This letter starts with us, because it has to.
National organizations have carried the Latonya Reeves Freedom Act to a House majority twice — and watched it stall twice, because a majority on paper didn't cost anyone in leadership anything politically. That has to change, and it starts with the people whose freedom is actually on the line saying so, publicly, together.
This open letter is by and for people directly impacted by institutionalization: Disabled people and seniors who are currently institutionalized, at risk of institutionalization, or living the daily reality of waiting lists, service caps, and inadequate attendant pay — along with the family members, partners, and support professionals who live that reality alongside us. If you sign, your name is added directly beneath the letter as a public, collective call to the rest of the disability community and to Congress.
To the Disability Community,
We are the people this bill is written for. Some of us are institutionalized right now, in a nursing facility or psychiatric hospital, because our state never offered us a real alternative. Some of us are one hospitalization, one aging parent, or one lost attendant away from that same fate. Some of us have already done what Latonya Reeves did — left the state we grew up in, because freedom was available somewhere else in this country but not at home. All of us are tired of being told that our right to live in the community is a budget line item instead of a civil right.
We are writing to you — the broader disability community, our allies, and every organization that has ever put "nothing about us without us" on a letterhead — because we need you to fight for this with the urgency it deserves, not the urgency it's been getting.
Here is what we know. The Disability Integration Act, this bill's predecessor, reached 236 bipartisan cosponsors in the House in 2019 — a majority of the chamber. It reached a majority again in 2023, with 222 cosponsors. Both times, leadership - on both sides of the aisle - let it die without a vote, because a majority on paper cost them nothing politically. That is the gap we are asking you to help us close: not more cosponsors, but real political consequences for the people sitting on a bill that a majority of the House has already said it supports.
Here is what's at stake right now, today, that makes this more urgent than it has ever been. In June 2026, the Department of Justice issued a legal opinion arguing that Olmstead v. L.C. never actually required states to serve us in the community at all. The following month, DOJ said it would stop enforcing its own Olmstead guidance. The floor we have stood on for 27 years is being kicked out from under us through a memo, not a vote — and a memo can be undone the same way it was written, unless we put this right into statute where only Congress can take it away.
We are not asking you to feel sorry for us. We are asking you to treat our freedom as the emergency it is. Call your representatives whether or not you think your district's member will listen. Show up to a district office. Ask a national organization you belong to what its actual plan is to make leadership pay a price for inaction — not just to add its name to a supporter list. Tell our story, or better yet, help us tell it ourselves. Latonya Reeves crossed state lines to live free. Ed Roberts had to build an entire movement to prove his life was worth supporting outside an institution. We shouldn't have to do either of those things in 2026 — but until this bill is law, some of us still will.
Until we all can be free, none of us is free. We are asking you to act like you believe that too.
In solidarity and in demand of freedom,
People Impacted by Institutionalization, in support of the Latonya Reeves Freedom Act
Signers
Everyone below has added their name to this letter. Signing publicly lists your name here — sharing a personal story is a separate, additional choice (see "Voices from the Community" below).
Disabled people and seniors directly affected
- Mary-Anne Mason — Claymont, Delaware
- Keith (Kaye) Percy — Hillsborough, North Carolina
- Dawn Russell — Denver, Colorado
- Cheryl Hampson — Claymont, Delaware
Sign the letter.
This sign-on is for individuals directly impacted by institutionalization and the people who support them — not organizations.
Voices from the community
Some signers chose to share a bit of their own story along with their name. Every story below is shown only because that person specifically gave permission to share it publicly — that's a separate choice from signing the letter itself.
"I am a poor queer nonbinary disabled ADAPTer. As I balance poverty, disability, aging, and a personal life with disabled partners, I fear for our continued freedom more and more in a bootstraps state, if we do not have a civil right to home. As Olmstead is attacked for its life outside statute, we need LRFA passed to resolve it and stabilize. The alternatives turn back the clock and yield to institutionalization."
"My life physically, emotionally, cognitively and spiritually changed when I became disabled from 2 car accidents. I depend on government programs for the below poverty level income, medical care, foodstamps and housing which allow me to live in my community, where I make music, work as an advocate and volunteer to help both strangers and neighbors. I thrive on the joy which comes from living life among my family and friends."