Before the case of Lois Curtis vs Olmstead, individuals with disabilities were subject to institutionalization, meaning that they were taken away from their families and put into medical facilities. The outcome of the case ultimately prevented institutionalization from occurring in many scenarios, allowing people with disabilities to return to a degree of normalcy.
Lois Curtis was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and was diagnosed with cognitive and developmental disabilites . Curtis often ran away from home because of her struggles in school, leading to her parents calling the police to try and find her. This pattern led to Curtis being institutionalized at the age of 11.
Institutionalization often leads to cruel treatment for people with disabilites. Curtis was treated as if she was a pyschiatric patient instead of someone with an intellectual disability, and was often left heavily sedated. Her treatments were not at all specific to her condition, leading to no visible progress and more harm done than good. By the time she was 19 years old, Curtis had voiced her displeasure in living in an institution and wanted to live in a community where she could interact with other people. Her requests were denied, eventually leading to her career in advocacy.
Curtis met a lawyer, Sue Jamieson, while residing in the Georgia Regional Hospital. Jamieson was a lawyer at the Atlanta legal society, and Curtis asked for her help to enable her to leave the institution. Curtis, along with a fellow institutionalized individual, sued the state of Georgia for denying her the right to live in a community. In 1999, the case reached the Supreme Court, where it was ruled that people with disabilities should have the right to live in the least restrictive environment possible.
The case provided the foundation to move people with disabilities into community based care. Curtis went on to live in her own apartment for the rest of her life, and met President Barack Obama in 2011. She became an artist, specializing in portraits, and lived independently off of her earnings. The case of Olmstead v LC is often referred to as the "Brown vs Board of education for disability rights" because of the sheer amount of change it produced.
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