Friday, November 1, 2013

AAPD Disability Daily ~ The American Association of People with Disability ~ Your news. Daily. Unfiltered ~ Friday, 1 November 2013


AAPD Disability Daily ~ The American Association of People with Disability ~ Your news. Daily. Unfiltered ~ Friday, 1 November 2013
NATIONAL
Judge Invalidates Patent for a Down Syndrome Test. The New York Times (10/31) by Andrew Pollack
A federal judge has invalidated the central patent underlying a noninvasive method of detecting Down syndrome in fetuses without the risk of inducing a miscarriage.
The ruling is a blow to Sequenom, a California company that introduced the first such noninvasive test in 2011 and has been trying to lock out competitors in a fast-growing market by claiming they infringe on the patent.
Sequenom’s stock fell 23 percent on Thursday, to $1.92.
The judge, Susan Illston of the United States District Court in Northern California, issued a ruling on Wednesday that the patent was invalid because it covered a natural phenomenon — the presence of DNA from the fetus in the mother’s blood.
The ruling was a sign that the Supreme Court’s decision in June declaring that human genes may not be patented because they are products of nature could make it more difficult to patent diagnostic techniques.
Judge Illston cited the gene patent case, which involved Myriad Genetics, in her ruling, along with a 2012 Supreme Court decision invalidating patents on a test used to determine the proper dosages of certain drugs.
“It’s hard to imagine patents on diagnostics surviving if that approach is taken,” Christopher M. Holman, a law professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, said of Wednesday’s ruling.
Paul V. Maier, chief financial officer of Sequenom, said the company would appeal. “We believe the court’s decision is wrong and misapplies or ignores the controlling law,” he said, adding that the patent involved a novel use of a natural phenomenon, not the phenomenon itself.
Until recently, women seeking to find out whether their fetuses had Down syndrome or other chromosomal abnormalities had to undergo either amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling. Both are invasive techniques that obtain cell samples from the womb or placenta and carry a slight risk of inducing a miscarriage.
The new tests offered by Sequenom and several competitors take advantage of the fact that some DNA from the fetus can be found in a pregnant woman’s blood and can be analyzed with new genetic techniques.
Such tests do not completely replace the invasive ones, but they have caught on quickly and led to a sharp reduction in the use of the other tests. The noninvasive tests are now offered by Sequenom as well as Ariosa Diagnostics, Natera and Verinata.
In the current case, Ariosa filed a lawsuit in 2011 seeking a court ruling that its test, called Harmony, did not infringe on the patent controlled by Sequenom. Sequenom countersued and tried to win a preliminary injunction blocking Ariosa from marketing its test. The court denied the injunction but the appeals court vacated that decision and sent the case back to the district court.
Verinata and Natera have also been seeking rulings from the same judge that their tests do not infringe on Sequenom’s patent.
In her ruling, Judge Illston said that the presence of the DNA in the pregnant woman’s blood was a novel discovery but could not be patented because it was a natural phenomenon. And claims in the patent over how to detect that DNA were not eligible for a patent because they involved conventional genetic techniques.
A version of this article appears in print on November 1, 2013, on page B4 of the New York edition with the headline: Judge Invalidates Patent For a Down Syndrome Test.
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Many veterans given psychiatric drugs without diagnosis, study shows. Fox News (10/31) 
Nearly one-third of U.S. veterans who are given psychiatric medications by their doctors do not have a diagnosed mental health problem, according to a new study.
Older vets between ages 65 and 85 were the ones most commonly prescribed psychotropic drugs without a formal diagnosis, and were least likely to be receiving mental health treatment, researchers report in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.
The findings are important because such drugs can pose serious health risks. "Psychiatric medications can save lives, but they can also cause harm," said Ilse Wiechers, a psychiatrist at Yale School of Medicine and lead author of the study.
"My work aims to ensure that older adults receive the right medicine for the right diagnosis in the safest way possible," she said.
The 1.85 million veterans in the study filled prescriptions during fiscal year 2010 for at least one psychiatric medication, and were identified by their national Veterans Health Administration pharmacy and encounter claims.
Information about the patients and their health issues was pulled from their medical records.
Patients older than 65 were prescribed psychiatric medications without a diagnosis 44 percent more often than were patients in their 40s.
The study took into account whether the drugs were given to treat other problems, such as pain, seizures and headaches, and whether or not the physicians prescribing the pills were mental health specialists.
Among the people getting psychiatric drugs, just 39 percent of those who were not getting mental health treatment from specialists had a mental illness diagnosis. In contrast, 98 percent of those getting specialist mental health treatment had a diagnosed mental disorder.
The medications most likely to be over-prescribed were antidepressants; sedatives, such as alprazolam or diazepam and mood stabilizers, such as gabapentin and valproic acid.
