- [Deborah] We would like to welcome you to our five part series on Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Disability. This series is brought to you by the Miami Inclusion Alliance or MIA. The Miami Inclusion Alliance is comprised of four organizations that have spent the last three years studying the domestic violence and sexual assault services in Miami-Dade County, and how persons with disabilities are utilizing these services. What we have found is that there is a disconnect between the services that our community provides and the outreach to persons with disabilities. This training series is the first step to bridging that gap. We are working internally to train our organizations and then we will be going out into the community to share the knowledge and information that we have gained. Disability Independence Group is an advocacy center for disability rights. Dade Legal Aid is the legal aid that handles domestic violence cases. M.U.J.E.R. is a certified sexual assault center, and CVAC is the Miami-Dade County one stop for domestic violence. This project was supported by Grant Number 2015-FW-AX-K001, awarded by the Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, conclusions and recommendations expressed in this publication are those of those authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women. This is a five part training series. You will notice that we have embedded accessibility features into the trainings. All of the videos have been captioned so that you can read the words that we are speaking. All of the videos are being interpreted into ASL, or American Sign Language. The font size of the words on the slides are large. We are using a sans serif font that is easy to read, and the colors used on the slides have been tested to make sure that there is a contrast between the colors for better viewing. You can watch the trainings in any order that you would like. The training you are about to watch is called The Intersection. It will focus on expanding the definition of disability and understanding the intersection of abuse and disability, the unique factors that cause an increase in abuse against persons with disabilities, and the tactics used by abusers, the barriers and challenges that a victim survivor with disabilities might face, and how to safely and effectively assist a victim survivor with a disability. The mission of the Miami Inclusion Alliance or MIA, is to learn about the intersection of disability and domestic violence and/or sexual assault, in order to promote a culture of inclusion within and between all collaborating agencies. This collaboration will implement the necessary changes so that persons with disabilities who are affected by domestic violence and/or sexual assault have access to services. Hi, my name is Deborah Dietz, and I am going to be your speaker today. I am one of the founders and the executive director of Disability Independence Group, or DIG. Disability Independence Group is a nonprofit advocacy center for disability rights. We were founded in 2002, and our mission is to expand opportunities for participation, education, employment, and acceptance of persons with disabilities through advocacy, litigation, education and training. What this means is that we do lots of things. One of the main things that we do is that we have a litigation department that provides legal services in the area of disability rights, and community education, and that we go to court to make sure that people with disabilities' rights are not being violated. We also work to do training in the community, and teach people how to advocate for themselves, so that they can be integrated in the community. We work with people with all types of disabilities, and all different types of issues from education, to housing, to employment, to access to information. We have four objectives for the training today. The first objective is that we're gonna define disability, and we're gonna increase your understanding of the intersection of abuse and disability. The second objective is to increase your knowledge on the unique factors that cause abuse against person with disabilities and the tactics that abusers use. The third objective is to increase your understanding of the barriers and challenges faced by victims/survivors who are people with disabilities. And the fourth objective is to increase your knowledge on how to safely and effectively assist a victim/survivor with disabilities. We're going to start by going over the definition of disability. Now this word can be defined many different ways, depending on the circumstance or situation or government agency that you are working with. For this training, we are gonna use the definition of disability defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Now in this definition, we define disability as any physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activity. Now you might think to yourself, what are life activities or what are examples of life activities? And here are some examples. Seeing, hearing, eating, sleeping, walking, standing, lifting, bending, speaking, breathing, learning, reading, concentrating, thinking, communicating, working and socializing. Now the ADA doesn't list all of the different life activities but this is the ones that I just listed to you are the major ones that are common for people to fall under this definition of disability. The ADA prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in employment, state and local government, public accommodations, commercial facilities, transportations and telecommunications. To be protected by the ADA, you must have a disability or have a relationship or association with a person that does has a disability. All right, let's move on. There are several different types of disabilities, so we're gonna go through the four major categories. The first is physical, and a physical disability will restrict motion or agility. The second is developmental, and this is cognitive and/or intellectual, and this is limitations in your cognitive or intellectual capacity. The third is psychiatric. These are conditions that produce emotional, behavioral or mental health issues or challenges that impair functioning. And the last is sensory, and this is limitations in sight, hearing, or any of your other senses. Now what's interesting is not all disabilities are visible. A visible disability is one you can see, you can see that if someone is using a wheelchair, that they most likely have a physical disability, but there are also invisible disabilities, and these are disabilities that you cannot see. An invisible disability might not be immediately apparent to you, but as a person that's going to be working with individuals with disabilities, it's very important that you be aware that a person might tell you they have a disability, even though you might not be able to just look at that person and know what that disability is, or what that means. So in your job, and having this responsibility, it's very important that you understand and be respectful, that someone's disability might be invisible. Let me give you some examples. Someone might have a visual or auditory disability, but they might not wear glasses or hearing aids. Some people also might have vision loss and wear contact lenses, so you might not know that they have that, because you can't see their contact lenses. Another example is someone with an autoimmune disease, like lupus or arthritis. They might have lots of issues with physical motion or in the environment they need, or they might need accommodations because they can't sit for a long period of time, and that might not be immediately apparent to you when you just see them as they walk up to the counter, and you're gonna help them. Another one is IBS, or irritable bowel syndrome, where someone might need to use the bathroom on a regular basis, but you might not be able to know that just by looking at them, or someone could have a psychiatric disability. Let's look at our statistics. These statistics came from the U.S. Census. And if you'll see, for the most part, in the United States, about 19.3% of the population identifies as a person with a disability, and what's interesting is you drill down, and look at our community. In the state of Florida, the number is actually above the average at 22.2%, and in Miami-Dade County, we continue to increase to 25.7% or about a fourth of the population, and then, as you look at the city of Miami, it increases to almost 30%, or 29.4% of the population, which is the second-highest in the United States, behind Patterson, New Jersey, that has 29.8%. So this is a real and important issue in our community, when you look at the numbers. Not only are the numbers big throughout the country, but in our local community, they are even higher than the average. Now we're gonna look at some statistics on disability and abuse. So we know that this, that we have a lot of people in our community that have disabilities, and we know what the statistics are for people that are victims/survivors of domestic violence, but when you combine the two, or look at the intersection of people with disabilities and abuse, you're gonna see that the statistics are staggering, and that the numbers go up even more. So you look as these statistics, 92% of women with disabilities ranked violence and abuse as their top priority of topics affecting their lives. So this is a real and serious component of a person's life. Also, look at this, women with disabilities are at least two times more likely to experience abuse. And 97 to 99% of abusers are known and trusted by victims/survivors with an intellectual disability. So what's interesting is these are staggering statistics for our community, yet we are not seeing these large numbers of people with disabilities in our, in the safety net that we have developed in our community. So in our community, we have outstanding resources for domestic violence and sexual assault, yet, when we researched what was going on, we found that very few people with disabilities are accessing these services. So as we go through this video, keep in mind, you've got this high statistics that show that people with disabilities are at even higher risk than the average person, yet, very few of them are reaching into our community. So part of what we're doing with this project is to see what are the barriers and what are the challenges, and why are people with disabilities not accessing our services and what can we do to bridge this gap so that they do reach out to our services, and that when they do reach out to our services, that we're prepared to help them understand their unique needs and be able to assist them and make them feel comfortable and secure when they are reporting this violence. What we found with people with disabilities is that when they experience victimization, it's more serve, it lasts for longer periods of time, there might be multiple incidents, and be a victim of a larger number of perpetrators, and have experienced abuse as a child. So as we said from the slide before, the numbers are staggering, and people with disabilities are very vulnerable to being victimized, and that we really do need to be aware of this, and understand that when they do come for help, and they do reach out for services, that we understand that their experience might be slightly different than the typical person that comes into your office, so we need to be understanding, and we need to be empathetic and listen to their story so that we can help them and get them the services that they need. We're gonna look at our first question. Women with disabilities are twice as likely to suffer abuse. True or false? This is true. As we said before, not only are they twice