Chapter Overview

Lois Curtis spent most of her life institutionalized against her wishes. This was not because she was dangerous or because she was unable to live outside of an institution; neither of these things were true. Rather, Curtis, a Black artist who had diagnoses of schizophrenia and intellectual disability, was confined because she needed state services and support, and an institution is where the state of Georgia preferred to provide those. It was not until 1999 that the U.S. Supreme Court was able to rely upon the Americans with Disabilities Act (the ADA), a law that prohibits discrimination against people based on disability, to declare Curtis’s segregation illegal, allowing her to rejoin the larger community. Because of the ADA, and a lot of advocacy, Curtis was able to spend the remainder of her life enjoying her freedom and making art in her own home in Georgia until her death in 2022 (figure 3.1).

Challenges for people living with mental disorders persist, even today, in all aspects of American life. These challenges stem from misinformation, discrimination, and barriers that have been built into our society and its institutions over time. However, laws such as the ADA and rulings made by courts like the one in Lois Curtis’s case have empowered many people to assert and protect their rights to live and access opportunities in the same ways that people without disabilities do. Through decades of activism, people with disabilities fought for and won many of the laws you will learn about in this chapter, beginning with the fundamentals of financial security and access to education and moving on to equitable health care, transportation, and housing. With every step, it was further established that people with disabilities, including people with mental disorders, are entitled to fully engage in our society. When disability-related laws are applied in and around the criminal justice system, they impact the population that is the focus of this text—justice-involved people with mental disorders—the professionals who work in that system, and our larger communities. In this chapter, you will learn about the activism behind the legal rights of people with disabilities and about some of the most important laws and legal decisions that affect individuals with mental disorders in the criminal justice system.

Licenses and Attributions for Chapter Learning Objectives and Overview

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“Chapter Overview” by Anne Nichol is licensed under CC BY 4.0.

All Rights Reserved Content

Figure 3.1. Lois Curtis displaying her art © Robin Rayne is all rights reserved and included with permission.