The Cody Unser First Step Foundation

An Open Letter About Olmstead

I became paralyzed in 1999, the same year the Supreme Court decided Olmstead v. L.C.

For my entire adult life, Olmstead has represented a promise: that disabled people belong in our communities, not institutions.

On June 18, 2026 just days before the 27th anniversary of Olmstead, the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel released a memo that has sent shockwaves through the disability community.

Today, I am outraged and I am deeply disturbed by an interpretation that seeks to undermine decades of disability rights protections and legal precedent.

To some, this may sound like a debate over legal interpretation. To me, and to millions of disabled Americans, it feels like a direct challenge to our autonomy, dignity, and freedom.

Olmstead wasn't about special treatment. It was about recognizing that disabled people have the right to live, work, learn, love, and participate in our communities alongside everyone else.

We know what came before. We know the history of Willowbrook and countless other institutions where disabled people were hidden away, neglected, abused, and stripped of their humanity.

That history is not ancient history. Many people who survived it are still alive today.

As America prepares to celebrate 250 years of independence, I find it absolutely heartbreaking that disabled Americans are once again being forced to defend our right to live in our own communities.

Disability does not discriminate. It does not care who you voted for, where you live, how much money you make, or what you believe. Any one of us can become disabled at any moment.

What kind of country do we want to be?

One that invests in inclusion, independence, and community?

Or one that turns its back on decades of progress and tells disabled people that our place is somewhere out of sight?

I became paralyzed the year Olmstead was decided.

I never imagined I would spend 2026 defending the promise it made.

To our federal leaders: protect Olmstead.

To our state leaders: be prepared to defend it.

I am calling on elected officials at every level to stand with the disability community and reject any effort to weaken the right of disabled Americans to live in our homes, our neighborhoods, and our communities.

The right to live in our communities should not depend on a ZIP code.

It is a civil right.

We know our history.

We will not go back.

— Cody Unser
Founder, The Cody Unser First Step Foundation
Board Member, New Mexico Statewide Independent Living Council



The United States Department of Justice
Senator Martin Heinrich
Senator Ben Ray Luján
Rep. Melanie Stansbury
Rep. Gabe Vasquez
New Mexico Division Voc Rehab
Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández
NM Governor's Commission on Disability
Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham