Hello and welcome to Day in Washington, your disability policy podcast. I’m your host Day Al-Mohamed working to make sure you stay informed.  This is the Disability Report for March 2019.

JUSTICE:   March 1st is known within the disability community as the Disability Day of Mourning. It is the day when the disability community comes together to remember the victims of filicide – people with disabilities who were murdered by their family members. Vigils are held on March 1st in cities around the world. Recognized since 2012, the vigils have been supported by the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, ADAPT, Not Dead Yet, the National Council on Independent Living, the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund and other disability rights organizations. In March 2017, the Ruderman Foundation issued a report that provided more concrete numbers to the number of people with disabilities murdered by their caregivers.

They documented more than 200 deaths from 2011 to 2015. And of course, that is only those that merited media attention. There currently is no way to capture all of these murders based on disability. And perhaps what is more disturbing is the public perception and media focus on the killer rather than on the victim. It is seen as a “mercy” or as “ending suffering” or an “overwhelmed caregiver” in fact blaming the victim for their own death. One person with disabilities is killed by a parent or caregiver each week and the Disability Day of Mourning is a recognition of those lives taken, and lives forgotten as worth less than those of able bodied.

On Media Coverage of Murder of People with Disabilities by their Caregivers - https://issuu.com/rudermanfoundation/docs/murders_by_caregivers_wp_final_fina

 

DEFINITIONS: Words matter. We know this. We’ve been told this over and over. James Skoufis of the 39th Senate District of the State of New York is taking that to heart. He is the sponsor of Senate Bill S4276. The bill makes technical corrections to references to the Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, changing it to the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities. It is not an office for the condition, but for people.

Legislation for changes in statute the Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities - https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2019/s4276

 

HEALTHCARE:  The Charles and Margery Barancik Foundation and Gulf Coast Community Foundation commissioned the University of South Florida to conduct a scan of mental health services in May 2018. The goal was to identify strengths and gaps in the system and prioritize ways to make the system work for youth and families. The study revealed the annual economic cost of untreated mental illness for children and young adults in Sarasota County is nearly $86.2 million. This is primarily from suicide, criminal justice, education, and worker productivity.

Roughly 15 percent of Sarasota County’s residents are under 18 years old, or around 60,488. About one in five experiences a severe mental disorder during their life. Half of all chronic illness begins by the age of 14, and three-quarters by the age of 24.

Florida ranks 50th in mental health services, according to the Florida Policy Institute. The state has the third-highest percentage of mentally ill persons who are also uninsured.

In 2014, the state provided just $36.05 per person in support of mental health services, less than one-third of the U.S. average of $125.90.

The study specifically highlighted a lack of inpatient care, residential treatment programs, independent living options for adults, case management, post-discharge services from crisis stabilization units, and youth psychiatric treatment.

The study doesn’t solve the problem but it puts hard numbers and a price to what many disabili...