The developmental disabilities advocacy community lost one of its great national leaders last week with the passing of Lois Curtis. Lois Curtis is best remembered as the L.C. in the Supreme Court decision on Olmstead v. L.C. This Supreme Court ruling, among other things, was a landmark decision that affirmed that the Americans with Disabilities Act afforded people with disabilities the right to live in a “less restrictive settings.” The civil rights case gave people with disabilities and elderly people the right to receive long-term care services in their own homes, instead of an institution.
Curtis, 55, died in her own home outside of Atlanta last Thursday. In a recent story, NPR reported that Sue Jaimeson, the attorney that filed the lawsuit on behalf of Lois Curtis, recalled for an oral history for her former law firm, 30 years ago.
“When Curtis was informed ‘I’m a lawyer,’ and asked ‘what is it you think we could do for you?’ She'd say: 'Get me out of here. Would you please get me out of here? When am I getting out of here?"
Curtis, who had an intellectual disability and was diagnosed with mental illness, kept calling Jamieson from the hospital, asking when she could get out. She got out, along with countless others in her wake.
For more stories on Lois Curtis’ legacy view:
ACL Story: Disability Community Remembers Pioneering Advocate Lois Curtis
NPR story: Lois Curtis, who won a landmark civil rights case for people with disabilities, died
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