Twenty years after Olmstead ruling, challenges for disabled remain

Lawyers’ Forum

By Barry C. Taylor

Barry C. Taylor is the vice president for Civil Rights and Systemic Litigation at Equip for Equality, the federally funded and governor-designated protection and advocacy system for people with disabilities in Illinois.

Posted June 21, 2019 3:45 PM

Historically, people with disabilities have been segregated from the rest of society and unable to participate in everyday life that we all take for granted.When Congress passed the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990, it expressly found that the segregation of people with disabilities continues to be a serious and pervasive social problem in our country.Nine years after the passage of the ADA, Lois Curtis and Elaine Wilson, two women with developmental disabilities and mental illness, were living in a state-operated …

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