Philadelphia Inquirer Article: U.S. and Ga. Settle Case Over Disabled
Philadelphia Inquirer Article: U.S. and Ga. Settle Case Over Disabled
Dear Friends & Colleagues:Good news from Georgia on the expansion of Community Integration under the ADA and Home & Community Based Services. You may recall that National ADAPT, along with several Liberty Resources, Inc. supporters, conducted some strategic advocacy actions at Governor Perdue's Office and CMS's Regional Office in Atlanta not long ago that helped CMS and DOJ push this matter along on the right path.
Please read below the article that appeared recently in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Thanks,
Thomas H. Earle, CEO
Liberty Resources, Inc.
215 634-2000 Ext. 257
www.libertyresources.org
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In the Nation
U.S. and Ga. settle case over disabled
ATLANTA- The Justice Department reached a settlement Tuesday with Georgia in a long-running case targeting what critics call the unlawful segregation of people with mental illness and developmental disabilities in state-run psychiatric hospitals.
In a compromise that officials said could affect other states, Georgia agreed to stop admitting people with developmental disabilities to state hospitals by July 2011 and transfer all those already in the hospitals to community settings by July 2015. It also agreed to offer a range of services to 9,000 people with serious mental illnesses so they can be served in community settings instead of hospitals.
In return, Gov. Sonny Perdue said the state averted a direct federal takeover of its mental-health and developmental-disabilities services.
Georgiabecame a focal point for the rights of people with disabilities in a 1999 U.S. Supreme Court case.- AP