as likely to suffer the abuse but the abuse might last for a long time, have started when they were young, and have many different perpetrators. The next picture we're gonna look at is something called The Disability Cliff. Now this is terminology from the disability world, so I'm gonna go through the picture with you, and then I'm gonna give you some background and explanation of this picture. So the cliff is something that parents of teenagers with developmental disabilities worry about, and the Census Bureau estimates that 1.7 million American children have an intellectual or developmental disability, and unlike in past generations, today, these children usually go to school alongside children without disabilities, and they take classes that seek to prepare them for jobs in the competitive economy, yet once they age out of special education, which is usually around the age of 22, many young adults with development disabilities find a reality that is very different from the one that they were used to in their school setting. When they lose their federal entitlement to special education, they move into an underfunded, and uncoordinated system in which there are very few services available as a matter of right. So now, they must contend with services from many different providers, financed by different agencies, most of which don't have a sufficient amount of funding to cover everyone, and many of which are very bureaucratic, and insufficiently focused on ensuring that their clients can spend meaningful days integrated into community, and in other words, they fall off the cliff. So if you look at the picture, you start with a baby, nurtured, wrapped up, they go to the doctor, they might get diagnosed with a disability, as they become a toddler and start preschool, and going to elementary school, they'll become wrapped in services. They might get an IEP or a 504 plan, where the professionals, the school, the parents, have all sat together and decided what services and supports the child needs, and this will continue all the way til about age 22, which is what the law says they can stay in the school system, so they might get some job readiness, they might get some skills, and then, all of a sudden, when the funding stops, and the school system stops, they're left not really prepared to have the supports they need to continue into an adult life. So it's very frustrating, not only for the individual with the disability, but also for the parent, because the child has had somewhere to go for a full school day and now, all of a sudden, they're home, there's nowhere for them to go, or if there is somewhere to go, it might be disorganized, and not as stimulating or as challenging as where they had been before. And this is a problem in our community that still, as a community, we need to address, but imagine the vulnerability of these young adults that are now at home, not really supervised the same way, or left with someone that might not have the skills or needs to adequately support the individual. So let's look at some of the factors that increase rates of abuse. First, the devaluation of a person with a disability in society. For a long time, people with disabilities were kept segregated, or outside of the society, and really not included, so now, where we live now, the timing, people are being integrated into society, but the population has to catch up with valuing these persons with disabilities, and realizing that they can add to our community. Also, they're usually, as we were talking about with the Disability Cliff, isolated and segregated, which makes abuse easier, because if there's not people around, there's no way to complain or people to notice what's going on. Also, they have an increased exposure to potential abusers, and people with disability comes from a culture of compliance, where they're told what to do, and if they behave, they get rewards, and so they're used to complying. We're also seen as easy targets. They might not be able to advocate themselves or tell or even know that what's happening to them is not correct or not healthy or not appropriate. What we found is a lot of person with disabilities are seen as asexual, and not really given sexual education in school or in their homes, so that they don't even know what is appropriate sexual behavior of if what's happening to them is not appropriate or what happens with everybody else, so they become easy targets and very vulnerable. Here are some tactics that are used by the abusers. Physically, they can use restraints, where they can hit the person with a disability. Sexually, they can take advantage of their lack of understanding about sex, like I was just talking about. If you don't know what healthy sexual education or appropriate sexual education is, then you don't know if you're being taken advantage of, or if what someone's doing to you is right or wrong. Also, isolation, controlling access to communication devices. Imagine if you're a person that is Deaf, and communicates in American Sign Language, and your caregiver or companion, friend, parent is your really voice to the outside world, and you don't know if what they're interpreting for you is what you're saying, and you don't know if what they're interpreting back what someone's saying to you is what they're saying, so this control to communication is vital, and a very common tool used by abusers. Also, emotional, ridiculing someone with a disability, telling them they're stupid, that they can't do it by themselves, that they don't have the ability, very damaging. Another is economic, and this happens way too often, forcing a victim/survivor to turn over their benefits check. Well, you have to give me your entire benefits check, 'cause I'm housing you and I'm feeding you, and I control everything, and it's a terrible way for a person with a disability to not only be taken advantage of, but