Bill to assist autistic drivers interacting with police needs input from the community, say advocates
"Nothing about us without us," said advocates.
Advocates sat in the House Committee on Health and Human Services on Monday afternoon as the Committee passed 2023 H5503 sub A, from Representative Samuel Azzinaro (Democrat, District 37, Westerly). The bill “would require the administrator of the Division of Motor Vehicles, in consultation with the Rhode Island Police Chiefs' Association and the Governor's Commission on Disabilities to develop rules and regulations instituting a Blue Envelope program to enhance effective communication between a police officer and a person with autism spectrum disorder.”
"Our biggest concern is that this bill was created without the voices of autistic people with lived experience driving," said from Casey Gallagher co-founder and executive director of LUNA Community Care, an online and in-person peer-led cooperative community run by and for Neurodivergent adults. "We're talking about the need for an intersectional community of voices - diverse autistic voices - to be determining anything that is a decision that's made about us.
"We in the disability community call that 'Nothing about us without us.' We really want the input of a wide variety of autistic individuals to make sure that this is what the community wants and needs."
Gallagher would also like to see the bill potentially broadened to include all neurodivergent individuals, not just people with autism.
You can watch my interview with Casey Gallagher here:
Representative Rebecca Kislak (Democrat, District 4, Providence) expressed surprise that the bill, even in a paired down form, was moving towards the House floor for a vote. She expressed hope that the Governor's Commission on Disabilities would enact the program in a way that centers the lives of the folks affected by the legislation and that the program could be expanded to include all neurodivergent individuals, not just people with autism.
Representative Michelle McGaw (Democrat, District 71, Portsmouth, Tiverton, Little Compton) was moved by the testimony she heard on the original bill, saying that the phrase, “Nothing about us without us” resonated deeply with her. Representatives McGaw and Jennifer Stewart (Democrat, District 59, Pawtucket) voted against the bill, which now moves on to House for a full vote.
As a special education teacher who advocates to provide my students a real say in the decision making process, I find this infuriating. As someone who values civil liberties, I find this bill infuriating. As someone who expects (as we all should) that police officers treat with respect and patience to all people, not just those with a specific designation on their driver's license, I find this insufficient and neglecting to address the larger problem: A police culture that would put people with disabilities in danger in the first place. Thank you to those legislators who spoke out on this issue.