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NDSC Governmental Affairs Newsline
April 1, 2015

Victory for Maryland Parents and Advocates  
A Tribute to the Work of the Saylor Family

The Governor of Maryland issued an executive order creating a commission to train law enforcement and paramedics for situations involving people with disabilities. 

 

From Emma Saylor's change.org petition:

"It's been two years since my brother Ethan died at the hands of three sheriff deputies in Maryland after he stayed too long in a movie theater without buying a second ticket. Our lives have been forever changed and every day we miss his smiling face - it's been hard.

But today I have some good news to share with you. Because of people like you who signed my petition, former Maryland Governor Martin O' Malley issued an executive order creating a commission to help police and first responders better respond to situations involving individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. And starting this year, all police academies in Maryland are required make cadets go through these trainings.

My family never could have imagined achieving this without your help. Thank you.

The commission created by the governor is called the Commission for Effective Community Inclusion of Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and it is chaired by Dr. Timothy Shriver, CEO of Special Olympics. My mom Patti attends all of the commissions meetings.

They have already made a recommendation to the Maryland State legislature that we need your support to pass: the creation of The Ethan Saylor Center for Self-Advocates as Educators. The Saylor Center will be a place where people with disabilities can play a role in training the police officers. Police are already telling us that the time spent training with self-advocates is the most informative part of the training.
 

One of the terrible ironies of losing my brother this way was that he really loved police officers - he would even get in trouble for calling our local police department too often just to talk to them! I know Ethan would have loved nothing more than to help police officers better understand what it's like to be a person with Down syndrome.

Please click here to sign this new petition asking Maryland lawmakers to approve the creation of The Saylor Center.

While we weren't able to get the governor to issue a new state investigation into Ethan's death, I want to let you know that the Department of Justice is currently investigating the case for civil rights abuses. We hope their investigation will be over soon and bring further closure for our family.

Thank you again for your continued support."

Emma Saylor

 

 

Sign Emma's Petition
How Safe are the Schools in Your State?

The updated 2015 edition of How Safe Is the Schoolhouse? An Analysis of State Seclusion and Restraint Laws and Policies, written by Jessica Butler, has been published by the Autism National Committee. The report describes and examines state restraint and seclusion statutes, regulations, rules, and policies/guidelines in effect as of March 2015. The report is available at:
http://www.autcom.org/pdf/HowSafeSchoolhouse.pdf

This report uses 51 "states" to include the District of Columbia. Some of the highlights of the report are as follows:
  • Only 22 states have laws providing meaningful protections against restraint and seclusion for all children; 34, for children with disabilities.  
  • A few states have weak laws, a few others protect only against one practice and not the other; and others have only nonbinding, suggested guidance, or nothing at all.
  • Only 16 states by law require that an emergency threatening physical danger exist before restraint can be used for all children; 20, for children with disabilities.  Because restraint is so dangerous, it should be used only when necessary to protect physical safety.
  • Fourteen states protect all children from non-emergency seclusion; 20 protect children with disabilities.  
  • By law, only 2 states ban all seclusion for all children; 5, for children with disabilities.  
  • The remainder have statutes and regulations limiting seclusion to emergencies threatening physical harm.  But, many states have loopholes in their laws that undermine them and leave children unprotected from dangerous restraint and seclusion.
It is vital that parents be notified quickly of the use of restraint or seclusion, in order to watch for concussions, hidden injuries, trauma, and to seek medical or psychological care.  But 34 states still do not require parents to be notified within 24 hours when restraint and seclusion are used on all students, 25 states, when used on students with disabilities. Parents of children with Down syndrome should be particularly cognizant of the fact that they may be at particular risk of medical complications from these dangerous practices. State laws could contain a provision that restraint and seclusion is forbidden when medically contraindicated. 
 
According to Ms.Butler, the report shows that the bills championed by Senator Harkin and Congressman Miller in prior Congresses have impacted the states.  In December 2009, Congressman Miller introduced the first national restraint/seclusion bill.  At the time, 9 states had laws providing meaningful protections from both seclusion and restraint for all children; 21 for children with disabilities. Today, 29 states have meaningful protection for all students; 34, for students with disabilities.  Senator Harkin's bills in 2011 and 2014 added several important safeguards.  States have responded to both bills by taking action and by incorporating many of the new features in Senator Harkin's bill.
 
Still, state action is no substitute for a strong federal bill that mandates comprehensive protections for students. How Safe is the Schoolhouse examines the state laws because the issue has been left to the states.  But parents of a student in Memphis, Tennessee or Philadelphia, Pennsylvania can move to suburbs across the state boundary and find their child's strong protections suddenly absent or reduced to very limited protections. Many state laws seem strong but have so many loopholes that they fail to protect students. A bill was introduced in February 2015 by Congressman Bobby Scott and Congressman Don Beyer in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Virginia was the most recent state to adopt a law in March 2015. Several states also took action in 2014 or attempted to do so.

Again, the updated 2015 states report is available at
http://www.autcom.org/pdf/HowSafeSchoolhouse.pdf
NDSC envisions a world with equal rights and opportunities for people with Down syndrome.


National Down Syndrome Congress
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Roswell, GA  30076

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