then, isolated even more, because if you don't have financial freedom, it's very hard to remove yourself from an abusive situation. We're now gonna look at question number two. Controlling access to communication devices is a common tactic of an abuser, true or false? This is absolutely true. Another common way is to take away someone's cellphone. If you take away someone's cellphone or their iPad, or the way that they communicate, they have no way to communicate with the outside world, or even see what's going on in the outside world. There are several barriers and challenges that are faced by victims/survivors that have a disability. One is a lack of coordinated services between the domestic violence and the disability agencies, and this is one of the challenges that this grant is addressing. We want to introduce the domestic violence and sexual assault organizations to the disability organizations and agencies, so that there is an open line of communication and what we're really trying to do is teach domestic violence and sexual assault organizations what supports they need to support a victim/survivor that has a disability, and we also wanna talk to the disability agencies and explain to them what are the symptoms, the signs that they should look for, how can they screen for abuse, and then, if they do have a concern, do they have the connections and the names and phone numbers and the list of organizations that would be appropriate for the concerns that they feel? So we think bridging those gaps, making those connections, opening those lines of communication are gonna be one of the best ways to help welcome victims/survivors with disabilities into our safety net of care. The next is that service providers might not be accessible physically, architecturally, and/or attitudinally. And once again, this is being addressed by this project. We're doing safety and barrier and access reviews of all the sites that are part of the project. We wanna make sure that a person that uses a wheelchair can get in the front door, that there's parking, accessible parking, and an entrance way, and a path of travel so that someone can get from their vehicle into the front door, through the front door, and be able to get to the front desk and communicate with the person at the front desk. We're also looking at attitudinal barriers. We don't want people at the front desk to make assumptions about a person with a disability that aren't true. We don't want them talking to their caregiver instead of the actual person with the disability. So the way that we can raise that awareness is by introducing people with disabilities into the process, having them at the table, having them explain what they need, and what most people with disabilities might need, so we're gonna break down not only the physical and architectural barriers, but also the attitudinal barriers so that when a person with a disability that might be a victim of abuse goes to these places, they are welcomed, they're treated warmly, and they feel that the person at the front desk, and in the system, understands their unique needs. Also, there's a lack of knowledge or awareness of available supports or services within the disability community. So once we get the providers set up and ready to welcome people with disabilities, we need to go out into the community of people with disabilities and say that this abuse is not appropriate, that what's happening to you is not okay, that it's not normal, that you don't have to accept it, that there are ways for you to get help. We're ready to help you, and we understand your unique needs, and we're here to be there as a resource for you. So we gotta work a lot on knowledge and awareness within the disability community, and we're gonna do that by working with the disability agencies in our community and letting them know what sources of help there are, and how to reach out for those help. Here's some more. People with disabilities have a mistrust of the system. They've gone to get help before, and they can't get in the front door, they're treated badly, or they're not spoken to directly, so we gotta work on building this trust between the two communities. Also, this there's this threat of getting, losing your independence and having to go into a nursing home or a group home, if you report abuse, and we gotta make sure that we allow a person to make their own choices and live in the least restrictive environment possible that is safe for them. Also, we, in our community especially, and throughout the nation, there's a lack of affordable and accessible housing, and we can work on this more from a legislative and a policy angle, is to make sure that not only is there affordable housing in our community but that it's accessible and welcoming for persons with disabilities. We also have a lack of accessible, reliable, and affordable transportation. It's a huge problem or barrier for victims/survivors, because if you can't leave your house, and you can't get transportation, it's hard to go get help, especially in Miami-Dade County, where our community is so large, and transportation is such a challenge, but we're working on it, and being aware of it is the first way to try to look for solutions, and the last is, many persons with disabilities may require assistance to physically leave their house, and/or communicate with a service provider. Now if their abuser is their caregiver, then this becomes very hard, because if you can't leave to ask for help or get help because the person abusing you is the one that helps you, that is very difficult, and that is where we circle back to the disability organizations and helping, getting them ready to screen for abuse, and be aware of what the abuse might look like, so that they can help the person with a disability who might not be able to report their abuse or get help. There's also a lot of organizational