The U.S. Supreme Count case, L.C. vs. Olmstead, has been around for over ten years but its full meaning as yet to be realized.  The case basically says that the ADA gives people with disabilities the right not to be unnecessarily segregated.  Just as the government cannot tell all people of a race or religion that they have to live in one place, it can't require people with disabilities to all live together (say, in a nursing home or state training center) in order to receive services.

Just to clear it up right away, the "Olmstead Act" was passed by Congress in 1909 and addressed the authority of the U.S. President over the affairs of Puerto Rico.  Many people use "Olmstead Act" to refer to L.C. vs. Olmstead.  In fact, so many do it that a Google search using "Olmstead Act" results almost entirely in stuff about the ADA case.  This drives me to distraction.  But I digress....

In the last two years, the U.S. Department of Justice (USDOJ) has taken a much more active role in enforcing Olmstead.  One result is a recent Settlement Agreement between the U.S. and Georgia.  In the agreement, Georgia agreed to stop putting people with developmental disabilities in its state hospitals and, instead, create a system of community services to assist them.  It also agreed to build a more comprehensive community mental health system including new 'Assertive Community Treatment Teams," "Community Support Teams," "Intensive Case Management Teams," "Crisis Service Centers," housing, employment, peer services and more.

Fairly soon after completing the settlement in Georgia, USDOJ sent a letter to Oregon saying that it was starting an investigation of how our state is complying with Olmstead.  DRO has asserted for years that Oregon does not do a good job on Olmstead.  We have sued the state a number of times on behalf of state hospital patients who are not discharged for months and years even though the hospital says the patients are no longer needing hospital-level care.  We continue to monitor patients who are stuck in the hospital while a convoluted placement process in which there is no ultimate authority bumbles along.

Oregon has just - just -  started a effort to reform how it uses its community residential beds.  They call it "Aim High."  Oregon still does not have an "Olmstead Plan" which many states have to show how they are working to get people out of state hospitals.  DRO has had to use court action and the threat of court action in local communities that fight to keep people with mental disabilities from living in their neighborhoods.  The state has never asserted these rights for patients. 

Lastly, in the midst of severe budget cuts, Oregon plans to build a new, large state hospital in Junction City.  The cost of operating this "big box" in the middle of a field in the Willamette Valley has to come from somewhere.  Will it come from school budgets?  State police?  Corrections?  Or, maybe, the desperately strapped community mental health budget?  If community mental health is cut to staff Junction City, Oregon will be the anti-Olmstead state: it will create a structure of unnecessary segregation of individuals with mental disabilities.

In sum, Oregon has been and remains content to leave people in expensive, unnecessary state hospital beds.  It is planning for an even greater emphasis on segregated care.  This is why USDOJ is back for more investigation.

According to news reports, a young man from Corvallis decided it was a good idea to blow up a bunch of adults and children at the Christmas tree lighting event at Pioneer Square in Portland.  The reports say that he planned to leave the country after detonating his bomb.

The stories indicate that this was not some grand conspiracy directed from someplace like Yemen or Pakistan. It appears to be, instead, the idea of a 19 year old graduate of Westview High School and former OSU student.

The news also tells us that a father and son stand accused of deciding it was a good idea to plant a bomb at a bank in Wilsonville to protest either the bank, the federal government or both.  They are now being tried for aggravated murder in the death of a policeman who was trying to disarm the bomb.

And then there is the news story about Eliza Schaaf.  She is a 20 year old woman with intellectual disabilities who enrolled in a ceramics class at Southern Oregon University.  After regularly attending class, Eliza was thrown out of school with just three classes to go.  SOU decided that a person with intellectual disabilities could not be allowed to audit one of its classes even though Eliza was not seeking college credit.

Eliza and her family are very disappointed.  So are her fellow students who have protested the university’s actions.  So are many citizens, newspapers and elected officials who have urged SOU to change its mind.  The university is not moved by these appeals and, just yesterday, turned down Eliza’s appeal of its decision.

Eliza has not planted a bomb, except metaphorically.  For details, visit her web site at http://www.elizaschaaf.com/. 

You will see that Eliza is a direct victim of disability discrimination.  She has been treated with ignorance by a university and with disregard by a publicly-funded and supposedly accountable institution.  Her grievance is not abstract or theoretical in the slightest.  In response, she has chosen to courageously take on this institution using the tools of communication, developing community support, following appeals procedures and working to educate decision-makers.

We need to support Eliza not just because she has been the victim of an injustice but because of how she has chosen to respond.  She speaks not just for herself, but for the disability community and for all Americans who believe that we can find justice by reaching out to the hearts and minds of fellow citizens.  

I’ve sent my letter to SOU officials decrying their actions.  Please join with me with more letters and protest.

Now that most of the votes have been counted, it's time to start planning for the year ahead.  In January, Oregon will have a new governor, John Kitzhaber, a House of Representatives that is evenly split between Republicans and Democrats, and a Senate that (as of this writing) will have a narrow Democratic majority.

By far, the biggest issue the new government will face is the state budget.  Present projections predict a $3.2 Billion difference between state revenue and the cost of continuing existing state services through the 2011 to 2013 budget cycle.  Cuts will need to come from an already slimmed-down budget that took 9% across-the-board reductions this year and may require more downward adjustment if revenue forecasts do not pick up.

What can we expect from the new legislature?  If we are fortunate, the even balance of parties will encourage cooperation and moderation.  A spirit of common purpose and compromise should include the Governor who will have to be a part of deal-making.  With equal participation, neither party should be able to blame the other for the effect of unavoidable service cuts.

If we are not fortunate, there could be chaos, where the more strident voices jockey for advantage and seek to position themselves to tar the other party with accusations of all sorts.  This would be a disservice both to the people of Oregon and the institution of the legislature.  Hopefully, we Oregonians can avoid what seems to be a trend elsewhere.

Oregon's disability community is now faced with some difficult choices.  Legislators will be looking to us for suggestions about where to cut and how to cut.  If we refuse to engage, the decisions will be made without us.  

As in any difficult decision making process, advocacy groups need to start with defining their core values and envisioning the services that they would like to see down the road.   How can we build toward the world we want to see with the least damage to recipients?

To begin with, we need to assure that safety of our most vulnerable, but in doing so we should not underestimate what individuals and their families can accomplish with adequate community supports.  We must move away from services that default to institutional settings and expand brokerage and managed care models of community residential and support services.

In tight budget times, supported employment services are often on the chopping board.  But in these harsh economic times, does it make sense to keep people in positions of economic dependence and isolation?  

This is the time for advocates to put their values to the test.  If we don't, other interests will prevail.