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July 26 marks the 35th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which begins with these words: “The Congress finds that physical or mental disabilities in no way diminish a person’s right to participate fully in all aspects of society…” The ADA goes on to prohibit discrimination against people with disabilities in several key areas, including employment, transportation, public accommodations and access to government services.*
Because older adults can develop physical or mental disabilities as they age, the ADA’s protections have been especially important for the people AARP Foundation serves. People with disabilities who are placed in settings that unnecessarily restrict their freedoms — frequently the case in long-term care and nursing facilities — are, by definition, discriminated against because of their disabilities. Older people in these circumstances, who are already prone to being socially isolated, become increasingly segregated from their communities. Studies show this can have numerous negative health effects.
Of crucial significance in this regard, the Supreme Court bolstered the power of the ADA in 1999 with its landmark decision in L.C. v. Olmstead, finding that the unnecessary segregation of people who have disabilities in institutions is illegal discrimination that violates the ADA.
Protecting Nursing Facility Residents in Court
AARP Foundation began bringing class action lawsuits seeking to apply the Supreme Court’s decision to people in nursing facilities in 2006. Four years later, AARP Foundation attorneys filed a class action suit against the District of Columbia on behalf of a woman named Ivy Brown and thousands more nursing facility residents who wanted to move back into their communities in D.C. with necessary Medicaid-funded supports and services rather than be forced to remain in nursing facilities.
On the last day of 2024, some 14 years later, a federal judge for the U.S. District Court for DC ruled that the D.C. government failed to offer and help facilitate in-home care alternatives that the nursing facility residents were entitled to. The “ruling affirms the right of thousands of people with disabilities to choose how and where they live,” said Kelly Bagby, vice president of litigation at AARP Foundation. “People with disabilities around the country are applauding the court’s recognition of their civil rights.”
An Important Precedent
The victory means that the D.C. government has to implement case management services to enable current nursing facility residents to access available community-based services rather than remain stuck in nursing facilities. This could set an important precedent and could mean a significant improvement in quality of life for countless thousands of older people living with low income and with disabilities — fulfilling the ADA’s guarantee of the right “to participate fully in all aspects of society.”
One early beneficiary of the case, Vietress Bacon, was able to move to her own home after being institutionalized. “I just wish that other people could get out,” Vietress commented before the judge’s ruling.
AARP Foundation attorneys are currently actively pursuing several other cases involving violations of the ADA, including understaffing in assisted living facilities and failures to protect the rights of people with disabilities to live as they choose.
Learn more about the legal advocacy work of AARP Foundation.
* AARP Foundation has addressed other violations of the ADA in employment, housing, and transportation.