The Disability Integration Act Offers Montanans a Choice
by Marty Blair, Executive Director of the Rural Institute
We are making progress, but we are still trying to figure it out decades later! Twenty years ago, in June 1999, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Olmstead v. LC that unjustified segregation of people with disabilities violated their rights guaranteed under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The ADA, which was signed into law 9 years earlier on July 26, 1990, established the civil rights of people with disabilities and helped them be more included at work and in the community. The Olmstead decision sent a clear message that people with disabilities are entitled to work, live and participate in communities of their choice. The challenge for most people with disabilities is that the community-based services and supports they need to ensure participation are sometimes limited or non-existent. You can’t choose something that doesn’t exist.
AUCD Executive Director, Andy Imparato, shared information with RIIC staff and partners.
Dr. Martin Blair, Executive Director of the Rural Institute for Inclusive Communities and team of pediatricians received a Phase 1 award for the U. S. Maternal and Child Health Bureau’s Care Coordination for Children with Special Health Care Needs Challenge. According to 
The University of Montana’s Rural Institute for Inclusive Communities announces the reopening of the Montana Family to Family Health Information Center (F2F- HIC) in summer 2019. The parent-led Family to Family initiative will improve access to and sharing of evidence-based health information so parents and families of children and youth with complex health needs and health care providers can make informed health care choices.