The Olmstead Imperative: The Right to Live in the Community and Beyond

Abstract

Of the 20 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) cases that the United States Supreme Court has decided in the 25 years of the statute’s existence, Olmstead v. L.C. by Zimring is without doubt the most significant for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Olmstead is the only Supreme Court ADA case that specifically addresses the rights of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, but its importance goes well beyond this specific fact. In this essay, I set out the holding of the Olmstead decision, its connection to, and extension of, prior case law, the extent of its subsequent enforcement, and its implications in areas that go beyond the institutional context of the case itself.