VOPA Supports DOJ-Virginia Olmstead Settlement

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A state agency that looks out for the rights of people with disabilities is advocating for a proposed settlement that would shift the care of Virginians with intellectual disabilities from state-run institutions. 

The Virginia Office for Protection and Advocacy is asking a federal judge to approve the agreement, saying it will increase the safety of people who live in the state’s five training centers. The centers offer housing, therapy, medical care and other services for people with profound disabilities, and the agreement proposes to close four of them by 2020. 

VOPA argues in its brief that the status quo puts those residents at risk of abuse, neglect, injury and death. The group also says that since 2007, it has investigated 184 injuries and deaths at training centers that it thinks were caused by abuse or neglect.