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“Hate Crimes Prevention Act and the Disability Provision”
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122245010
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“Hate Crimes Prevention Act and the Disability Provision”
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Records of the Office of the Counsel to the President (Clinton Administration)
Jonathan Young's Files
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FOIA Number: 2007-0143-F
FOIA
MARKER
This is not a textual record. This is used as an
administrative marker by the William J. Clinton
Presidential Library Staff.
Collection/Record Group:
Clinton Presidential Records
Subgroup/Office of Origin:
Counsel Office
Series/Staff Member:
Jonathan Young
Subseries:
OA/ID Number:
40206
FolderID:
Folder Title:
"Hate Crimes Prevention Act and the Disability Provision"
Stack:
Row:
Section:
Shelf:
Position:
S
112
1
9
3
Clinton Presidential Records
Digital Records Marker
This is not a presidential record. This is used as an administrative
marker by the William J. Clinton Presidential Library Staff.
This marker identifies the place of a publication.
Publications have not been scanned in their entirety for the purpose
of digitization. To see the full publication please search online or
visit the Clinton Presidential Library's Research Room.
HATE CRIMES PREVENTION ACT
&
THE DISABILITY PROVISION
Consortium
for Citizens
With Disabilities
Disability-Based Bias Crimes
Disability-Based Hate Crimes: The Need for Legislation
Through much of the 1800s and into the mid-1900s, people with disabilities were seen as
useless and dependent, hidden and excluded from society, first in private homes, and
subsequently in institutions. This history of isolation is gradually giving way to the principle of
inclusion, and people with disabilities live and work in communities alongside family and
friends--but this has not been a painless process. People with disabilities often seem "different"
to people without disabilities: they may require the assistance of a wheel-chair or a cane, have
uncontrollable seizures, or have difficulty understanding seemingly simple directions. These
perceived differences evoke a range of emotions, from misunderstanding and apprehension, to
feelings of superiority and hatred. Likewise, ensuing anti-disability bias takes many forms. Such
bias often results in discriminatory actions in employment, housing, and public accommodations.
Laws like the Fair Housing Amendments Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the
Rehabilitation Act are designed to protect people with disabilities from this type of prejudice.
Perhaps most unfortunately, disability bias also manifests itself in the form of violence--
and it is imperative that a message be sent to our community that these expressions of hatred are
not acceptable in our society. Examples of such crimes include:
The schoolmates of an 18-year old North Carolina high school student with a
developmental disability soaked his lunch with cleaning fluid and watched him
eat it. The result was a life-threatening poisoning that sent him to the intensive
care unit of the hospital and required the removal of much of his intestine.
A blind man waiting for a trolley in San Diego was mugged by two men. The two
men stole not only his money, but also his cane and his artificial eye.
Tim Dannemiller and his late wife, Theresa, were both living openly with AIDS,
struggling to raise their children in Portland, Maine. Their youngest daughter,
Autum, was also infected with HIV. The Dannemiller family had broken their
silence to participate in HIV/AIDS education programs that would inform their
community about the tragic reality of HIV infection in their family. As a result of
the publicity, Tim Dannemiller had the windows of his home shot out and was
forcibly removed from his car at a traffic light and severely beaten.
Twenty-one states and the District of Columbia have already recognized the importance
of this issue and have included people with disabilities as a protected class under their hate
crimes statutes. However, this protection is neither uniform nor comprehensive--which has
important practical and symbolic results. It is extremely important for the federal government to
send the message that hate crimes committed on the basis of disability are as intolerable as those
committed because of a person's race, national origin, or religion. And, the federal resources and
comprehensiveness of coverage provided in federal hate crimes legislation would give meaning
and substance to this important message. Thus, it is critical that people with disabilities share
in the protection of the federal hate crimes statute.
Beyond Hate Crimes: The Problem of Institutional Abuse and Neglect
Acts of violence against people with disabilities also frequently take the form of
institutional abuse and neglect--which is just as intolerable as the acts of violence detailed above.
Take the case of mentally-disabled Roshelle Clayborne: After assailing staff members with
pencils, she was slammed face-down on the floor, her arms yanked across her chest and her
wrists gripped from behind by a mental health aide, as she gasped that she couldn't breath.
Eight staffers watched as she was medicated--and became suddenly still. After she was
restrained, she lay in her own waste and vomit for five minutes before anyone noticed she hadn't
moved. Her corpse was then rolled into a blanket and dumped in an 8-by-10 room used to
seclude dangerous patients.
Roshelle is just one of many victims of this disability-based violence. The disability
community believes that such crimes are also expressions of disability-based bias. However, the
institutional restraint issue is more complicated than hate crimes: rather than working towards
outright prohibition on clearly intolerable actions--such as the hate crimes legislation prohibits--it
must allow appropriate safety precautions, while prohibiting brutally excessive force and
isolation. Thus, we believe that an additional piece of legislation specifically addressing the
problem of excessive restraint and seclusion is a necessary companion piece to the hate
crimes bill.
The Solution
The enactment of both pieces of legislation--federal hate crimes legislation and
institutional abuse and neglect legislation--is necessary to guarantee a clear federal message
that violent manifestations of hatred towards people with disabilities will not be tolerated
in our society.
Prepared by the Federal Legislation Clinic on behalf of NAPAS/CCD Rights Task Force.
H:/NAPASCCD/SPRING99\HARNESSHATECRIM/HATEPNTS.S