By KHI NEWS SERVICE

TOPEKA — The Topeka Independent Living Resource Center and Kansas ADAPT, advocacy organizations for people with disabilities, today marked the 15th anniversary of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said unnecessary segregation of the disabled in institutional settings or otherwise violated the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The event at the resource center served as an introduction for the Community Integration Act, which would create a mandatory home- and community-based services alternative to nursing facilities and institutions.

The Community Integration Act, introduced last week by U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, would create a new mandatory Medicaid State Plan benefit so people who are determined eligible for the level of care provided in a nursing facility, intermediate care facility, institution for mental disease or other institutional-type facilities will have the opportunity to receive services in a home- and community-based setting.