barriers. As we talked about, physical access, but also an organization that might be unprepared to provide accommodations, so we're gonna work and talk and teach organizations on what are common types of accommodations, and what's the most important is to remember that accommodations are unique and individualized, and just because one accommodation might work for one person with a disability, that same accommodation might not work for the next person with a disability, so it's very important to make sure that you always ask the person with a disability, do they need an accommodation and what accommodation they might need, and not to assume or guess what you think someone needs, because that goes back to those attitudinal barriers and making assumptions that aren't true, accurate or real. Also, it's always important to make sure that if you're gonna get a certified American Sign Language interpreter, that they're certified, and that they understand the language and the needs of a victim/survivor, and make sure that the interpreter is used when a victim goes to a medical facility with an injury, don't allow the person that brings them to be the interpreter. You always want an independent, certified interpreter in those situations, 'cause you don't know if the person interpreting is actually the abuser, number one, and then number two, if they're accurately telling what the person, the victim is saying. And as I said, it's very important to never use the person that brings the person with a disability in as their interpreter, whether it be American Sign Language or a person with an intellectual or developmental disability. Always bring in an interpreter for those situations, 'cause you need to make sure that when you screen for abuse, that the victim is the person you're communicating with, so that you make sure that you're getting an accurate screening for abuse. Let's look at some of the implications for these barriers. The violence against women movement has not been inclusive of people with disabilities and the Deaf, and as I said, the most common way you're gonna see this is with the use of interpreters, especially sign language interpreters is that you wanna really make sure that these are certified interpreters, and that you're really getting what the person that is Deaf is trying to communicate and that you have this communication that's two way, not just one way, but that they can be responsive and listen and answer back, and when something is emotional and there's trauma involved, note taking is really not an appropriate or effective form of communication. The best way is if the person wants it, the best way is to use an American Sign Language interpreter but remember, it's what the person is comfortable and what the person wants. The next is people with disabilities really access services so staff is not experienced with working with victims with disabilities, and this is what these trainings are for, to help the staff learn to be comfortable and learn to recognize the correct situations and then what to do, and if they don't know what to do, at least to know where to ask for help to get guidance, and also, when people with disabilities access services, they are not likely to have a negative experience, they are likely to have a negative experience and thus, they do not access again. So we wanna make sure that we do what we can to make everyone feel comfortable, welcomed, and secure and safe so that they will access our services, and they will access group therapy and training and reporting and getting protection orders, whatever they need, and that they don't feel like it's too much effort, or that they don't wanna go to the effort and then not be understood, or have a bad experience. We're now gonna look at question number three. Victims and survivors with disabilities are not accessing our system, true or false? The answer to this is true, unfortunately, and that is the purpose of this grant. As you've been hearing in this training, the statistics are high, the statistics are staggering, yet, when we did research on who's requesting interpreters and what people with disabilities are coming into the system, we found that the numbers are very small, and so we know that there's a disconnect, we know that percentage-wise, the numbers should be large, and since the actual numbers of people requesting services is small, then the ultimate answer is that people with disabilities are not accessing our system, and we are going to work to change so that victims/survivors with disabilities are not suffering and not staying in situations that are harmful, and damaging for them. So the goal is to ensure that victims/survivors are empowered and have full and equal opportunity to benefit from programs and services as people without disabilities. And the key words here are full and equal opportunity, and that means having the same opportunity to benefit from or participate in programs and services and activities as an individual without a disability, and this might mean that they need an extra aid or service that is different from those provided to others, so maybe instead of needing five classes, they might need 10 classes, 'cause they process slower, and they might need more time to understand it, or they might need an interpreter to get through the system or they might need a PCA, or personal care attendant to go with them to make sure that they can get through all the parts of the program. Let me give you another example of full and equal opportunity and this is called The Wes Kleinert Fair Interview Act or it's known as The Wes Kleinert Act, and this act has two main parts. The first part went into effect on October 1st of 2016, and this first part of the law said that you can, a person with an intellectual/developmental disability could get a D put on their driver's license or state ID, and this was a way, when they