A federal District Court judge today stopped a government mental health management agency from enacting cuts that would lead to two disabled people losing their apartments.
The Beacon Center, the local mental health agency that covers Wilson, Greene, Edgecombe, and Nash counties planned to cut the state money that helps two mentally ill and developmentally disabled residents live in their own apartments.
The two Wilson-area residents, Marlo M., 39, and Durwood W., 49, sued with the help of Disability Rights North Carolina, which argued that the move violated the federal Americans with Disabilities Act and a U.S. Supreme Court decision that gives disabled people the right to live in the least restrictive settings possible.
The U.S. Department of Justice supported their argument. The federal government has participated in cases in several other states where the civil rights law for the disabled was at issue, said Justice Department trial attorney David W. Knight. In other cases, the Justice Department was trying to help residents move to community living, he said. This is the first case the federal government was arguing for people already living in the community fighting imminent institutionalization, Knight said.
U.S District Judge Terrence W. Boyle stopped The Beacon Center's cut, at least until a ruling on the merits of the suit, saying Marlo M. and Durwood W. would suffer irreparable harm, and that it was in the public interest to have state programs and funding adhere to the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The Beacon Center's lawyer, Christopher P. Brewer, said he did not know whether they would appeal.
Vicki Smith, executive director for Disability Rights North Carolina, called Boyle's decision "a victory for people with disabilities in North Carolina."
