Until my son Julian was born with Down syndrome in 2009, I knew nothing about the ways that disabled Americans depended on programs like Medicaid to provide the kinds of services and supports they need to live full lives in their communities.

As I got more involved in advocating for him, I learned about the troubling history of discrimination that consigned disabled Americans to a life of abuse, neglect and institutionalization. I also learned about courageous individuals who created the disability rights movement that catalyzed the legislation, regulations and Supreme Court cases that changed the lives of millions of Americans with disabilities.

The more I learned, the prouder I became that we lived in a country that invested in people with even the most significant disabilities. It underscores a belief system that investing in everyone’s future exemplifies what it means to be American. Had my son been born in the early 1970s like I was, physicians would have encouraged us to institutionalize him, hiding him away from society.

Sen. Robert F. Kennedy (D-N.Y.) visited the infamous Willowbrook State Developmental Center in New York in 1965 and, horrified by the inhumane conditions in which he found its residents living, famously described it as a “snake........

© The Hill