gave their ID, that someone would know that they had a disability. There's good and bad about this. It helps a little bit, but it doesn't tell you anything about the disability, it doesn't tell you about accommodations that are needed, and many people in our community don't know that this part of the law went into effect, so you're gonna see very few people that bring a license or ID with a D on it, but the second part of the act is the part that I wanna focus on. This went into effect July 1st of 2016, and it deals with interviews of individuals with autism spectrum disorder, or other developmental disabilities by law enforcement, school police, or public safety personnel. So this might come into contact is a person is a victim and then there's a police component to the victimization or a criminal component, and basically, what the law says is that a person with a disability can request to have a specified professional, such as a psychiatrist, a psychologist, a mental health provider, special education teacher, or a clinical social worker, or related professional, present at all interviews that law enforcement or public safety officials do. So they can help guide these interviews, and make sure that what the person is trying to say is being interpreted correctly, or being communicated appropriately, so this is something very important that you might see as a provider, when you're in these situations, that you can enact this Wes Kleinert Act, and make sure that the police aren't interviewing a person with autism spectrum disorder or developmental disability by themselves, but that you can have this professional in the room with them and this would be back to this requiring an aid or service that might be different, 'cause usually, those interviews, only the victims goes in, but in this situation, if you proactively request it, the police and law enforcement must comply, and allow this accommodation to occur. So how do you determine someone's needs? Persons with disabilities have different needs, and it really depends on the person, it depends on the type of disability they have, and it depends on the history of accommodations that they've gotten in the past. So my recommendation, and the best way to go about is to ask the person directly, do you need an accommodation or to listen if they say to you, I need help, or I need this in large print, then you need to respect that accommodation or request for accomodation, and as best as you can, comply with the needs or the way that the person wants to receive information. Now, let me give you an example of this. This happened, this was a lawsuit in California. There was a young lady who needed to take a standardized test, and she needed to use her laptop, because she was used to having her laptop read the information to her, and the testing facility said no, you can't do that, we're just gonna have someone read to you and she actually went to court and sued and said, that might be fine but then you're choosing my accommodation and that's not the accommodation that I have a history of using or that I am comfortable with, and the young woman actually won the case, and the court said that yes, it is appropriate and okay for the person with a disability to pick the accommodation that they are comfortable with, and they are used to. As long as it's not a fundamental alteration of a program or it's not an undue burden, then there's no reason that the person should not be able to pick the type of accommodation that works for them. So let's talk about some tips for communicating with persons with disabilities. Very important, you want to speak directly to the person with a disability. Do not speak to their caregiver, do not speak to the person that brought them. You also wanna offer to shake hands when introduced, just like you would to a person without a disability. You always wanna identify yourself when meeting someone with a visual impairment. You also wanna offer your assistance but wait until the offer is accepted before you just go and touch someone's wheelchair, touch someone's walker, touch a person in general. You don't wanna do that, and don't treat an adult like a child, you wanna treat an adult like adult. Just as a person has a disability and they're an adult, it doesn't mean they're a child, and be respectful of that, and treat someone the way you wanna be treated and remember, if you're working with them, they're coming here because they have either been, think they've been abused, or been abused, and are probably under trauma, and be very sensitive that you don't wanna be a next person to abuse them or victimize them by not treating them with respect or not even acknowledging that they are a person and that they can communicate for themselves. Also, don't lean against or hang on someone's wheelchair or scooter. That is a part of the person, that is the device that they use to move or go somewhere, so it'd be as if you were leaning on a stranger, you just shouldn't do it. And you never wanna distract a pet or a working service animal because that animal is working, you shouldn't pet them, you shouldn't wanna give them treats, you shouldn't acknowledge them at all. They are part of the tools that person's using. Also, place yourself at eye level when speaking with someone. Don't, you don't wanna be bending over someone, and you don't want someone having to crane their neck up to look at you. Try to get on eye level with them, and you wanna gently tap a person who has a hearing disability on the shoulder or wave your hands to get their attention. 'Cause if they can't hear you, they don't know that you're speaking to them. Next what we're gonna do is I'm gonna show you a video that kind of takes everything that I have been talking about to you and showing you with examples what it means and the importance of it, so I'm gonna stop talking now, and turn on the video.

