In 1999, the Supreme Court interpreted Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to require states to place qualified individuals with mental disabilities in community settings, rather than in institutions, whenever treatment professionals determine that such placement is appropriate, the affected persons do not oppose such placement, and the state can reasonably accommodate the placement. But recent criticism from the National Disability Rights Network (NDRN) examines the efforts of federal agencies to enforce this decision over the last 10 years and insists that they have come up short. The organization released its findings in a report titled, A Decade of Little Progress Implementing Olmstead: Evaluating Federal Agency Impact After 10 Years.
In the report, NDRN indicates that it found “next to no federal oversight of enforcement efforts and no repercussions for states who fail to make reasonable efforts to end unnecessary institutionalization.” It goes on to urge increased federal enforcement of the Olmstead mandate.
NDRN specifically reviewed the efforts of two departments—the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). At the former, NDRN found “a lack of attention to enforcement of the ADA’s integration mandate and many missed opportunities.” Of the latter, it found “a reliance on short-term voluntary financial incentives to encourage state compliance” and a “lack of monitoring and data collection about the effectiveness of these efforts.”
For more information about the report, visit www.ndrn.org.
