Conclusion
L.C. requires that states act to end discrimination against people
with mental illnesses or other disabilities by unnecessarily causing them to
be institutionalized. To demonstrate compliance with this legal mandate, states
must develop comprehensive plans to identify individuals who are or are at
risk of being institutionalized unnecessarily. Such plans must address the
need to fund appropriate community care. A state's plan should address how
the state can increase community resources by expanding covered services under
Medicaid, expanding Medicaid eligibility, redirecting state hospital spending,
making full use of federal block grant resources, accessing federal programs
to support housing in community settings for persons with mental illnesses
and ensuring that all children and adults who are disabled by mental illnesses
receive the SSI benefits to which they are entitled. Finally, states should
commit an increased level of funding from their own general fund for provision
of appropriate community care for individuals with mental illnesses.
People with mental disabilities have been waiting for more than 40 years for
the appropriate array of community-based services they expected when states
began down-sizing their large, inhumane institutions. L.C. does not
raise a new issue; it merely clarifies the legal basis under the Americans
with Disabilities Act for ensuring alternative community services, and it requires
states to act now.
Consumers with mental illness, and their families and advocates, will be watching
closely to see how states respond.
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