Join us to discuss how the Olmstead decision changed
our right to live in our community!
Pictured from left to to right: Lois Curtis, Sue Jamieson, and Elaine Wilson.
On July 5th, 2023, I Love You, Lead On and MindFreedom International will present a Judi’s Room discussion of the Olmstead decision, a landmark ruling by the US Supreme Court in 1999.
This will be led by Vesper Moore and feature guests who are involved with or who are directly impacted by the decision.
You must be pre-registered to participate
Register HERE
ASL is available upon request, and donations are optional but always welcome. We hope to see you there!
Dates and times for this event
| Timezone | Date | Time |
| Hawaii (HDT) | July 5th | 12 PM |
| US Pacific (PDT) | July 5th | 3 PM |
| US Mountain (MDT) | July 5th | 4 PM |
| US Central (CDT) | July 5th | 5 PM |
| US Eastern & Atlantic (EDT) | July 5th | 6 PM |
| Brasília (BRT) | July 5th | 7 PM |
| UK & Ireland (BST & IST) | July 5th | 11 PM |
| Australian Eastern Standard (AEST) | July 6th | 8 AM |
The Olmstead lawsuit started with two women from Georgia named Lois Curtis and Elaine Wilson who both had diagnoses of mental health conditions and intellectual disabilities. Lois and Elaine found themselves going in and out of the state’s mental health hospitals dozens of times. After each stay in the hospital, they would go back home; but then, because they did not have help at home, they would start to struggle again and would have to go back to the hospital to get help again. Lois and Elaine asked the state of Georgia to help them get treatment in the community so that they would not have to go live at the state mental hospital off and on. The doctors who treated Lois and Elaine agreed that they were capable of living in the community with appropriate supports. However, Lois and Elaine ended up waiting for years for their community-based supports to be set up.
Sue Jamieson, who was an attorney at the Atlanta Legal Aid Society, filed a lawsuit on behalf of Lois (and then later added Elaine) for supports to be provided in the community. The lawsuit, which is known as Olmstead v. L.C. or “the Olmstead decision,” ended up going to the highest court in the country, the United States Supreme Court. The name Olmstead comes from the name of the Defendant in the case, Tommy Olmstead, who was the Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Human Resources.
The Supreme Court agreed with Lois and Elaine. The Court found that under the Americans with Disabilities Act, or the ADA, it is against the law for the state to discriminate against a person based on their disability. The Court said that the state discriminated against Lois and Elaine by requiring them to live in a mental health hospital. It should have instead provided services for them in the community. By confining them in the hospital, the state was segregating them by requiring them to live with others with disabilities. The Court said that people with disabilities like Lois and Elaine have the right to receive the treatment they needed in an integrated setting if that is what they want, if their doctors agree, and if it doesn’t fundamentally change how the state provides services to people with disabilities.
Source: OlmsteadRights.org (https://www.olmsteadrights.org/about-olmstead/#Brief%20History%20of%20Olmstead)
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