May 8, 2014

On Tuesday, April 29th, the Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights, held a hearing titled "Law Enforcement Responses to Disabled Americans: Public Safety". This hearing was convened by Committee Chair, Senator Dick Durbin (D.IL) and Ranking Minority Member Senator Ted Cruz (R.TX). Senator Al Franken (D.MN) was also in attendance.

Patti Saylor, mother of Ethan Saylor, who died at the hands of three off-duty police officers acting as mall security guards when he refused to leave a movie theatre in Frederick, Maryland, testified at the hearing. Sgt. A.D. Paul, who is the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Coordinator of the Plano, Texas Police Department, also testified.   

In his written testimony, Sgt Paul stated, "I teach this course from the perspective of both a first responder and a parent (of a son with autism)."  In this role, Sgt. Paul has trained a total of 232 employees, 213 of whom are sworn officers.  The Plano Police Department has 499 employees with 348 sworn officers. Since the CIT program was instituted, there has been a 24% reduction in the number of "Use of Force" reports.

Patti Saylor, in her written testimony stated, "Ethan never posed any immediate threat to the safety of the officers or others. The crime at issue was not severe; Ethan was sitting in a movie theater without a ticket and there were far less severe actions the officers could have taken. For example, they could have listened to advice from Ethan's support staffer, and allowed her to deescalate the situation by entering the theater to assist and support Ethan. We also feel there was no consideration, on the part of the Deputies, to the fact that Ethan had Down syndrome - a recognizable disability. We believe that the amount of force that was used on Ethan was not reasonable in light of the severity of the crime, the risk to the officers, the risk to Ethan, and the risk to others in the theater.

Since Ethan's death, we have been on our own advocacy journey to achieve justice for Ethan, while at the same time ensuring what happened to Ethan never happens to another member of the Down syndrome and disability community ever again. We have heard from advocates and parents all around the world that have been touched by our story, are fearful this may happen to their son or daughter with a disability, and want to help advocate and ensure that something good comes out of our tragedy."

Training of law enforcement officials is a state and local function. However, the NDSC, in our written testimony submitted to the committee stated:

Congress could play an important role in furthering efforts to ensure that First Responders have the information and training to protect the rights and the lives of individuals with disabilities by expanding the authority and the funding for the Department of Justice to carry out criminal justice initiatives and activities that affect individuals with disabilities, including those unique to individuals with intellectual/developmental disabilities, in part by:

*    Training of all personnel in the criminal justice system about issues unique to our constituents, including identification of a disability; 
*    Developing and disseminating models of best practices; and,
*    Preventing discrimination by the criminal justice system against victims, witnesses, and those accused of crimes on the basis of disability;

To read the testimony of the other witnesses on the panel, go to: http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/meetings/law-enforcement-responses-to-disabled-americans_promising-approaches-for-protecting-public-safety

Contact Your Senators and Representatives

Message:  Tell your Congressional Representatives to include at least $10,384,000 in the final FY 2015 Appropriations bill for the Transition and Postsecondary Programs for Students with Intellectual Disabilities programs (TPSID) and the National Coordinating Center (NCC) for students with intellectual disabilities (ID) program in the Higher Education Opportunity Act.
Thousands of students with intellectual disabilities will have meaningful transition options into postsecondary education that leads to academic, career and independent living training, and employment.   
 
Background
In 2008, Congress made an historic move and included the Transition and Postsecondary Programs for Students with Intellectual Disabilities programs (TPSID) and the National Coordinating Center (NCC) for students with intellectual disabilities (ID) program in the Higher Education Opportunity Act. These programs are proving to be successful in educating students with intellectual disabilities and leading to community living and competitive, integrated employment. The President's FY 2015 Budget proposes to end funding for these programs.  Please urge Congress to continue funding these promising programs!

Since their creation in 2008, the TPSID program and related funding has supported the creation or expansion of programs at 45 colleges and universities serving 1,379 students. These model programs focus on academic enrichment, socialization, independent living, and employment. A comprehensive evaluation system conducted by the NCC found that, in just three years:
*    70% of participating students were involved in career development activities and paid internships.
*    An additional 36% of students held 424 paid jobs, of which 89% paid minimum wage or higher, and some students held two or three jobs while they were going to college.
*    42% of employed students had never held a paid job prior to entering the TPSID program.

These programs demonstrate that people with ID can and will benefit from higher education (Grigal, Hart, & Smith, 2014).  Great strides towards postsecondary education, life in the community and employment are being made through the TPSID programs.  However, there are still far too few options available in our country and further model development is needed to build on this success. It is essential that Congress support the TPSID programs and continue to fund them at least at the current funding level.