The administration made many bad choices in the past few weeks. The administration is the president and the parts of the government that he can tell what to do.

The administration asked to make changes that would hurt disabled people and unhoused people. They also made policies that hurt people living in the District of Columbia. These policies make disabled people less safe. We’re going to talk more about these changes in this plain language roundup.

The president put out an executive order last month. Executive orders are directions that the president gives to parts of the government he leads. Executive orders don’t change what the law is. But they can tell some parts of the government how to follow the law. This executive order was about unhoused people and people with mental health disabilities.

Being unhoused means that someone does not have a home. Someone who is unhoused might sleep on the street, on friends’ couches, or in a shelter. Mental health disabilities are disabilities that change how someone thinks or feels. Some examples are depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder.

The executive order blamed unhoused people and people with mental health disabilities for violent crimes. The executive order says cities should lock up these groups of people to stop violent crimes. Violent crimes are times when someone physically hurts people and it breaks the law. An example would be shooting someone.

But the things in the executive order are lies. People with mental health disabilities and unhoused people are actually more likely to be hurt by violent crimes [[link removed]]. Also, violent crimes happen less today than they did years ago. There are studies that show this is true [[link removed]].

It would be really bad if cities tried to lock up unhoused people and people with mental health disabilities. When government money goes to locking people up, less goes to other programs. Cities and states would be forced to stop programs that help people who need housing. That would also make it easier to put disabled people in institutions. These policies hurt us. They make us less safe.

ASAN said this is a bad idea [[link removed]]. This will harm disabled people and unhoused people. ASAN asked the government to stop the executive order.

Washington, DC is already seeing the effects of this executive order. The president made a choice to send more police to the District of Columbia (DC). The president said this would help stop violent crimes.

But putting more police in DC does not make people more safe. The way police officers are trained make them more likely to hurt disabled people. Police officers hurt and kill members of our community [[link removed]] more often than others.

Many people who live in DC are people of color. Police also hurt people of color more than white people. That means disabled people of color have an even higher chance of getting hurt by police. More police coming into DC will hurt and kill more people. And police are already hurting unhoused people and people with mental health disabilities in DC.

ASAN does not want unhoused people in DC to get moved or arrested. Half of unhoused people are disabled [[link removed]]. Homeless shelters in DC do not have enough space for every unhoused person. And it is against the law to arrest someone for saying “no” to going to a homeless shelter. Police should not lock people up for being unhoused.

But the police in DC are still trying to arrest unhoused people. The police are also taking unhoused people’s things, and making them take down their tents. The government’s choice to send police to DC is an attack on unhoused people living there. It is an attack on people with mental health disabilities who live in DC.

DC has programs [[link removed]] to help people with mental health disabilities. These programs help people without using the police. We know that these programs work well for people with disabilities. But instead of helping these programs, the U.S. government gave DC less money for these programs. That means certain programs might not get the money they need [[link removed]] to help people.

The government should put more money towards helping people get housing they can afford. The government should give more money to programs that help people without using the police. This would actually help solve the problem. What the government is doing now hurts us instead.

DC has sued [[link removed]] the government to try and stop more police from coming to DC. ASAN agrees with DC’s lawsuit. We hope the government will stop sending more police to DC.

There is a law in DC called the DC Home Rule Act. This rule says that the government can’t control things in DC for more than 30 days. That means the government can’t keep sending police to DC after 30 days pass. If the government wants the police to stay in DC after that, Congress needs to say that is okay. ASAN thinks Congress should not say okay. Congress must do everything they can to stop police being sent to DC.

Our community does not get safer by adding more police. It does not get safer by hurting disabled people and unhoused people. Our community gets safer by us working together. It gets safer by us listening to each other. Our community gets safer by learning from research, experts, and our experiences. We can keep us safe. Nothing about us without us!


Autistic Self Advocacy Network
PO Box 66122
Washington, DC 20035
United States
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