The Justice Department sued the state of Colorado Friday for unnecessarily segregating adults with physical disabilities, including older adults, in nursing facilities in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Olmstead v. L.C.
The department previously notified Colorado of its findings of civil rights violations in a March 2022 letter to Colorado Governor Polis. The letter identified steps that Colorado should take to remedy the identified violations.
“Far too often, people with physical disabilities – including older adults – are institutionalized in nursing facilities when they could live in their own homes,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Justice Department is steadfast in its commitment to protect the rights of people with disabilities and ensure the promise of community integration enshrined in the Americans with Disabilities Act.”
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The ADA and the Olmstead decision require state and local governments to make their services for people with disabilities available in the most integrated setting appropriate to each person’s needs, regardless of their age or type of disability.
These include services that help with bathing, dressing, managing medications and preparing meals. But many Coloradans with physical disabilities are denied a meaningful choice to receive the services they need in their own homes and communities, instead of in nursing facilities.
Many of Colorado’s Medicaid-funded nursing facility residents are interested in moving back to their homes and communities and could live at home successfully if the needed services were provided at home.
Yet few Coloradans with physical disabilities who want to move out of nursing facilities, or who are at risk of having to enter nursing facilities, get these community-based State services. Most nursing facility residents are unaware of the services available to help them move to and live successfully in the community.
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