This week, a bipartisan House resolution was introduced in Congress affirming the right of disabled people to live in their homes and communities, not segregated in institutions. The Defend Community Integration Coalition (DCIC) applauds this introduction.
We thank Bipartisan Disability Caucus Co-Chairs Representatives Debbie Dingell (D-MI) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) for leading and introducing H.Res. 1586, which affirms that the Olmstead decision reflects Congress’s intent that people with disabilities should live and receive services in their communities. The resolution is also cosponsored by Representatives Kean (R-NJ), Lawler (R-NY), Wilson (R-SC), Scanlon (D-PA), and Simon (D-CA), showing strong bipartisan support for community integration, and reflecting its bipartisan history.
More than 27 years ago, the Supreme Court held in Olmstead v. Lois Curtis that the unjustified isolation of people with disabilities is discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act. That ruling did not come out of nowhere.
H.Res. 1586 lays out the record: in 1977 and 1978, federal regulations under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act provided that services for people with disabilities must be delivered in the most integrated setting appropriate. Congress ratified those rules when it amended Section 504 in 1978. In 1990, it wrote into the ADA a finding that isolation and segregation are a serious and pervasive form of discrimination and incorporated Section 504’s integration regulations into the ADA’s public services title. The Supreme Court affirmed in the Olmstead decision that unnecessary segregation of people with disabilities is a form of disability discrimination. The integration mandate is the law as written and enacted by Congress. It is a civil right that has been reaffirmed by courts for decades.
That clarity matters right now. The integration mandate is facing new and unprecedented attacks, so this affirmation of Congress’s directives could not be more timely. Disabled people belong in our communities. This resolution sends a clear message from both sides of the aisle that Congress meant what it said, and we urge every member to cosponsor it.
We urge every House member to cosponsor H.Res. 1586, and we call on the Senate to introduce a similar bipartisan resolution as soon as possible. We also call on federal and state leaders to back the Congressional commitment with increased investment in home and community-based services and the direct care workforce that makes community living possible. Let’s defend community integration today.