[NYAPRS Enews] CO: Feds Assert that NC Budge Cuts Violate Rights of People w Disabilities

[Harvey Rosenthal]

NYAPRS Note: In what may become a landmark lawsuit, the federal
government backed North Carolina legal rights groups' contention that
state cuts that denied North Carolinians with disabilities their legal
rights to live in the community was a violation of their ADA rights.
Obama Administration Justice Department officials did the same recently
in New York's adult home lawsuit as well.

 

Feds: N.C. Budget Cuts Violate Civil Rights Of Disabled

By Michael Biesecker   Charlotte Observer  December 24, 2009

 

The federal government said in a legal filing Wednesday that state
budget cuts to programs that help people with mental illness and
developmental disabilities live on their own violate the individuals'
civil rights.

 

The advocacy group Disability Rights North Carolina sued the state
Department of Health and Human Services in federal court earlier this
month over the cuts, which slashes state money that helps the disabled
pay for home health care, rent and other expenses.

 

That lawsuit got a boost Wednesday when the Civil Rights Division of the
U.S. Department of Justice filed a brief supporting the case, asking a
federal judge to issue an injunction against the state.

 

Disability Rights filed the case Dec. 11 on behalf of Marlo M. and
Durwood W., two N.C. residents who rely on state services to live in
their communities rather than an institution. Their last names are
withheld in the legal filings to ensure their medical privacy.

 

A preliminary hearing in the case will be held in U.S. District Court in
Raleigh on Monday.

 

Renee McCoy, a spokeswoman for the state Health and Human Services
department, said Wednesday she could not comment on pending litigation.

 

Durwood W., 49, has lived in his own apartment for 10 years as the
recipient of federal and state dollars called Thomas S. funds, named
after a class action lawsuit that successfully challenged the lack of
services for people with both intellectual disabilities and mental
illness. Marlo M., 39, has also lived in her own apartment for more than
five years supported by federal and state dollars.

 

Though legislators exempted Thomas S. clients from most of the severe
cuts in the current state budget, lawmakers did not make preserving such
services mandatory. Local community mental health agencies have enacted
further cuts and restrictions.

 

The Beacon Center, the local mental health management agency for
Edgecombe, Greene, Nash and Wilson counties, is the agency making the
service cuts affecting Durwood and Marlo, who require access to
24-hour-a-day care to live in their apartments.

 

In its lawsuit, Disability Rights argues that the loss of these
state-funded services will probably result in their relocation to an
institution, such as a state mental hospital or group home, thus
violating the Olmstead decision.

 

In that landmark case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that unnecessary
institutionalization of individuals with disabilities is a form of
discrimination under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.

 

Advocates hope a favorable ruling could prevent others from facing
similar cuts.

 

In its brief Wednesday, lawyers for the U.S. Justice Department wrote
that North Carolina's lack of protections for Thomas S. funding violates
federal law, and that it would cost taxpayers even more to care for them
in an institution.

 

The Justice Department has also recently filed briefs in support of
similar Olmstead cases in Florida, Connecticut, Virginia and New York.

 

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/local/story/1142468.html 

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