Instagram Story Save

⏰ ONE WEEK OUT: Alternative Mental Health Crisis Response Panel

Join us next Thursday, May 21 at 6 PM ET for a virtual panel on the new joint report by @humanrightswatch, @crdjustice, and @nylpi: ”‘Self-Determination is the Pathway to Liberation’: Alternative Mental Health Crisis Response in the United States.”

At a time when coercive approaches to mental health crisis response are expanding, this panel will discuss why rights-respecting, non-police alternatives are crucial, what they look like in practice, and what it will take to sustain and expand them.

Moderated by Jennifer Mathis @bazeloncenter, the panel features Cat Brooks @antipoliceterrorproject @mhfirstoak, Travers Kurr @nolahealthdept, Christina Sparrock and William Juhn @nylpi, and Jordyn Jensen @crdjustice at @uclalawschool.

CART captioning and ASL interpretation will be provided.

Learn more and RSVP now at tinyurl.com/Crisis-Response-Panel-Info

#MentalHealthAwarenessMonth #DisabilityJustice​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

OUT NOW: Beyond the Golden Gate: IDEA at 50 and the Future of Inclusive Education in California, by CRDJ's Director of Research & Policy, Dr. Kate Caldwell.

Fifty years after the passage of IDEA, the promise of inclusive education remains unfinished. Our new brief, written for @disabilityrightsca's IDEA 50th Anniversary Summit, examines inclusion, disproportionality, discipline, restraint and seclusion, and youth policing through a disability justice lens.

Grounded in California data and policy analysis, the brief calls for a future of IDEA rooted not only in compliance, but in belonging, equity, and justice for multiply marginalized students with disabilities.

Read the brief now at the link in our bio!

📅 Save the Date: Alternative Mental Health Crisis Response Panel

Just in time for Mental Health Awareness Month, join us May 21 at 6 PM ET for a virtual panel on the new joint report by @humanrightswatch, @crdjustice, and @nylpi.

At a time when coercive approaches to mental health crisis response are expanding, this panel will discuss why rights-respecting, non-police alternatives are crucial, what they look like in practice, and what it will take to sustain and expand them.

Moderated by Jennifer Mathis @bazeloncenter, the panel features Cat Brooks @antipoliceterrorproject @mhfirstoak, Travers Kurr @nolahealthdept, Christina Sparrock and William Juhn @nylpi, and Jordyn Jensen @crdjustice at @uclalawschool.

CART captioning and ASL interpretation will be provided.

Register now: tinyurl.com/Crisis-Response-Panel
Read the report at the link in bio.

#MentalHealthAwarenessMonth #DisabilityJustice

Yesterday our incredible fellow Kyanda Bailey and Director of Research and Policy Dr. Kate Caldwell attended the Center for American Progress’s Disability Reproductive Equity Summit, hosted by CAP’s Disability Justice Initiative.

Kyanda spoke on the “Building power and persisting in 2026” panel, alongside organizers and advocates doing critical work at the intersection of disability and reproductive justice. Kyanda is a driving force behind our disability and reproductive justice work at CRDJ.

Some key takeaways and things we’re carrying forward:

Disability and reproductive justice must be rooted in acknowledging and addressing the structures that shape them, like racism, ableism, and economic status. These movements have to center the voices of those most disproportionately impacted, especially Black and Brown people.

Beyond reproductive rights and disability rights, we have to advocate for full autonomy for disabled people. Not just the right to have children, but the right to not have children, and decision-making power across guardianship, adoption, and every choice in between.

Check out our reproductive justice toolkit to learn more at crdjustice.org/repro

#ReproductiveJustice #DisabilityJustice #RacialJustice

Yesterday our incredible fellow Kyanda Bailey and Director of Research and Policy Dr. Kate Caldwell attended the Center for American Progress’s Disability Reproductive Equity Summit, hosted by CAP’s Disability Justice Initiative.

Kyanda spoke on the “Building power and persisting in 2026” panel, alongside organizers and advocates doing critical work at the intersection of disability and reproductive justice. Kyanda is a driving force behind our disability and reproductive justice work at CRDJ.

Some key takeaways and things we’re carrying forward:

Disability and reproductive justice must be rooted in acknowledging and addressing the structures that shape them, like racism, ableism, and economic status. These movements have to center the voices of those most disproportionately impacted, especially Black and Brown people.