It's unclear what these findings mean to older veterans and their families, according to Wiechers, as there are a number of possible explanations for over-prescribing these medications.
They include undiagnosed mental illness, incomplete documentation of mental health problems in the medical record and unnecessary administration of psychiatric medications.
"More research is needed before we can identify the most appropriate targets for change in clinical practice," Wiechers said. "Our next steps are to work together with our non-psychiatry colleagues to better understand what is happening on the ground in their day-to-day clinical practice."
~~~
Original study: here
Article in Press
Increased risk among older veterans of prescribing psychotropic medication in the absence of psychiatric diagnoses
Ilse R. Wiechers, MD, MPP, Paul Kirwin, MD, Robert Rosenheck, MD
Received 10 July 2013; received in revised form 4 October 2013; accepted 9 October 2013. published online 28 October 2013.
Abstract  Objectives
This study uses Veterans Health Administration (VHA) pharmacy and encounter claims to evaluate the use of psychotropic medications without a psychiatric diagnosis across age groups.
Methods
National VHA administrative data for fiscal year 2010 (FY2010) were used to identify all veterans who filled a prescription for at least one psychotropic medication from VHA (N = 1.85 million). Bivariate and multivariate analyses were used to compare the proportion of these veterans without any psychiatric diagnosis, across age groups, adjusting for possible medical indications. Analyses were repeated for six different classes of psychotropic medications and comparing mental health utilizers and non-mental health utilizers. Comparisons were made to prescribing of HIV and diabetes medications without an indicated diagnosis.
Results
Of all VHA patients prescribed a psychotropic medication in FY2010, 30% had no psychiatric diagnosis, with highest proportions among veterans age 65 to 85. This practice was most frequent among non-mental health utilizers and far more prevalent for psychotropic medications than HIV or diabetes medications. Logistic regression analysis found that age greater than 65 was the strongest predictor of being prescribed a psychotropic without a psychiatric diagnosis. Adjustment for possible medical use of psychotropics and overall medical comorbidity did not substantially alter these trends.
Conclusions
Older veterans, especially those not utilizing specialty mental health care, are more likely to be prescribed psychotropic medications in the absence of a psychiatric diagnosis, perhaps representing unnecessary use, underdiagnosis of mental illness, or incomplete documentation.
~~~
STATE/LOCAL
Utah earns A+ for dealing with people with mental health conditions who commit crimes. The Salt Lake Tribune (10/31) by Jim Dalrymple II
Much of America is "a disgrace" when it comes to dealing with mentally ill people accused of crimes, but Utah is an exception, a new study argues.
Utah earned an A+ grade for helping people with mental illness via crisis intervention teams and mental health court. The new rankings come from a study by the Treatment Advocacy Center that also includes this searing indictment of the nation’s other states: one third of the states earn grades of D or F for diverting people with mental illness from jail.
The study pulls no punches, beginning with an opening sentence that calls the criminalization of mental illness "nothing less than a disgrace." The study goes on to say that there are three times as many mentally ill people in jails and prisons as there are being treated in hospitals. Moreover, the percentage of U.S. inmates with mental illnesses has tripled over the last 30 years, "to a current level of at least 16 percent."
But not all states are equal when it comes to serving those with mental illness. The study focused on "diversion," or the idea that people who commit crimes due to mental illness need treatment rather than punishment. The study also notes that the most common crimes committed by those with mental illnesses are non-violent, including drug offenses, property crimes, aggressive panhandling and an array of other things.
Utah, along with Washington D.C., topped the list for serving those people well. That’s because in Utah, 85 percent of the mentally ill population with criminal cases is served by a mental health court. In addition, 97 percent of that population is served by a crises intervention team. Washington D.C. had a higher score, but both it and Utah earned A+ grades.
Mental health court is type of legal proceeding that looks much like a normal court, but which is focused on helping criminal defendants with mental illness. Crisis intervention teams are run by police departments and include specially trained officers who work with the mentally ill.
Doug Thomas, director of Utah Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health, attributed Utah’s high scores to "collaboration at various levels." In a news release, Thomas said the programs help everyone and are a win-win for officers and the mentally ill.
Salt Lake City Chief of Police Chris Burbank said crisis intervention training saves lives and is available to officers state wide.
In contrast to Utah, 16 states earned a D or F grade for serving the mentally ill, with Rhode Island coming in dead last. Another 15 states earned a C+ or lower. The national average also was a C+. The study, which calls on officials across the nation to improve, provides several recommendations to that end.
