A “Resounding” Win for Disability Rights Advocates in Washington, D.C.

A photo of the Washington Monument in Washington D.C.

On December 31, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued “a resounding judgment” in the class action case Brown, et al v. District of Columbia, finding that the District of Columbia has violated the rights of D.C. residents with disabilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). 

“The Court’s decision followed a trial in 2021, in which the Plaintiffs proved that D.C. failed to inform D.C. nursing facility residents that they could leave nursing facilities and receive home health services in their communities. The D.C. government also failed to help them access community-based services and housing options needed to transition back to the community,” explains Lyndsay Niles, Managing Attorney at Disability Rights DC at University Legal Services.

A Ruling Against Illegal Discrimination 

“Under the ‘integration mandate’ of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Olmstead v. L.C., state and local governments must provide community-based services to people with disabilities whenever possible. Unnecessarily segregating people in institutions is illegal discrimination. If people with disabilities who are institutionalized in nursing facilities are to benefit from the promise of the integration mandate, they necessarily require that governmental entities provide them with information and assistance.”

“Today’s ruling affirms the right of thousands of people with disabilities to choose how and where they live,” explained Kelly Bagby, Vice President of Litigation at AARP Foundation. “For far too long, thousands of people forced to live in D.C. nursing homes were denied this right. Today, people with disabilities around the country are applauding the Court’s recognition of their civil rights.”

The ruling comes as a result of 14 years of legal efforts on behalf of thousands of nursing facility residents with disabilities living in nursing facilities in D.C. These actions were led by attorneys from Disability Rights DC at University Legal Services with co-counsel including AARP Foundation Litigation and the law firms of Arent Fox, LLP, and Terris Pravlik & Millian.


Learn more: 

  • Listen to Bob Kafka’s “Barrier Free Futures” podcast, as he interviews Marjorie Rifkin, who, for more than 20 years, served as staff and managing attorney at Disability Rights DC and litigating attorney in the Brown v DC Olmstead nursing home case.