Catch up on what you missed with our Education newsletter, sent weekly. BRICK, N.J. — Cody and Kaleigh Brendle grew up near the Jersey Shore, going out on their grandfather's boat on weekends, learning to swim and riding bikes together. "I was the annoying little sister — like, 'Wait for me, wait for me!'" said Kaleigh.
She remembered standing by in awe at summer camp as her fearless older brother scaled rock-climbing walls and went down waterslides. "I was like, 'Wow, he's doing all this — maybe I can try.'" The siblings said they've always relied on each other for support navigating life as two blind kids, now adults. Cody, 27, lives at home with his parents, and Kaleigh, 23, is starting law school across the country.
Both say there were, without question, many challenges growing up with disabilities. But the two of them are also part of the "ADA generation" — people who came of age under the safeguards of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. And in 1999, the year Cody was born, the Supreme Court handed down the Olmstead decision.
It reinforced the ADA's integration mandate, which says people with disabilities should get to learn, live and work in their communities rather than in institutions. The government made that promise after people with disabilities fought against segregation in institutions, which have a long history of abuse and neglect. "That affects everything," said Kaleigh.
"The integrated setting affects school. It affects where you can work. It affects community-based programs like what my brother uses." Now, the integration mandate — and an entire system of community-based disability services that more than 8 million Americans rely on — are being challenged.
Kaleigh says the right to integration has shaped her life and her brother's life in countless ways. "The integration mandate is why I'm here at all and why I get to go to law school." When the time comes for her to become a parent, she said, it will "make sure that my kid's not taken because I'm disabled." In practice, the integration mandate requires that states provide people with disabilities the services they need to thrive in their homes or communities — in other words, in the most integrated setting possible. For someone with intellectual or developmental disabilities, that could mean a personal care worker helping them to get dressed or eat, or a case manager helping them find a job or housing, among other services.
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