CPR Condemns Administration Attack on the Rights of Individuals with Disabilities to be Integrated in their Communities

A fundamental and unifying principal of disability rights and disability justice has been the right to live in the community—rather than to be involuntarily placed in institutions.  Today, the Administration has aggressively rejected the rights of people with disabilities to live in the community.  On June 18, 2026, the Office of Legal Counsel to the President issued a “slip opinion” disavowing decades of federal case law protecting the rights of individuals with disabilities to receive services in their homes and communities and to avoid unnecessary institutionalization.   For the last 50 years CPR has been dedicated to “bringing people home” and we condemn this latest assault on people with disabilities.

This opinion – issued just days before the 27^th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in Olmstead v. L.C. –  is a direct attack on the disability community.  Its assertion that public entities are not legally required to treat people with disabilities in the most integrated settings appropriate for their needs, conflicts with established federal court precedent and the position of several former presidential administrations—both Republican and Democrat, including the first Trump Administration. This “opinion” is an affront to people with disabilities and their families,    

The “opinion” of the Office of Legal Counsel does not and cannot change federal law—instead it binds agencies of the Executive Branch.   Nor does it overturn the Supreme Court’s interpretation of federal disability law in the historic Olmstead decision.   Rather, it signals this Administration’s intention to further undermine the critical protections and programs people with disabilities depend on to live as full and contributing members of society.

For more than 30 years, protections guaranteed by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), including the Integration Mandate, have led to healthier, safer, and more inclusive communities.   These foundational civil rights laws have resulted in the development of community service systems around the country.  Those services enable children with disabilities to remain connected to their families and local schools.  They support older adults who wish to remain in their own home and avoid nursing facility placement, and they provide access to supported housing services needed by many people with disabilities to avoid homelessness and costly institutional care. Contrary to the unfounded assertion in the “opinion”, the ADA and the Olmstead decision have not created homelessness—instead they have resulted in the creation of housing for hundreds of thousands of people with disabilities.