Olmstead Day and the Right to Community Life

Where people live and receive services affects whether they can take part in everyday community life. On June 22, 1999, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that unjustified segregation of people with disabilities is discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The decision continues to shape how state and local governments provide services that allow people with disabilities to live and participate in their communities.

A Decision Rooted in Community Choice

The case began with Lois Curtis and Elaine Wilson, two women with mental illness and developmental disabilities who were admitted to a state-run psychiatric hospital in Georgia. After they received treatment, mental health professionals determined that each woman was ready to move to a community-based program. However, they remained in the hospital for several years.

Curtis filed a lawsuit under the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Wilson later joined the case. Their legal challenge led to the historic Olmstead decision.

The decision recognized that unnecessary segregation can prevent people with disabilities from interacting with others, participating in community life, and making choices about their daily lives. It established an important civil rights principle: People with disabilities must receive services in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs.

Today, the Olmstead decision continues to set the legal framework for efforts across the country to provide community-based services and reduce unnecessary segregation. In Minnesota, that work is guided in part by the state’s Olmstead Plan.

How Minnesota’s Olmstead Plan Began

The Jensen Settlement Agreement was the catalyst for Minnesota’s Olmstead Plan. The settlement followed a federal class-action lawsuit over the state-operated Minnesota Extended Treatment Options program. The lawsuit alleged that the program unlawfully used restraint and seclusion and violated the rights of people with disabilities.

As part of the settlement, Minnesota was required to develop an Olmstead Plan.

In 2013, Gov. Mark Dayton created the Olmstead Subcabinet. The group included leaders from state agencies who were charged with developing the plan. Over the next two years, the group developed and revised the plan and gathered public input.

A revised version was submitted to the U.S. District Court in August 2015, and the court approved it the following month.

The plan provides measurable goals for state agencies working to ensure that people with disabilities can live, work, learn, and participate fully in community life. It helps turn the principles of the Olmstead decision into coordinated action across state government.

Minnesota is now developing its next Olmstead Plan. In spring 2026, the Olmstead Implementation Office gathered public feedback through seven virtual meetings and a 30-day survey. That feedback is being shared with state agency teams as they revise the draft plan.

Olmstead Day in Minnesota

Olmstead Day is an opportunity to recognize how the decision changed disability rights and public policy. It is also a time to acknowledge that barriers to community participation and unnecessary segregation remain.

Minnesota’s Olmstead Plan helps put the decision’s civil rights principles into practice by setting goals, measuring progress, and guiding the work of state agencies.

Follow the Olmstead Plan update to learn how Minnesota is developing its next plan.

Photo credit: © Tom Olin – Tom Olin Collection