Beyond reproductive rights and disability rights, we have to advocate for full autonomy for disabled people. Not just the right to have children, but the right to not have children, and decision-making power across guardianship, adoption, and every choice in between.

Check out our reproductive justice toolkit to learn more at crdjustice.org/repro

#ReproductiveJustice #DisabilityJustice #RacialJustice

🌴 New roots, same mission!

CRDJ's May newsletter is here, and it's our first since officially making the move to UCLA School of Law. Read about our move, our latest reports and briefs, recent events, blogs, public comment letters, and more.

The link to read this newsletter and to sign up to receive future ones is in our bio.

#DisabilityJustice #RacialJustice

🌴 New roots, same mission!

CRDJ's May newsletter is here, and it's our first since officially making the move to UCLA School of Law. Read about our move, our latest reports and briefs, recent events, blogs, public comment letters, and more.

The link to read this newsletter and to sign up to receive future ones is in our bio.

#DisabilityJustice #RacialJustice

What do true alternatives to police-led mental health crisis response require?

In Part 3 of our mental health crisis response blog series, Jordyn Jensen examines what a disability justice approach to crisis response requires, drawing on our recently released joint report with @humanrightswatch and @nylpi, "'Self-Determination is the Pathway to Liberation': Alternative Mental Health Crisis Response in the United States."

The piece builds from the first two blogs in the series, which examined crisis response as governing infrastructure and showed how crisis is shaped by geography, disinvestment, surveillance, and dispatch systems.

This third piece asks what must be built and supported instead.

True alternatives require more than the absence of police. They require non-coercive support, voluntary pathways, material resources, peer leadership, and community governance.

A different response is already being practiced in communities across the country. The question is whether we will protect, resource, and sustain it.

🔗 Read the full blog on Medium. Link in bio.

This #EarthDay, we’re grateful that we got to co-host a special convening: At the Intersection of Disability Justice and Environmental and Climate Justice! Experts, including many with disabilities, discussed the leadership of people with disabilities in making decisions about the environment and climate change.

It was a joy to hear from @frias_daphne, @l_vance_taylor, Curtis Hill (@disabilityrightsnc), and all the other fantastic speakers at this event.

And our very own Marlene Sallo moderated the panel, “Considering the Impacts on People with Disabilities in Emergency Planning & Response.”

Thank you to our co-hosts:
The Institute for Policy Integrity @nyulaw
The Environmental & Climate Justice Initiative @nyulaw
The Center for Racial and Disability Justice @crdjustice

And may we remember the incredible value of our planet, today and always.

#DisabilityJustice #EnvironmentalJustice #ClimateJustice

This #EarthDay, we’re grateful that we got to co-host a special convening: At the Intersection of Disability Justice and Environmental and Climate Justice! Experts, including many with disabilities, discussed the leadership of people with disabilities in making decisions about the environment and climate change.

It was a joy to hear from @frias_daphne, @l_vance_taylor, Curtis Hill (@disabilityrightsnc), and all the other fantastic speakers at this event.

And our very own Marlene Sallo moderated the panel, “Considering the Impacts on People with Disabilities in Emergency Planning & Response.”

Thank you to our co-hosts:
The Institute for Policy Integrity @nyulaw
The Environmental & Climate Justice Initiative @nyulaw
The Center for Racial and Disability Justice @crdjustice

And may we remember the incredible value of our planet, today and always.

#DisabilityJustice #EnvironmentalJustice #ClimateJustice

This #EarthDay, we’re grateful that we got to co-host a special convening: At the Intersection of Disability Justice and Environmental and Climate Justice! Experts, including many with disabilities, discussed the leadership of people with disabilities in making decisions about the environment and climate change.

It was a joy to hear from @frias_daphne, @l_vance_taylor, Curtis Hill (@disabilityrightsnc), and all the other fantastic speakers at this event.

And our very own Marlene Sallo moderated the panel, “Considering the Impacts on People with Disabilities in Emergency Planning & Response.”

Thank you to our co-hosts:
The Institute for Policy Integrity @nyulaw
The Environmental & Climate Justice Initiative @nyulaw
The Center for Racial and Disability Justice @crdjustice

And may we remember the incredible value of our planet, today and always.

#DisabilityJustice #EnvironmentalJustice #ClimateJustice

Suspensions and expulsions in early childhood education happen often, start early, and fall disproportionately on children of color, children with disabilities, and especially children at the intersection of both. Despite existing legal protections, children are still being pushed out, often through informal exclusions that never get documented.

