Sec. 2. Findings and purposes

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Congress finds the following: In enacting the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (referred to in this Act as the ADA ), Congress— recognized that historically, society has tended to isolate and segregate individuals with disabilities, and, despite some improvements, such forms of discrimination against individuals with disabilities continue to be a serious and pervasive social problem ; and intended that the ADA assure full participation and independent living for individuals with disabilities by addressing discrimination against individuals with disabilities [that] persists in critical areas , including institutionalization.

While Congress expected that the ADA’s integration mandate would be interpreted in a manner that ensures that individuals who are eligible for institutional placement are able to exercise a right to community-based long-term services and supports, that expectation has not been fulfilled. The holdings of the Supreme Court in Olmstead v. L.C., 527 U.S. 581 (1999), and companion cases, have clearly articulated that individuals with disabilities have a civil right under the ADA to participate in society as equal citizens.

However, many States still do not provide sufficient community-based long-term services and supports to individuals with disabilities to end segregation in institutions. The right to live in the community is necessary for the exercise of the civil rights that the ADA was intended to secure for all individuals with disabilities. The lack of adequate community-based services and supports has imperiled the civil rights of all individuals with disabilities, and has undermined the very promise of the ADA.

It is, therefore, necessary to recognize in statute a robust and fully articulated right to community living. States, with a few exceptions, continue to approach decisions regarding long-term services and supports from social welfare and budgetary perspectives, but for the promise of the ADA to be fully realized, States must approach these decisions from a civil rights perspective. States have not consistently planned to ensure sufficient services and supports for individuals with disabilities, including those with the most significant disabilities, to enable individuals with disabilities to live in the most integrated setting.

As a result, many individuals with disabilities who reside in institutions are prevented from residing in the community and individuals with disabilities who are not in institutions find themselves at risk of institutional placement. The continuing existence of unfair and unnecessary institutionalization denies individuals with disabilities the opportunity to live and participate on an equal basis in the community and costs the United States billions of dollars in unnecessary spending related to perpetuating dependency and unnecessary confinement.

The purposes of this Act are— to clarify and strengthen the ADA’s integration mandate in a manner that accelerates State compliance; to clarify that every individual who is eligible for long-term services and supports has a federally protected right to be meaningfully integrated into that individual’s community and receive community-based long-term services and supports; to ensure that States provide long-term services and supports to individuals with disabilities in a manner that allows individuals with disabilities to live in the most integrated setting, including the individual’s own home, have maximum control over their services and supports, and ensure that long-term services and supports are provided in a manner that allows individuals with disabilities to lead an independent life; to establish a comprehensive State planning requirement that includes enforceable, measurable objectives that are designed to transition individuals with all types of disabilities at all ages out of institutions and into the most integrated setting; and to establish a requirement for clear and uniform annual public reporting by States that includes reporting about— the number of individuals with disabilities who are served in the community and the number who are served in institutions; and the number of individuals with disabilities who have transitioned from an institution to a community-based living situation, and the type of community-based living situation into which those individuals have transitioned.

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527 U.S. 581

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Sec. 2

Findings and purposes

SCOTUS527 U.S. 581

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