Category: Law and Legislation

Olmstead Act Turns 13

“For the Department of Justice, turning the promise of the Olmstead decision into a reality for individuals with disabilities across the nation has become a major component of ADA enforcement.”
Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez

The Supreme Court heard the case Olmstead vs. L.C. on April 21, 1999 and decided it on June 22, 1999. This week marks the thirteenth anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in which the Supreme Court recognized that the civil rights of people with disabilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) are violated when they are unnecessarily segregated from the rest of society.  The promise of Olmstead is that people with disabilities will have the opportunity to live like people without disabilities – to have friends, work, be part of a family, and participate in community activities because states are required to ensure that persons with disabilities receive services in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs.

In reaffirming its commitment to enforcement of the Olmstead decision, the Department of Justice has chosen to commemorate the anniversary of the Olmsted decision by presenting “Faces of Olmstead” a website profiling stories of some of the thousands of people whose lives have been affected by the Olmstead decision and the Department’s enforcement efforts.

To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the decision, President Obama issued a proclamation launching the “Year of Community Living,” and directed the Administration to redouble enforcement efforts. In a press release commemorating the 13th anniversary President Obama had this to say: “The landmark Olmstead case affirmed the rights of Americans with disabilities to live independently,” said President Obama. “On this anniversary, let’s recommit ourselves to building on the promise of Olmstead by working to end all forms of discrimination, and uphold the rights of Americans with disabilities and all Americans.”

To learn more about the Olmstead decision and the Civil Rights Division’s enforcement activities, visit, Olmstead: Community Integration for Everyone. A brief explanation of the Olmstead may also be found at The Olmstead Act – What Is It?


Related articles

The International Impact of the ADA

On July 26, without much fanfare, the  civil rights act, the Americans with Disabilities Act turned 21. The ADA  is significant because it is national civil rights legislation explicitly banning discrimination against people with disabilities in the public and private sectors. The ADA is revolutionary not only because of its provisions and purpose, but also because it was forged with the participation of disability organizations, bi-partisan champions from both houses of Congress, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the business community and  had widespread support from civil society. This was the first time such a cross-section of groups had collaborated on a common cause. The ADA has come to have a profound impact both at home and abroad.

The United States was the first country to enact national civil rights legislation prohibiting discrimination against individuals with disabilities. Since its enactment, the Act has been influential throughout the world influencing other countries to enact their own domestic non-discrimination legislation. Internationally, the ADA has been cited as one of the inspirations for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The CRPD, which incorporates the same principles of equality and non-discrimination found in the ADA, is an international human rights instrument of the United Nations intended to protect the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities. Parties to the Convention are required to promote, protect, and ensure the full enjoyment of human rights by persons with disabilities and ensure that they enjoy full equality under the law.

According to a report, World Report on Disability, released in June, by the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO), more than a billion people in the world today experience some form of disability. That a billion people experience some form of disability makes the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities critically important.

There are eight guiding principles that underlie the CRPD

  1. Respect for inherent dignity, individual autonomy including the freedom to make one’s own choices, and independence of persons
  2. Non-discrimination
  3. Full and effective participation and inclusion in society
  4. Respect for difference and acceptance of persons with disabilities as part of human diversity and humanity
  5. Equality of opportunity
  6. Accessibility
  7. Equality between men and women
  8. Respect for the evolving capacities of children with disabilities and respect for the right of children with disabilities to preserve their identities

The Convention adopts a social model of disability, and defines disability as an evolving concept and that disability results from the interaction between persons with impairments and attitudinal and environmental barriers that hinders their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.

Nearly 150 countries and regional organizations have signed the CRPD, and 100 have ratified it, committing them to removing barriers so that people with disabilities may participate fully in their societies.

Rosa’s Law: the Power of One Person Still Makes a Difference

“What you call people is how you treat them. If we change the words, maybe it will be the start of a new attitude towards people with disabilities. If you believe she’s ‘retarded,’ it invites taunting, stigma. It invites bullying and it also invites the slammed doors of being treated with respect and dignity.”

Just when I think that the earth has tilted so askew on its axis, that one person can’t make a difference in the world, something happens that proves me wrong. A few weeks ago, I was doing some preliminary research on P.L. 111-260, the 21st Century Communications & Video Accessibility which was signed into law on October 8. While reading the remarks by the president at the signing of this act, my belief that one person can make a difference was renewed.

In the audience that day was nine year-old Rosa Marcellino, one of the hundreds of thousands of Americans with Downs Syndrome. President Obama introduced Rosa, her brother Nick, and her parents, Paul and Nina Marcellino saying it was inspiring to have Rosa present. The president then spoke briefly about “Rosa’s Law,” which he had signed into law on October 5, 2010.

Rosa, who lives in Edgewater, Md., is the inspiration behind “Rosa’s Law,” which strikes out any mention of “mental retardation” and “mentally retarded” from federal law and replaces them with “intellectual disability” and “individual with intellectual disability.”

Mental retardation is the official term used in federal and state education law. With the support of Maryland state delegate, Ted Sophocleus, Rosa worked with her parents and siblings to have the words “mentally retarded” officially removed from the health and education code in her home state of Maryland. The Maryland General Assembly passed the legislation in 2009. Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) met with the Marcellino’s and promised to champion a similar bill at the federal level if Rosa and her family were successful at the state level. What became S. 2781 and known as “Rosa’s Law” began as a family effort when Rosa’s elementary school changed the coding on her education plan from “health impaired” to “mentally retarded.

President Obama acknowledged that amending the language in all federal health, education and labor laws to replace the terms “mental retardation” and “mentally retarded” with “intellectual disability” and “individual with an intellectual disability,” may seem to some people like a minor change.

Saying he spoke “a lot of wisdom,” the president then quoted Rosa’s brother, Nick, who became the family spokesman, speaking at the statehouse in Annapolis and later testifying before Congress.

“What you call people is how you treat them. If we change the words, maybe it will be the start of a new attitude towards people with disabilities.”

Changing federal laws to eliminate the R-word is one thing. Ending the cultural habit of insulting people with intellectual disabilities is another. Erasing “mental retardation” from the books doesn’t necessarily mean that intellectually disabled people will no longer be stigmatized. Ohio State University professor Christopher Fairman, who studies cultural taboos, points out that “retard” is just another name in the long list of terms that have been introduced, stigmatized, and then moved away from. Still, Nick Marcellino was correct when, in his testimony before the Maryland General Assembly, he also said:

“If you believe she’s ‘retarded,’ it invites taunting, stigma. It invites bullying and it also invites the slammed doors of being treated with respect and dignity.”

Perhaps to some, the language changes enacted through Rosa’s Law (S. 2871) are minor. Nevertheless, this law, and the effort of a little girl and her family are a significant milestone in the ongoing battle for dignity, inclusion and respect of all people with intellectual disabilities. And – my faith in the power of one person to make a difference in the world has been renewed.