GOVERNOR KAINE COMMEMORATES 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF OLMSTEAD DECISION
- Landmark decision by Supreme Court spurred transition from institutional to community based care for individuals with disabilities

FROM THE OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR

June 22, 2009

Contact: Gordon Hickey                                    
Phone:                   (804) 225-4260                                   
Cell Phone:           (804) 291-8977                                   
Internet:                www.governor.virginia.gov               

Julie A. Stanley
Community Integration for People with Disabilities
(804) 212-6072
http://www.olmsteadva.com


RICHMOND—Governor Timothy M. Kaine today commemorated the ten-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Olmstead v. L.C. decision ensuring equal access and rights for people with disabilities. On June 22, 1999, the Supreme Court held that segregating individuals with disabilities in institutions may constitute discrimination based on disability, a decision that required states to increase options for community-based services. At its June 23 meeting, Virginia’s Community Integration Advisory Commission will hold a ceremony recognizing this anniversary.  The Commission, established in 2006 to monitor the state’s efforts to implement the Olmstead decision and related laws, will be joined by representatives from the 20 state agencies whose work the Commission oversees.

  “It has been a priority of my administration to increase the resources available for community-based services for Virginians with disabilities,” said Governor Kaine. “People with disabilities have much to offer and should not be excluded from society. I am very glad we are moving past the inefficient and often ineffective institutional models of the past, and are seeing very encouraging results through integration into the community.”  

            Virginia has been actively implementing the Olmstead decision since 2002, when a Task Force began developing comprehensive recommendations to the Governor and General Assembly.  The Commission is charged with monitoring implementation of these recommendations and also makes its own recommendations to the Governor.

  In 2007 Governor Kaine issued Executive Directive 6, directing five Secretariats, 22 state agencies and two state Councils to continue their collaborative efforts with the Community Integration Advisory Commission, local governments and local agencies to complete and annually update a comprehensive, cross-governmental strategic plan designed to assure continued community integration of Virginians with disabilities. The Plan and annual updates are due to the Governor by August 31 of each year.

  According to Commission Vice-Chair and current Ms. Wheelchair Virginia Joan Manley, “The Olmstead decision was the disability community’s Brown vs. Board of Education.  For far too long, people with disabilities have been hidden away in institutions and denied the basic freedoms of everyday life that everyone else enjoys.”   

            Commission Chair Carter Harrison noted that Virginia’s approach to implementing the Olmstead decision actively involves individuals with all types of disabilities and focuses on state agencies working together toward common goals.  “Our Strategic Plan addresses community services, housing, transportation, employment and workforce needs that must be addressed in order for people to have real community living opportunities.”

              For more information, visit http://www.olmsteadva.com.