In a victory for disability rights in the United States, a judge in Virginia has rejected a guardianship request from the parents of a woman with Down syndrome, instead ruling Jenny Hatch can live with friends as she wanted. Hatch’s parents sought guardianship rights that would have allowed them to keep the 29-year-old in a group home against her will. But Jenny had run away from a series of group homes over the past year, complaining she was treated like a child. On Friday, Newport News Circuit Court Judge David Pugh designated Jenny’s friends — a couple who also hired her to work at their thrift store — as her temporary guardians for a year with the goal that, beyond that, she might live more independently. In a statement, Susan Mizner, disability counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, said, “Disability is no excuse to deprive someone of her basic civil liberties, and we are thrilled that Jenny will get some control of her life back.”