NCJ Number
203948
Date Published
2003
Length
0 pages
Annotation
This video instructs police officers and agencies in principles and practices for interacting with and accommodating persons with disabilities, so as to comply with the provisions and intent of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Abstract
The format of the video is a combination of narrative instruction and dramatization illustrations of the implementation of the recommended policies and practices. The video first presents general principles for officers to follow in interacting with disabled persons in the course of their duties. The advice includes avoiding a condescending attitude toward the disabled person, communicating and relating to the person within the limitations of the person's specific disability, and pursuing the same objectives with the disabled persons as with any other witness or suspect while taking into account their particular disability. Following general instruction for police officers and agencies in dealing with disabled persons, the video then focuses on policies and procedures with persons who have specific types of disabilities. The types of disabilities addressed are mobility impairment, mental illness, mental retardation, epileptic seizure, speech impairment, hearing impairment, and blindness. For each type of disability, the narrator first presents information on the levels and characteristics of the impairment. This is followed by a statement and listing of the principles for interacting and communicating with a person having the specified disability. The principles are then illustrated in a dramatized field encounter with a person so impaired in the context of a law-enforcement or public-order situation. Mention is also made of how to handle specific disabilities in the course of transfer and custody accommodations.