For this week’s post on Black Trailblazers in the disability rights community, we’re spotlighting Lois Curtis, lead plaintiff in the Olmstead v. L.C. case (1999) that established the right of people with disabilities to live where they wish and to receive adequate support.  

For more than 15 years of her life, Ms. Curtis was forcibly confined to state psychiatric hospitals for people with mental illness and intellectual disabilities. She and her fellow plaintiffs in the Olmstead case sought to change how people with disabilities and mental illness are treated and cared for in this country, asserting their rights to exercise greater agency in their lives and live in a fully integrated setting. 

If you don’t know Curtis’ story and her role in bringing greater independence to people with disabilities through supported living, check out this NPR story about her life (link in bio), and the continued fight to put Olmstead into practice.  

[image description: Ms. Curtis sits at a table in a conference room, laughing as she leans forward with her elbows resting on the table. She wears a black shirt with maroon and yellow stripes, and yellow hoop earrings. Two men in dress clothes sit at the table with her on her right-hand side]