~~~
Original study: here
Mental Health Diversion Practices A Survey of the States
AUGUST 2013
Data herein reflects best information as of September 20, 2013. For the most up-to-date data, please consult the online version of this report at tacreports.org/diversion-study
Mental Health Diversion Practices A Survey of the States
Brian Stettin, Esq.
Policy Director Treatment Advocacy Center
Frederick J. Frese, Ph.D.
Member of the Board of Directors, CIT International Member of the Board of Directors, Treatment Advocacy Center
H. Richard Lamb, M.D.
Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California Member of the Board of Directors, Treatment Advocacy Center
© 2013 by the Treatment Advocacy Center
The Treatment Advocacy Center is a national nonprofit organization dedicated exclusively to eliminating barriers to the timely and effective treatment of severe mental illness. The organization promotes laws, policies and practices for the delivery of psychiatric care and supports the development of innovative treatments for and research into the causes of severe and persistent psychiatric illnesses, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The criminalization of mental illness is nothing less than a national disgrace.
A 2010 study by the Treatment Advocacy Center found that more than three times as many severely mentally ill persons in the U.S. are doing time in jails and prisons than receiving treatment in hospitals.i Other studies indicate a near-tripling over the last 30 years of the percentage of U.S. inmates who suffer from severe mental illness, to a current level of at least 16%.ii
The primary mission of the Treatment Advocacy Center is to promote mental health laws and policies which, if fully implemented by state mental health systems, would minimize – if never fully eliminate – the tragedy of people with severe mental illness falling into the clutches of the criminal justice system. In this report, we look to how state criminal justice officials are responding to the colossal failure of their mental health counterparts to meet this challenge.
For individual state reports, visit http://www.tacreports.org/diversion-study.
BACKGROUND
Through the processes of “diversion,” law enforcement agencies seek to identify individuals whose criminal acts are clearly attributable to untreated mental illness and connect them to needed treatment rather than punishment – in other words, to divert them out of the world of criminal justice and into the mental health system that should have addressed their needs in the first place.
There are practical limits to what can be accomplished though diversion. As much as we may feel sympathy for the person whose untreated mental illness results in a serious violent crime, it is usually not realistic to expect the criminal justice system to forgo prosecution in such cases. Prosecutors are constrained by the dual needs of delivering a sense of justice to victims and protecting the public from danger. Typically in these cases, the perpetrator’s only hope to avoid punishment is to prove himself “not guilty by reason of insanity” (NGRI) at trial – a notoriously high hurdle.
But acts of serious violence are but a small fraction of the crimes committed under the sway of severe mental illness. Far more common are non-violent offenses such as drug crimes, property crimes and various misdemeanors including trespassing, public urination, public intoxication and aggressive panhandling.
These are the cases crying out for a strategy of diversion. It stands to reason that where offenses are caused by lack of treatment, the antidote to re-offense is treatment, not incarceration. The added benefit is to relieve correctional facilities of some of their enormous burden to provide mental health care behind bars – a thankless task for which guards are ill- equipped and unfairly enlisted.
Diversion is not itself a practice but an umbrella term encompassing a host of practices with a shared objective that includes parole and probation, which have long been used to prevent recidivism by linking mentally ill offenders to stipulated community-based treatment. In this report, we examine the prevalence of two specific diversionary tactics which have spread in recent decades: “Crisis Intervention Team” (CIT) policing and specialized mental health courts. Unlike the traditional vehicles of probation and parole, these newer techniques seek to pry people from the grip of criminal justice at an earlier point in the process – before resources and opportunities are squandered through pointless prosecution, conviction and incarceration.
MENTAL HEALTH COURTS
The burgeoning “mental health court” movement is an offshoot of the larger trend towards specialized “problem-solving” courts. Where it is possible to identify cases on a criminal court docket in which the criminal behavior has resulted from specific underlying problems, problem- solving courts seek to work with the defendant to address the underlying problems in lieu of punishment. Other examples include drug courts, veterans’ courts and domestic violence courts.iii
In a mental health court, the cases diverted are those where it appears the defendant would benefit more from community-based mental health treatment than incarceration. Violent offenses are almost always excluded from consideration. The transfer of a case from the ordinary docket requires the consent of the prosecuting authority. The social service agencies responsible for providing community-based treatment play a key role in screening and evaluating the needs of candidates. The presiding judges tend to have particular knowledge of mental illness and of the challenges defendants face in adhering to prescribed treatment. In the end, a treatment plan is presented and approved by the court, and the defendant agrees to comply with the plan in exchange for the suspension of the criminal charge. Follow-up court hearings to monitor the defendant’s progress are scheduled, and charges are ultimately dismissed if the defendant holds to his or her end of the treatment bargain and avoids re- offense.iv
The mental health court model is conceptually similar to a civil law mechanism long championed by the Treatment Advocacy Center, known as “assisted outpatient treatment” (AOT).v As in AOT, mental health courts exert leverage over a mentally ill person to encourage compliance with prescribed treatment. The key difference is that the leverage here is the court’s power to order the person prosecuted and (if convicted) sentenced to jail, rather than the power to have the person hospitalized.