- Good morning, Bob.

- Good morning, there, big man. Morning, Alice! ♪ There's no need to be awkward ♪

- [Narrator] Poor Bob. Like so many of us, he just doesn't know how to interact with people with disabilities.

- It's pretty easy, really. People with disabilities are people first.

- We need the same things that every person needs like respect.

- Good morning, everyone.

- [Group] Attention!

- Uh, okay. Maybe we need to be more specific.

- The easiest way to show respect is to focus on the person. Not the disability. It's okay, you'll get the hang of it.

- One easy way to focus on the person is to watch the person signing, and not their interpreter.

- Or their companion.

- It's really cool that you'd like to help, but do us both a favor, and please ask me first. What you think might be helping?

- I got you.

- Wait, wait, ah! Might not actually not.

- If you'd like to offer me help, let me hold onto your elbow, don't take mine.

- Hey, would you like to take my arm?

- Sure.

- Assistive devices help us to live our lives. They're really important and really personal.

- Grabbing them only makes it weird for everyone.

- What?

- Please only touch our devices and service animals if we've given you permission. And don't take it personally if I ask you not to. Remember that my service animal helps me all the time. Neither of us would like it if we were separated.

- Remember, we make our own decisions. We sign documents, vote, volunteer, work and pay taxes.

- Wet get married.

- So don't underestimate me just because I have a great smile.

- Just because I'm blind.

- [Man] May I help you?

- Does not mean I'm Deaf.

- [Interpreter] Just because I'm Deaf, doesn't mean I'm blind.

- And just because I use a wheelchair doesn't mean that I can't sweep you off your feet.

- [Interpreter] So take a deep breath, relax. We don't bite.

- Unless we're really hungry.

- Hello, ladies, how are you?

- And if you're not sure what to do, just ask.

- Hi, would you still like to see a menu?

- No, thanks, but can you please read it to me?

- Sure, definitely.

- [Interpreter] Just treat us the way you would want to be treated, and we'll all be okay.

- Good morning.

- Good morning. Morning, Alice.

- Morning.

