"They struggled to communicate, think logically or problem solve. "I wanted to know their account of what happened, and I'd ask them questions. And many of them would struggle with a basic explanation," says Cox, a lawyer in the Los Angeles County Public Defender's Office. "It seemed like they were having challenges related to some sort of intellectual ability." What Cox was seeing was indicative of a broader trend: Studies show people with intellectual and developmental disabilities are overrepresented in the nation's prisons and jails."
"But many of Cox's clients were never diagnosed with any sort of disability. That doesn't surprise Leigh Anne McKingsley, senior director of disability and justice initiatives for The Arc, a nonprofit that advocates for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. "Often the disability goes unrecognized," McKingsley says. "They could have gone through their school system not ever really passing much, but it never got documented.""
Many people with intellectual and developmental disabilities are overrepresented in prisons and jails. Public defender Noah Cox observed clients who struggled to communicate, think logically, or explain events and formed a neurocognitive disorder team to address their needs. Cognitive impairments arise from fetal alcohol syndrome, Down syndrome, traumatic brain injury, or intellectual disability and can limit learning and daily tasks. Many affected people were never diagnosed, often passing through school without documentation. Undiagnosed disabilities can cause individuals to fall through systemic cracks and increase the risk of involvement in the criminal justice system and victimization.
#intellectual-and-developmental-disabilities #criminal-justice #public-defender #undiagnosed-disabilities
Read at www.npr.org
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