A memo from the U.S. Department of Justice is sending shockwaves through the disability rights community, with advocates warning it could undermine decades of civil rights protections for Americans with disabilities.
The Justice Department’s legal opinion takes aim at protections that have historically treated placing disabled individuals in institutions as an option of last resort. Those protections have long been considered a cornerstone of disability rights law in the United States.
Disability advocates say the memo signals a troubling shift in how the federal government views the rights of people with disabilities to live in their communities rather than in institutional settings. Many fear that if the opinion is acted upon, it could open the door to a return to widespread institutionalization — a practice that civil rights efforts over many years have worked to move away from.
The Justice Department building in Washington, D.C. is where the opinion originated, and the move has drawn swift attention from advocacy groups nationwide who say the stakes could not be higher for vulnerable Americans who depend on community-based support and services.