- [Narrator] Awkward no more. Nice job, Bob. Go forth and be human. ♪ There's no need to be awkward ♪

- [Deborah] Let's look at some common accommodation requests. The first is an American Sign Language interpreter. These are used, usually by people that are Deaf, that communicate in American Sign Language, and as I said earlier, you wanna make sure that you have a certified interpreter, not the person that came with the Deaf person, or not a friend or not someone who works in your office and kinda sorta took American Sign Language in elementary school or high school and knows a few words. Fingerspelling is not the same as American Sign Language. American Sign Language is its own language, and it's a pictographic language, where concepts are turned into pictures and interpreted, so please make sure that you get the right type of interpreter. Also, a common thing is that documents can be put into large print or braille or in an electronic format that can be read by a screen reader. Another common accommodation is to have a quiet space free from noisy distractions, and to have an accessible space with movable furniture, so that if need be, you can move the furniture around to accommodate different types of wheelchairs, walkers, or other items used with people with physical disabilities, and as I said, and I'll repeat this again and again is you wanna ask the person with a disability what type of accommodation they need or if they even want an accommodation at all. Now we're gonna look at little bit about the court system and how to request an accommodation from the court. Request for an accommodation from the court need to be made using an ADA Accommodation Request form that's available on the Court Website. For the court, you need to make them at least seven days in advance, and there is no charge for these accommodations. Every public entity that employs 50 or more persons will have a person who is in charge of ADA compliance, and for the courthouse, there's an ADA Coordinator, and this is usually the point person that you go to to request any type of accommodation. Now, sometimes, you'll go to the judge directly, because the judge controls what happens in their individual courtroom, but most of the time, you'll go to the ADA Coordinator, and you have to, when you're making an accomodation, you wanna be very clear and very specific about your request, and there has to be a connection between the disability and the request that's being made. So you, as providers and advocates that are helping with victims/survivors with disabilities, if you know that they need an accommodation, or in your discussions, you've found that an accommodation would be helpful, then you can help the person fill out this accommodation request form, and make sure that it is filled out, that it's, as I've said, clear, specific. So if you're requesting an accomodation that someone can't have a hearing that lasts eight hours because of their disability, then you would explain why and how much time you think the hearings could last, or how many, they need to be broken up into different sections based on the needs of the person, and their specific disability. So in the 11th Judicial Circuit, which is the Circuit in Miami-Dade County, this is the information for the ADA Coordinator, and this is their phone number and their email, and they have a ton of information on their website of how they provide accommodations, and they say, pursuant to Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of the Florida State Court System, they will make reasonable modifications in policies, practices and procedure, furnished auxiliaries and services and afford program accessibility through the provision of accessibility facilities, the relocation of services or programs or the provision of services at alternative sites as appropriate and necessary. So you see, not only for the hearings with the judge, but any of the programming that are sponsored by the court or court ordered programming, therapy, counseling, classes, all you can request accommodations for. Let's look at question number four. Always ask a victim/survivor if they would like an accommodation, true or false? This is absolutely true. Once again, you do not wanna make assumptions, do not wanna say, well, the person last time wanted this, so I assume this person will want the same accommodation. Always ask. Remember to ask the person directly, not the caregiver or the person, the companion that came with them. If you have any questions on anything that you heard in this webinar today, feel free to email my organization, Disability Independence Group, at dv@justdigit.org, and we will get answers to any questions that you might have. There are several resources available to victims/survivors. For domestic violence, there's a National Domestic Violence Hotline. The phone number is 1-800-799-7233. At the state level, you can call the FCADV, which stands for the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Their phone number is 1-800-500-1119. And at the local level, you can call CVAC, or our Miami-Dade Family Justice Center, and their phone number is 305-285-5900. For sexual assault, at the national level, you can call RAINN, which stands for the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, and their phone number is 1800-656-4673. At the state level, you can call the FCASV, which stands for the Florida Coalition Against Sexual Violence, and their phone number is 1-800, I'm sorry, 1-888-956-7273, 1-888-956-7273. And at the local level, you can call M.U.J.E.R., one of our sexual assault centers, and their phone number is 305-763-2459. Thank you for watching the training, The Intersection. Please make sure that you watch the other four trainings in our five part series. If you have any further questions, please contact Disability Independence Group at our phone number, which is 305-669-2822, or by email at dv@justdigit.org. Or go to our website at www.justdigit.org.