Here at L’Arche GWDC, freedom is lived out through relationships rooted in dignity, mutuality, and belonging. This Black History Month, our Diversity Commission invites you, again, to honor Lois Curtis, whose courage reshaped what freedom means for people with disabilities across the country.
Ms. Curtis made a fierce request to her advocates who visited her at an institution: “Get me out of here.” That demand helped lead to the landmark Olmstead v. L.C. decision, affirming the right to live in community rather than be segregated in institutions. Decades later and thanks to her experience in Home and Community-Based Services, Lois said, “I am free.”
Those three words carry the weight of a movement and the tenderness of a life reclaimed.
Ms. Curtis’s story reminds us to commit to our daily practice: building homes where each person is known by their footsteps and working together toward a more human society. Our Diversity Commission holds space for the intersections of race, disability, culture, and history; it’s clear that Black freedom and disability justice are deeply intertwined.
Celebrating Lois during Black History Month honors Black leadership within disability rights and calls us to keep widening the circle of belonging.
To be free, in the spirit of L’Arche, is not just to live outside institutions. It is to be in relationship, to be seen, to have a home, and to shape a life together. Ms. Curtis showed us what’s possible. We’re committed to living it, together.
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