The Road Ahead is Long, But We Must Strive Forward and Upward
The following article is a Guest article by Talley Wells from the Fall 2013 Making a Difference magazine sharing on the social justice movement. Click here to read the entire magazine.
The Road Ahead is Long, But We Must Strive Forward and Upward
By Talley Wells
Liberty...Justice...Equality...Pursuit of Happiness. These are the civil rights Thomas Jefferson and our Founding Fathers wove into the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution. They are the ideals upon which this nation was founded. But, in this 50th anniversary year of the March on Washington, we recognize we have not always lived up to these ideals. Instead, we have continuously had to strive and fight for them. These truths are particularly self-evident for Americans with disabilities.
At the center of the Martin Luther King Museum in Atlanta, there is a road with statues of Americans of all races, nationalities and abilities marching forward and upward. Visitors to the museum can pretend to join the march and experience the path forward and upward.
Self-advocates and other disability advocates know this road well. The road is not an exhibit from the past, although it certainly began in the past, it is a living, rising road. It is a road forward built from the struggles of those breaking free from institutions, those seeking integration in schools, jobs and daily American life and those simply working toward a life with the same opportunities as their fellow Americans.
In 1990, after the struggles and advocacy of so many, this road moved forward and rose higher for people with disabilities with the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This extraordinary Act recognized in stark language the discrimination and isolation experienced by Americans with disabilities. Before setting out the law, the United States Congress made certain findings, including:
- "Disabilities in no way diminish a person's right to fully participate in all aspects of society, yet many people with physical or mental disabilities have been precluded from doing so because of discrimination."
- "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."
- "The Nation's proper goals regarding individuals with disabilities are to assure equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living and economic self-sufficiency."
President George H.W. Bush made this Act the law of the land with his signature on July 26, 1990. From that day forward, the United States Government decreed that no person, employer or entity should discriminate against people with disabilities and that reasonable accommodations and reasonable modifications should be created so that people with disabilities could be included in all facets of daily life and work.
Nevertheless, the ADA was not the final destination on the road forward. While it gave the road a major lift, discrimination, segregation and isolation of people with
disabilities continued.
In the 1990s, Lois Curtis and Elaine Wilson were Georgia women with disabilities who continued to experience segregation and discrimination. They were living at Georgia Regional Hospital in Atlanta where they previously had been confined over 30 times each. Sue Jamieson, who has dedicated her career at the Atlanta Legal Aid Society to representing individuals with mental health disabilities, began representing Curtis and Wilson. The Atlanta Legal Aid Society filed a lawsuit based on the Americans with Disabilities Act to end their segregation and enable them to live full and independent lives in the community. Their case went all the way to the United States Supreme Court.
In June 1999, in its landmark Olmstead Decision, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Curtis and Wilson, declaring that Georgia was required to provide them the supports they needed to live in the community. This meant freedom. Neither would ever have to live in an institution again. Wilson, who passed away in 2004, was proud of her independence and Curtis has become a well-known artist. The Supreme Court decision went way beyond Curtis and Wilson, though. It mandated that all states must provide necessary supports in the community rather than in institutions in most instances.
Again, as with the ADA, the Olmstead decision was not a final destination. In the 14 years since the Olmstead ruling, the road rose higher, but along the way, discrimination, segregation and isolation were encountered at every turn. In 2007, Georgians learned how far we still had to go when the Atlanta Journal Constitution exposed horrendous and unnecessary tragedies of men and women with intellectual disabilities and mental illness in our state psychiatric hospitals through its "Hidden Shame" series by Andy Miller and Alan Judd. The series was symbolized by Sarah Crider, a 14-year-old girl with an intellectual and physical disability who died choking on her own vomit at Georgia Regional Hospital.
As a direct result of the Hidden Shame series, the United States Justice Department came to Georgia, investigated the hospitals, filed a lawsuit and ultimately entered into an Olmstead settlement in 2010. The settlement requires Georgia to free every person with an intellectual disability and most men and women with mental illness from our state hospitals and provide them the community supports they need.
While unrelated to the Justice Department Settlement, over the last five years, Georgia has used the Money Follows the Person program to enable men and women who thought they would live out their lives in nursing facilities to return to the community.
In the 50 years since Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. shared his dream and the 23 years since our country passed the Americans with Disabilities Act, the disability rights community can look back and see how far the road has risen. Still, even as we celebrate progress, we all know too many people with disabilities who have not experienced the American ideals of liberty, justice, equality and the pursuit of happiness.
In a state that today has over 7,000 people with disabilities on Medicaid Waiver waiting lists and thousands more who should be on these lists, the road forward is long and the path is very steep. Still, we must keep striving forward and upward.
Talley Wells' Bio:
Taley Wels is the director of the Disability Integration Project at Atlanta Legal Aid Society, Inc. Wells advocates for housing and supports in the community on behalf of clients with disabilities who are confined in Georgia institutions, nursing homes or at risk to institutionalization. His focus is implementation of the Supreme Court's Olmstead Decision and ensuring compliance with the American with Disabilities Act.
