The United States has a long and tragic history of segregating and warehousing people with disabilities, particularly developmental disabilities. These individuals have a fundamental right to dignity and self-determination that includes community-based residential placements and other services that are safe, individualized, and integrated into the community. NYLPI fights for meaningful opportunities for people with disabilities to live in a community-based placement, and for people living in the community to have the services they need to stay there. We also work to improve conditions and investigate abuse and neglect within existing institutions. We continue to serve as class counsel to more than 3,000 former residents of the Willowbrook State School, where a series of investigations in the 1970s unearthed deplorable conditions.