40 Big Ideas

Summary

The estimated number of people who have been ordered into guardianship and lost their legal right to make decisions has tripled since 1995. Supported decision-making is an alternative to overbroad and undue guardianships. People can get the advice they need to make their own decisions with supported decision-making. It allows people to choose advisers who will explain options and choices in a way they can understand.

The Americans with Disabilities Act is more than a law. It’s a promise. When the ADA says that disabilities “in no way diminish a person’s right to fully participate in all aspects of society,” people with disabilities that they have — and will have — the same rights to live, work, learn, and play as everyone else.

In the 35 years since the ADA, American society has shown a real and growing recognition of people with disabilities’ rightful place in the workforce and community. Yet, at a time when people with disabilities should have more opportunities to be more independent than ever before, far too many are losing their right to choose where and with whom to live, whether to work, and what healthcare to receive. That’s because, as the National Council on Disability found , the estimated number of people who have been put into guardianship and lost their legal right to make decisions has tripled since 1995.

Some people need guardianship. Therefore, it must always be an option. But overbroad and undue guardianships, those that are not needed or take away more rights than necessary, are an ever-increasing threat to the ADA’s promise, preventing people with disabilities from exercising rights that others take for granted.

Supported decision-making (SDM) can help people with disabilities protect and exercise their rights. As Impact has reported, when people use SDM, they choose and work with supporters who help them understand the situations and choices they face so that they can make their own decisions. We all use SDM: we all get help when we need it, we all seek advice when we want it. SDM, like the ADA, simply says that people with disabilities are part of the all.

In that way, SDM helps people avoid guardianships they don’t need by empowering them to make their own decisions instead of having a guardian choose for them. Just as importantly, SDM transforms the ADA from words to reality. The ADA says that people with disabilities must have equal opportunities for employment. SDM helps people complete job applications, consider offers, and negotiate accommodations. The ADA protects the right to live in the community. SDM helps people identify and consider housing options. The ADA guarantees the right to participate in civic life. SDM helps people register, consider the issues, and vote.

Since 2012, when I had the honor to represent Margaret “Jenny” Hatch in the first trial to recognize a person’s right to use SDM as an alternative to guardianship, more than half of the states have passed laws protecting that right. These states, like Jenny and countless people across the country, realize a simple, undeniable truth: you cannot have equal rights if society believes you’re not fit to exercise them. SDM encourages and enables people to take the ADA out of the books and into their lives, keeping the promise made 35 years ago.