Join us Monday, April 27 at 12pm CT for a virtual webinar on preschool discipline at the intersection of race and disability. We will examine what the data shows, where systems fail, what preschool discipline looks like through a disability justice lens, and what educators, IEP teams, families, and advocates can do right now.

Hosted by the Council for Exceptional Children's @divisionforearlychildhood Inclusion, Equity, and Social Justice (IESJ) Community of Practice, in collaboration with the Center for Racial and Disability Justice at @uclalawschool and Dr. Deidre Jones.

Register now at tinyurl.com/before-the-pipeline or via the link in our bio.

As Black Maternal Health Week comes to an end, we’re sitting with the data and the stakes.

Black women face maternal mortality rates 3.5x higher than White women despite more than 80% of pregnancy-related deaths being preventable. And for Black disabled women, the risks only compound, yet disability is still treated as an afterthought in maternal health policy.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Swipe through to learn more about the stakes and what we’re calling for.

Be sure to explore our Reproductive Justice Toolkit for more at CRDJustice.org/repro.

And, make sure to follow @blackmamasmatter and support the Black-led orgs carrying #BMHW26 forward all year!

#BlackMaternalHealth #BlackMaternalHealthWeek #DisabilityJustice #ReproductiveJustice

As Black Maternal Health Week comes to an end, we’re sitting with the data and the stakes.

Black women face maternal mortality rates 3.5x higher than White women despite more than 80% of pregnancy-related deaths being preventable. And for Black disabled women, the risks only compound, yet disability is still treated as an afterthought in maternal health policy.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Swipe through to learn more about the stakes and what we’re calling for.

Be sure to explore our Reproductive Justice Toolkit for more at CRDJustice.org/repro.

And, make sure to follow @blackmamasmatter and support the Black-led orgs carrying #BMHW26 forward all year!

#BlackMaternalHealth #BlackMaternalHealthWeek #DisabilityJustice #ReproductiveJustice

As Black Maternal Health Week comes to an end, we’re sitting with the data and the stakes.

Black women face maternal mortality rates 3.5x higher than White women despite more than 80% of pregnancy-related deaths being preventable. And for Black disabled women, the risks only compound, yet disability is still treated as an afterthought in maternal health policy.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Swipe through to learn more about the stakes and what we’re calling for.

Be sure to explore our Reproductive Justice Toolkit for more at CRDJustice.org/repro.

And, make sure to follow @blackmamasmatter and support the Black-led orgs carrying #BMHW26 forward all year!

#BlackMaternalHealth #BlackMaternalHealthWeek #DisabilityJustice #ReproductiveJustice

As Black Maternal Health Week comes to an end, we’re sitting with the data and the stakes.

Black women face maternal mortality rates 3.5x higher than White women despite more than 80% of pregnancy-related deaths being preventable. And for Black disabled women, the risks only compound, yet disability is still treated as an afterthought in maternal health policy.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Swipe through to learn more about the stakes and what we’re calling for.

Be sure to explore our Reproductive Justice Toolkit for more at CRDJustice.org/repro.

And, make sure to follow @blackmamasmatter and support the Black-led orgs carrying #BMHW26 forward all year!

#BlackMaternalHealth #BlackMaternalHealthWeek #DisabilityJustice #ReproductiveJustice

As Black Maternal Health Week comes to an end, we’re sitting with the data and the stakes.

Black women face maternal mortality rates 3.5x higher than White women despite more than 80% of pregnancy-related deaths being preventable. And for Black disabled women, the risks only compound, yet disability is still treated as an afterthought in maternal health policy.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Swipe through to learn more about the stakes and what we’re calling for.

Be sure to explore our Reproductive Justice Toolkit for more at CRDJustice.org/repro.

And, make sure to follow @blackmamasmatter and support the Black-led orgs carrying #BMHW26 forward all year!

#BlackMaternalHealth #BlackMaternalHealthWeek #DisabilityJustice #ReproductiveJustice

As Black Maternal Health Week comes to an end, we’re sitting with the data and the stakes.

Black women face maternal mortality rates 3.5x higher than White women despite more than 80% of pregnancy-related deaths being preventable. And for Black disabled women, the risks only compound, yet disability is still treated as an afterthought in maternal health policy.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Swipe through to learn more about the stakes and what we’re calling for.

Be sure to explore our Reproductive Justice Toolkit for more at CRDJustice.org/repro.

