By Mike Emery
Next year marks the 25th anniversary of the historic Olmstead Act, a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court prohibiting the segregation of people with intellectual disabilities.
At the heart of this landmark decision were two women with developmental disabilities and mental illness who were permitted to live in community-based treatment programs rather than hospitals or institutions.
Since its inception in 1999, the Olmstead Act has made a difference in the lives of countless Americans. Now, two University of Houston Law Center students— Frank DeLaPortilla and Masha Pobedinsky— are further examining the lasting effects of the Olmstead Act. Their work is supported by a UH Population Health Graduate Student Mini Grant.
DeLaPortilla and Pobedinsky share an interest in health law and have partnered on other projects. Under the guidance of Jessica Roberts, UH law professor and Leonard H. Childs Chair in Law, both students developed an enthusiasm for shaping and supporting policies affecting disability law. They are now further collaborating with Roberts, who is serving as their project’s faculty advisor.
“This project is about the implementation of federal mandates to increase community integration of people with disabilities,” Pobedinsky said. “From our research, we will propose qualitative studies which could be used for future grants and research. This particular project, however, is focused on contributing to existing resources as well as developing new articles for publication.”
The time is certainly right for this project, she added. With the silver anniversary of the Olmstead Act on the horizon, Pobedinsky and DeLaPortilla are looking forward to sharing additional research and scholarly publications related to this groundbreaking legal decision.
“It will be a good opportunity to reflect on how far we have come along since 1999 and contribute to the growing scholarship around this issue,” Pobedinsky added.
Some of the areas Pobedinsky and DeLaPortilla will explore include the role treatment professionals play in promoting community integration and how health care innovations might be leveraged to develop positive outcomes.
Previously, Pobedinsky volunteered at the Austin State Supported Living Center, where she became familiar with the Olmstead Act and its impact on those with mental or developmental disabilities. Her classmate DeLaPortilla also has experience in this area as he presently is employed with the advocacy group Disability Rights Texas.
Their passion for supporting community members with disabilities led them to launch the Disability Law Society on campus. The funding opportunity provided by UH Population Health was almost like serendipity for the two like-minded researchers.
“When Masha showed me the grant and we began to slowly piece together ideas, it felt like another one of those opportunities to do more than I expected of myself,” DeLaPortilla said. “I recognized that the impact of Olmstead is something supremely important in disability law, and being presented with an opportunity to somehow contribute to that seemed like a no-brainer so long as we could make it work.”
Looking ahead to next year, both law students are optimistic that they can organize an event in conjunction with the Olmstead anniversary that would feature experts on the ruling, as well as disability law advocates.
The mini-grants offered by UH Population Health are available to all doctoral and master’s students in good academic standing. They provide up to $2,500 to support students’ projects.
According to DeLaPortilla, it is very fitting that UH Population Health is supporting their project. The very concept of population health and its exploration of communities’ health outcomes is most appropriate for their research on the Olmstead Act. It also has implications for other projects across all academic majors, he said.
“Population health is a concept that can be perceived in a variety of ways, so much so that you might find a relevant topic at hand in almost every major offered at the University,” he said. “While we are coming at our project from a legal perspective, the next batch of students may have a topic that touches on education, the economics of public health, and so much more. I imagine there are few incredible opportunities like that available to students.”
UH Population Health started in 2022 with the goal to drive discovery to advance quality of life in Houston and beyond. Led by UH Chief Population Health Officer Bettina Beech, the initiative is involved in several projects aimed at enhancing health and well-being. Recent initiatives focused on promoting awareness of COVID-19 and vaccinations and staying active. A Population Health minor was offered for the first time at UH this fall. The initiative earned the distinction of being named a Jackson Heart Study Vanguard Center and is among the institutions receiving a $50 million National Institutes of Health grant to coordinate the Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Consortium to Advance Health Equity and Researcher Diversity.