In the 1999 case Olmstead v. L.C., hereafter Olmstead, the United States Supreme Court held in a six to three decision that the forced segregation of people based on disability violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. Two women with mental and intellectual disabilities, Lois Curtis and Elaine Wilson, referred to as L.C. and E.W. in case documents, sued the state of Georgia and Tommy Olmstead, the Commissioner of Georgia who headed the Department of Human Resources, for alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The two women each voluntarily admitted themselves to treatment in the state-run Georgia Regional Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1990. After doctors cleared Curtis and Wilson for transfer into a community-based health setting with non-disabled people, the hospital denied them treatment in a community-based setting due to the financial costs of such treatment and the lack of space. Olmstead protected the rights of people with disabilities outlined in the Americans with Disabilities Act by finding the unjustified segregation of disabled people unconstitutional.
Details
- Olmstead v. L.C. (1999)
- Ross, Nathaniel (Author)
- Nichols, Cole (Editor)
- Arizona State University. School of Life Sciences. Center for Biology and Society. Embryo Project Encyclopedia. (Publisher)
- Arizona Board of Regents (Publisher)
- Law
- Disability awareness
- Disability culture
- Intellectual disability facilities patients
- Disabilities
- Community health services for people with disabilities
- Self-employed people with disabilities
- People with disabilities--Civil rights--United States
- Disabled Persons
- Persons with Mental Disabilities
- Health Services for Persons with Disabilities
- Intellectual Disability
- Institutionalization
- Institutionalized Persons
- Legal
- Disorders
- Lois Curtis
- Elaine Wilson
- Americans with Disabilities Act
- Fourteenth Amendment
- Disability segregation
- Community-based treatment