And, make sure to follow @blackmamasmatter and support the Black-led orgs carrying #BMHW26 forward all year!

#BlackMaternalHealth #BlackMaternalHealthWeek #DisabilityJustice #ReproductiveJustice

As Black Maternal Health Week comes to an end, we’re sitting with the data and the stakes.

Black women face maternal mortality rates 3.5x higher than White women despite more than 80% of pregnancy-related deaths being preventable. And for Black disabled women, the risks only compound, yet disability is still treated as an afterthought in maternal health policy.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Swipe through to learn more about the stakes and what we’re calling for.

Be sure to explore our Reproductive Justice Toolkit for more at CRDJustice.org/repro.

And, make sure to follow @blackmamasmatter and support the Black-led orgs carrying #BMHW26 forward all year!

#BlackMaternalHealth #BlackMaternalHealthWeek #DisabilityJustice #ReproductiveJustice

Still thinking about last week's convening! We headed to New York City to co-host "At the Intersection of Disability Justice and Environmental and Climate Justice," a convening on considering impacts on people with disabilities in environmental and climate decisionmaking.

Our team led the opening session, "Fault Lines: Disability as a Stress Test for Environmental Justice," making the case that disability is produced through environmental and climate injustice, not just affected by it. We explored how definitions of disability shape environmental and climate decisionmaking, unpacked eco-ableism, looked at the real-world impacts of disasters and climate change on disabled communities, and shared a process for bringing disability justice into environmental and climate work.

A few key takeaways from the day that we're still sitting with:
• Definitions of disability are not neutral. They shape how resources are allocated, how risk is measured, and whose experiences get recognized.
• Disability is produced through environmental and climate injustice. It's not just a pre-existing vulnerable group.
• Impacted communities need to lead the process, not just be consulted.
• Climate and environmental justice work is disability justice work!

And a huge thanks to our co-hosts, the Institute for Policy Integrity @nyulaw, National Disability Rights Network, and the Environmental & Climate Justice Initiative @nyulaw, for making this day possible. And thank you to every speaker, panelist, and participant who showed up ready to do this work together!

#DisabilityJustice #EnvironmentalJustice #ClimateJustice

Still thinking about last week's convening! We headed to New York City to co-host "At the Intersection of Disability Justice and Environmental and Climate Justice," a convening on considering impacts on people with disabilities in environmental and climate decisionmaking.

Our team led the opening session, "Fault Lines: Disability as a Stress Test for Environmental Justice," making the case that disability is produced through environmental and climate injustice, not just affected by it. We explored how definitions of disability shape environmental and climate decisionmaking, unpacked eco-ableism, looked at the real-world impacts of disasters and climate change on disabled communities, and shared a process for bringing disability justice into environmental and climate work.

A few key takeaways from the day that we're still sitting with:
• Definitions of disability are not neutral. They shape how resources are allocated, how risk is measured, and whose experiences get recognized.
• Disability is produced through environmental and climate injustice. It's not just a pre-existing vulnerable group.
• Impacted communities need to lead the process, not just be consulted.
• Climate and environmental justice work is disability justice work!

And a huge thanks to our co-hosts, the Institute for Policy Integrity @nyulaw, National Disability Rights Network, and the Environmental & Climate Justice Initiative @nyulaw, for making this day possible. And thank you to every speaker, panelist, and participant who showed up ready to do this work together!

#DisabilityJustice #EnvironmentalJustice #ClimateJustice

Last week, we submitted a letter to the National Council on Disability in response to their Request for Information on the creation of a State, Local, Territory, and Tribal (SLTT) Emergency Management Toolkit.

In this letter, we draw on our Building Inclusive Disaster Relief Guide & Toolkit, Sunaura Taylor's "Disabled Ecologies: Lessons from a Wounded Desert," and a range of federal guidance and research to outline the structural barriers disabled people face in emergency management. Our recommendations are grounded in disability justice, tribal sovereignty, and the leadership of disabled people, particularly disabled people of color and Indigenous disabled people.

Our recommendations include:
• Center disabled leadership in SLTT emergency planning.
• Build accessibility in from the start across shelters, evacuation routes, and communication.
• Ground tribal planning in sovereignty and Indigenous data governance.
• Prevent forced institutionalization by maintaining community-based services, personal care, and medical equipment during and after disasters.
• Address intersecting harms by ensuring plans account for how race, poverty, housing instability, immigration status, and language access compound disaster vulnerability.

