People with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are more likely than those without disabilities to be victimized, get arrested and charged with a crime, and serve longer prison sentences once convicted. Plus, criminal legal system professionals are frequently unaware of how to identify or communicate appropriately with people with IDD. Our joint report with the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition, Misunderstood and Mistreated: How Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Experience the Texas Criminal Legal System, outlines the challenges faced by the IDD population in Texas and offers actionable solutions. 

How Texans with disabilities will be able to participate in the next Texas Legislative Session remains unclear, but their right to have a say in policymaking is essential. The Arc of Texas member Ricky Broussard and The Arc of Texas Director of Public Policy & Advocacy Ginger Mayeaux explain the issues in this article by Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff in The Texas Tribune. 

Private insurance usually doesn't cover the essential supports and services some Texans with IDD use to live independently, but the Affordable Care Act (ACA) closed the gaps. If the U.S. Supreme Court rules later this year to invalidate the ACA, Texans with IDD will be the ones who lose. Trinady Joslin of The Texas Tribune reports on how the ruling in Texas v. United States could negatively affect Texans with disabilities.