ADAPT Blogswarm, Spring Action 2010

This post is part of the ADAPT Blogswarm, Spring Action 2010
Olmstead enforcement is a central priority of the Obama Administration. The President has declared 2010 the "Year of Community Living," and he has directed the government to redouble its efforts to enforce the integration mandate. In this Administration, the Department of Justice has brought, intervened in, or participated as an amicus or an interested party in, Olmstead litigation in Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, New York, North Carolina and Virginia, and There are ongoing investigations or litigation with an Olmstead component in California, Iowa, Maryland, Nebraska, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas and the District of Columbia. To learn more, download the following brief:

DOJ Says States Can't Cut Services At Will

The It's Normal value statement recognizes that disability is a natural part of the human condition. Our discussion is about our common humanity

In that vain, I want you to meet a friend of mine named Marc Chambers. Marc lives in an apartment near Golden gate Park. Marc uses a wheelchair and an augmentative communication device called a Dyna Vox.

Marc recently moved out of Laguna Honda Hospital, the nursing home where he resided for the past 10.5 years. Marc went to court in order to be able to leave the nursing home. The court said San Francisco had to improve community based services. A limited amount of people like Marc are beginning to thrive in accessible apartments in neighborhoods throughout San Francisco (not just in the TL). This is largely due to legal action and political work.

This is a video I took of Marc at his housewarming party. I am blind.
"But the world in which the disabled, too, have a right to live is also on the streets, the highways and byways, in public buildings, and other public places, in the schools and colleges, in the public service and private callings, in the factories, shops and offices, in short, in all the places where men are, go, live, work, and play. The policy of the law * * * should be by negative ban and positive fostering, to permit, enable and encourage men to be a part of their communities to the full extent of their physical capacities." Dr. Jacobus tenBroek

This is what Olmstead is about.