office of Legal Counsel memo that effectively reverses the Department’s longstanding approach to defending persons with disabilities’ right to community integration. While the memo alone does not change settled legal precedents, it signals a substantially narrower approach to the Department’s enforcement of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1999 decision Olmstead v. L.C. ex rel. Zimring. Further, because the memo is likely to guide all federal agencies’ actions, this policy reversal endangers implementation of the panoply of federal laws and programs that undergird persons with disabilities’ right to community living. This event’s panelists will bring to bear their decades of experience advocating on behalf of persons with disabilities for their right to be included in their communities to describe the practical implications of the Department’s Olmstead about-face, as well as what the disability community can do to counter rising threats to integration, inclusion, and belonging.