Assisted Living Discrimination

It is against the law to discriminate based solely upon physical discrimination. This leads to many assisted living and senior living facilities having troublesome situations. With the average age of residents on the increase, more and more people are opting to age in place. In other words, there are fewer people moving from home to home. This has created a few problems. For starters, not all assisted living facilities are equipped to handle severe disabilities. In this instance, keeping an individual with excessive disabilities becomes a safety issue. Transferring this resident to a more appropriate home is okay in this instance.

But this situation is not always the rule. For example, a Virginia senior living facility recently came under fire because they did not allow certain disabled residents to eat in their dining hall. This particular senior living facility limited its main dining hall to independent living residents only and did not allow assisted living or nursing home residents to eat here. This measure was put in place in order to prevent disabled people from ruining the "image" of the dining area.

This led to claims of discrimination against the home. Courts have mostly sided with the residents in these instances. Sadly, this is not the first time something like this has occurred. There have been many other homes across the nation that have limited wheelchairs and walkers from parts of their facilities. Courts have largely decided that trying to hold onto a "non-disabled" image is not lawful and that these homes need to allow disabled people access.

The problem here is a matter of definition. If a home clearly does not have the available resources to help out disabled people, these folk need to be placed in a home or facility where they can get the help and assistance that they need. But blatantly not allowing disabled people into areas of the facility because they are disabled is a different story. This is unlawful and needs to be stopped.

Homes need to explicitly detail what services they provide and which they do not. By having this information available freely, a lot of problems can be avoided for assisted living facilities. The tendency with many homes is to be as inclusive as possible in order to have as inviting of a service as possible. Unfortunately, this doesn't always work out. Overextending services can lead to a decline in the overall quality of care being provided. It can also be detrimental to the health of the disabled residents if the care they receive is not entirely adequate. By having clearly defined roles, a home can be better suited to a certain group of people. But blatant discrimination is never an appropriate answer to "help" the quality of care that others are receiving.