2025 Disability Rights and Justice Series: Fifty Years After Willowbrook

This program will examine the experiences of the Willowbrook Class Members as informing the wider community of the challenges facing the modern service delivery system. This CLE will examine the Willowbrook consent decree as the foundational document and how the consent decree enabled Class Members and ultimately thousands of people with I/DD to live in community settings. We will also discuss the role of the Consumer Advisory Board (CAB), exploring how the CAB’s responsibilities have changed over the decades, particularly to accommodate health care decision making for Class Members (both major medical and life sustaining treatment). The program will also highlight the risk for potential Class Members (and other people with I/DD) to return to institutional settings when there are not enough resources to support them in the community.