Disability Integration Act

As many of you may know, America just celebrated twenty-five years since passing the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The ADA provided unprecedented protection for an entire minority class of Americans. However, advocates and policy makers alike are asking how we can continue to advance the civil rights of disabled people, many of whom still don’t enjoy equal opportunities even 25 years after the ADA.

Across the board, everyone agrees that the institutional bias is the number one thing holding people with disabilities from being full participants in society. The institutional bias lies in the fact that nursing homes are, undeniably, favored by the federal government, in that they receive more federal dollars than any other form of long-term care. Meanwhile, community based services, which is long-term care that you can receive in the comfort of your own home, is getting the short-end of the stick. This results in too many people with disabilities living in nursing homes, rather than in the community, simply because that’s where long-term care will be paid for.

In an effort to address this problem, the Disability Integration Act (DIA) was crafted and will, hopefully, be introduced in Congress within the next few weeks. DIA doesn’t, in any way, beat around the bush about what it aims to do. It is here to do one thing and one thing only: assure the full integration of disabled people in the community. Twenty-five years after the ADA, the Disability Integration Act is aimed to strengthen the integration mandate in the ADA and accelerate the implementation of Olmstead. The Olmstead case ruled that states must eliminate segregation of people with disabilities and ensure that they are receiving services in the most integrated setting possible.

As you can see, we’ve been at it a while. The goal? To include disabled people in all aspects of life – because it’s not until everyone gets a seat at the table that we have equality. Right now, we can’t possibly have a seat at the table, because half of our people are still locked away in a nursing home.

So the DIA was crafted to provide further support and strengthen this idea that no one deserves to live in a nursing home. It does so by explicitly spelling out that EVERY individual has a federally protected right in how they receive long-term services and support. Second, it assures that states (and other long term services and supports providers) deliver services and supports that allows people with disabilities to live in the most integrated setting, including their own homes. Thirdly, it requires public entities to address the need for affordable, accessible, integrated housing. While affordable, accessible, integrated housing is a mouthful, it means, housing that can be paid on a fixed income, housing that a person in a wheelchair can get in and out of (because what use is a home that you can’t enter?) and housing that is not segregated due to disability, but is combined and intermingled with disabled and nondisabled people alike.

As you can see, the Disability Integration Act rejects the notion that any person with a disability needing long-term services and supports should be denied the chance to live in the community and lead an independent life. We need everyone at the table and we don’t need to wait another 25 years for it to happen. From my perspective, this is legislation we can all get behind!

Leah Smith is a writer, communications professional and disability advocate. Leah holds a Bachelor’s in Public Relations and a Masters in Public Administration and Policy. She has focused her career on creating access and equality for all. Leah currently resides in Philadelphia with her partner and two dogs.