By Ben Singson
Disability agencies are frightened and angered by a federal memo they say rolls back protections for disabled residents.
The Department of Justice issued a memo Thursday arguing states are not required to provide in-home or community care for their disabled residents. The memo, a legal opinion from the department's Office of Legal Counsel, goes back on what many legal scholars had considered settled.
In the memo, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Lanora Pettit argued states are not subject to an "integration mandate" making them provide non-institutional care. Pettit's memo questioned the results of the 1999 Supreme Court case Olmstead v. L.C., which had been interpreted for years to mean states are required to provide programs that integrate people with disabilities into their communities.
Pettit argued the case "held only that a state cannot institutionalize such patients without justification."
"What counts as adequate justification remains an open question," she said.
West-central Illinois disability agencies see the memo as a frightening move on the part of the federal government.
Brooklyn Knapp, executive director of Jacksonville Area Center for Independent Living, said the memo was unsurprising but still "disheartening" to hear from the government.
The center at 15 Permac Road provides a variety of services for hundreds of clients, Knapp said, including Social Security benefit access, personal assistants, accommodations for students, and support groups, among other things. Losing those programs would be "devastating" for JACIL clients, many of whom no longer would be able to live in their own homes if the programs went away, she said.
"All of these disability services feel like they're at threat with what's going on, so it's scary," Knapp said.
Ryan Dowd, executive director of Pathway Services Unlimited, mirrored Knapp's sentiments, saying it is a "concerning" position for the federal government to take. The nonprofit at 1905 W. Morton Ave. provides services to about 120 clients, 65 of whom live in group home settings, Dowd said.
Pathway's group homes are aimed at providing clients an unrestrictive setting in which to live, Dowd said. State-run institutions would provide the exact opposite environment, putting them in "a community prison," and should only be used as a last resort, he said. Should disabled people begin to be returned to institutions, Pathway and similar organizations would have to close, he said.
"I read a comment that this memo, should it come to light, would set us back 50 years in terms of advances made for people with disabilities," Dowd said. "I tend to agree with that."
Pushback from other disability advocacy groups was swift and critical. American Association for People with Disabilities said Thursday that the department's interpretation of Olmstead is incorrect but still will be used "to hurt disabled people, lock us away, end our autonomy over our lives and, in many cases, end our lives altogether."
"The (Department of Justice) just gave the White House and other federal entities a green light to take disabled people back to a time when the state could, at any time, strip us of our homes, families, autonomy and our lives," the association said.
Gov. JB Pritzker's administration has taken steps to keep Illinois' disability programs up and running.
The day before the Department of Justice issued its memo, Pritzker signed into law the creation of the Illinois Department of Disability Advocacy and Guardianship. The department, which will begin operating on July 1, 2027, aims to protect the rights of the state's disabled residents by providing legal counsel and serving as a guardian of last resort, among other things.
"By establishing the Department of Disability Advocacy and Guardianship, we are making it crystal clear that disability rights are a priority in Illinois," Pritzker said. "I am proud to establish this agency, and I will continue to fight hard to empower people with disabilities and their families all across our state."
Neither Knapp nor Dowd are concerned about Illinois recalling its disability programs, they said. Both cited the Pritzker administration in their reasoning, with Dowd saying the current state government, the Jacksonville area and Illinois as a whole have been friendly toward disabled residents. There also are "checks and balances" in place to prevent those programs from going away, he said.
"I'm not terribly worried that this will come to fruition," Dowd said.
Knapp said she has faith in Pritzker's administration to maintain Illinois' current services for disabled people and she is more worried about such programs being rescinded at the federal level.
"We have a governor that believes in providing these services to his constituents," she said. "That's been my saving grace right now."
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Disability agencies push back against Department of Justice memo
