During the 2025 Colorado legislative session, we saw a very important bill pass for the disability community in our state. The Community Integration Plan for Individuals with Disabilities (HB25-1017) requires the government of Colorado to provide services to people with disabilities in the least restrictive environment possible. While already federally recognized, this bill both codifies and strengthens a Supreme Court decision passed in 1999, Olmstead v. L.C., into our state law. This important legal mandate came directly as a result of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
When the ADA was passed in 1990, it established that people with disabilities could not be discriminated against and must be allowed equal access in all areas of public life in the United States. But the impact did not stop there, as it set the stage for the landmark Olmstead decision, which pushed the promise of inclusion further. This case found that segregating people with disabilities in institutions, away from their community, is a form of discrimination under the ADA. The decision affirmed that people with disabilities cannot be shut away and laid a foundation for community-based living and integration.
Community integration is a vital human right. Participating in the community allows people with disabilities to pursue livelihoods, achieve meaningful personal goals, build friendships and love, and feel the satisfaction that independence and choice bring. Integration strengthens communities, as well. When people with disabilities are included, neighborhoods become richer in diversity, empathy, and perspective. Segregation, however, strips us of this opportunity to grow and become a stronger society. In segregated spaces, away from the community's eye, we have seen the history of discrimination and abuse unfold as well.
True integration ensures that people with disabilities are seen as full people, not as separate or "other".
Since the establishment of the Olmstead decision, our country has made significant progress. But achieving full community integration requires ongoing commitment and change.
Implementing Olmstead means prioritizing services in a person's home and community, creating accessible housing and transportation, and other forms of investment that we must pursue in public policy, the economy, and ourselves. It also means listening to people with disabilities about what is needed and giving them a seat at the table. The next time you are in a space where decisions are being made, ask yourself, "Where is the disability community in all of this?"
Underfunded services, long waitlists, and persistent stigmas are just some of the barriers that are still prevalent across our country. Without a commitment to tackling these barriers, we prevent people with disabilities from participating in their communities and advance harmful isolation. To truly realize the vision of the ADA, Olmstead, and now HB25-1017's Community Integration Plan in Colorado, we must continue to prioritize our investment in community living and desegregation.
The question is: How will you invest?
Author: Krystal Dawson is the producer of The Arc of Aurora's educational program, THINK+change. The Program is dedicated to spreading knowledge and awareness to improve the lives of people with developmental and other disabilities, and their families.