Our over-policing and the excessive criminalization of people in behavioral health crisis will be related to our discriminatory and segregationist history, data, and shared stories. The prevalence of ugly laws, institutionalization, eugenics and the development of policing will be briefly discussed to identify how our discriminatory legacy relates to the criminalization of people with disabilities. Data will be shared to demonstrate the disproportionate impact on persons with disabilities and of color in our carceral system, our local state hospitals and in police fatalities. Two individuals will share their traumatic encounters with law enforcement in Baltimore City when they or their loved one contacted 911 for help with a mental health crisis. In Baltimore, such calls automatically result in a police response. Their stories are told through a video they helped to create. The session will also address local advocacy efforts for public health services that remove law enforcement and use a human rights framework and emphasizes peer participation, non-discrimination, accessibility, accountability, consent and non-coercion.

YouTube video was shown during the session