As @sunaura_taylor reminds us, "disabled people die disproportionately in disasters not because of their disabilities, but because of the response to their disabilities" (pp. 277-278).

You can read this letter, along with all of CRDJ's public comment submissions, on our website: https://www.crdjustice.org/public-comment-letters

Last week, we submitted a letter to the National Council on Disability in response to their Request for Information on the creation of a State, Local, Territory, and Tribal (SLTT) Emergency Management Toolkit.

In this letter, we draw on our Building Inclusive Disaster Relief Guide & Toolkit, Sunaura Taylor's "Disabled Ecologies: Lessons from a Wounded Desert," and a range of federal guidance and research to outline the structural barriers disabled people face in emergency management. Our recommendations are grounded in disability justice, tribal sovereignty, and the leadership of disabled people, particularly disabled people of color and Indigenous disabled people.

Our recommendations include:
• Center disabled leadership in SLTT emergency planning.
• Build accessibility in from the start across shelters, evacuation routes, and communication.
• Ground tribal planning in sovereignty and Indigenous data governance.
• Prevent forced institutionalization by maintaining community-based services, personal care, and medical equipment during and after disasters.
• Address intersecting harms by ensuring plans account for how race, poverty, housing instability, immigration status, and language access compound disaster vulnerability.

As @sunaura_taylor reminds us, "disabled people die disproportionately in disasters not because of their disabilities, but because of the response to their disabilities" (pp. 277-278).

You can read this letter, along with all of CRDJ's public comment submissions, on our website: https://www.crdjustice.org/public-comment-letters

NEW: Communities throughout the country are developing alternative models of mental health crisis response. In a new report, Human Rights Watch, @nylpi, and @crdjustice identify key elements of rights-respecting responses to mental health crises.

These approaches are desperately needed as US police kill hundreds of people each year, many of whom had documented mental health conditions, and as federal, state, and local jurisdictions seek to implement increasingly coercive approaches to mental health crisis response and treatment.

Having police as the primary or default responders to people experiencing mental health crises is ineffective and sometimes lethal. Fortunately, there are alternate approaches.

Read more at the link in our bio.

NEW: Communities throughout the country are developing alternative models of mental health crisis response. In a new report, Human Rights Watch, @nylpi, and @crdjustice identify key elements of rights-respecting responses to mental health crises.

These approaches are desperately needed as US police kill hundreds of people each year, many of whom had documented mental health conditions, and as federal, state, and local jurisdictions seek to implement increasingly coercive approaches to mental health crisis response and treatment.

Having police as the primary or default responders to people experiencing mental health crises is ineffective and sometimes lethal. Fortunately, there are alternate approaches.

Read more at the link in our bio.

NEW: Communities throughout the country are developing alternative models of mental health crisis response. In a new report, Human Rights Watch, @nylpi, and @crdjustice identify key elements of rights-respecting responses to mental health crises.

These approaches are desperately needed as US police kill hundreds of people each year, many of whom had documented mental health conditions, and as federal, state, and local jurisdictions seek to implement increasingly coercive approaches to mental health crisis response and treatment.

Having police as the primary or default responders to people experiencing mental health crises is ineffective and sometimes lethal. Fortunately, there are alternate approaches.

Read more at the link in our bio.

NEW: Communities throughout the country are developing alternative models of mental health crisis response. In a new report, Human Rights Watch, @nylpi, and @crdjustice identify key elements of rights-respecting responses to mental health crises.

These approaches are desperately needed as US police kill hundreds of people each year, many of whom had documented mental health conditions, and as federal, state, and local jurisdictions seek to implement increasingly coercive approaches to mental health crisis response and treatment.

Having police as the primary or default responders to people experiencing mental health crises is ineffective and sometimes lethal. Fortunately, there are alternate approaches.

Read more at the link in our bio.

NEW: Communities throughout the country are developing alternative models of mental health crisis response. In a new report, Human Rights Watch, @nylpi, and @crdjustice identify key elements of rights-respecting responses to mental health crises.

These approaches are desperately needed as US police kill hundreds of people each year, many of whom had documented mental health conditions, and as federal, state, and local jurisdictions seek to implement increasingly coercive approaches to mental health crisis response and treatment.

Having police as the primary or default responders to people experiencing mental health crises is ineffective and sometimes lethal. Fortunately, there are alternate approaches.

Read more at the link in our bio.