Due to these similarities, some in the mental health system have made the mistake of believing that if they have a mental health court in their community, they have no need for AOT. This is a tragic and discriminatory miscalculation. As vital a role as mental health courts play for those who already face criminal prosecution, criminal conduct should never be a prerequisite for mentally ill individuals lacking insight to receive meaningful treatment.
CRISIS INTERVENTION TEAM (CIT) POLICING
The concept of Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) policing was pioneered by the Memphis police department in 1988. In essence, it entails a police department intensively training a cadre of officers on the nature of various forms of mental illness; the ways that these illnesses are likely to manifest in the community; the treatments known to relieve suffering and allow people with mental illness to function safely; the community-based resources available to connect people with these treatments; and proven techniques to communicate with and calm an agitated person in acute psychiatric crisis. Through this training and their own on-the-job experience, CIT police officers become mental health specialists. When an apparent mental health-related
ncident arises in the community, the department’s CIT Unit is dispatched to the scene. Over time, CIT officers come to know many of the mentally ill community members they serve and develop bonds of trust.vi
While a police department’s embrace of CIT serves a number of vital purposes – for example, having officers with knowledge of mental illness respond to sensitive incidents sharply reduces the risks of injury and deathvii – a primary goal is diversion. When a CIT officer makes an arrest for criminal behavior, he or she does not reflexively process the person for booking. Instead, the officer is trained to consider – and sufficiently network with providers to know -- whether treatment alternatives are available to ensure the safety of the person and the community. This may take the form of transferring the person to a hospital for evaluation of the need for inpatient care, referring the person to an appropriate community-based program or initiating a court proceeding for court-ordered outpatient treatment (AOT). If the person taken into custody is already known to the CIT unit, there may also be information available to the officer as to who is already responsible for his care, which helps facilitate a safe hand-off without need for booking.
Research has established the effectiveness of CIT in reducing criminalization of mental illness. In 1995, Dr. H. Richard Lamb and colleagues examined how many of 101 consecutive referrals to the Los Angeles “SMART” unit (based on a model similar to CIT) resulted in jailing. Of the 101 referrals, they found 80 transported to a hospital setting, 69 of the 80 held for evaluation and only two jailed, i.e., a 2% booking rate. That compares to a 16% booking rate found in an earlier, comparable study of traditional policing in Chicago.viii A 2000 study of the pioneering CIT program in Memphis also found that targeted responses to mental health crises resulted in substantially fewer bookings.ix
METHODS
In this study, we sought to determine the prevalence of CIT and mental health courts within each state as a means of measuring each state’s dedication to diverting people with severe mental illness from the criminal justice system.
To accomplish this, we relied on two online resources maintained by organizations that track the implementation of these practices.
The GAINS Center for Behavioral Health and Justice Transformation maintains a database of mental health courts operating in jurisdictions across the country. We supplemented this information with an online search for additional mental health courts in each state.
The CIT Center at the University of Memphis School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, maintains a website tracking the hundreds of law enforcement agencies nationwide known to have adopted the CIT model.
Both websites are searchable by state.
For each state, we compiled the list of known operating mental health courts and CIT programs. Using 2010 census data, we added together the total population of the jurisdictions served by the programs and – separately for mental health courts and CIT – divided those sums by the total population of the state. In other words, for each state, we calculated the percentage of the population residing in jurisdictions that use mental health courts and the percentage residing in jurisdictions with CIT programs. We refer to these in the chart below as the “percentages of population served” by each tactic within each state.
LIMITATIONS
There are several limitations to the significance of the data collected herein.
First, it should be obvious that not all CIT programs nor all mental health courts are created equal. With CIT, effectiveness will vary greatly according to the quality of training that officers receive, the accessibility of local mental health resources, and the priority that a police department places upon the CIT unit’s mission.
With mental health courts, success largely hinges on such variables as the court’s determination and power to hold patients and providers accountable, the thoroughness of defendant screening and treatment plan development and the availability of adequate community-based care. Much as we would have liked to, we lacked the means to measure the percentages of state populations with access to CIT units and mental health courts achieving high quality outcomes.
Second, it was beyond our grasp to consider the size of each identified CIT unit and mental health court relative to the need within a jurisdiction. It is undoubtedly less than accurate in many cases to consider the population of a city “served” by CIT or a mental health court when in fact the programs are only able to meet a tiny fraction of the city’s demand. In effect, we have given each jurisdiction full credit for at least making an effort to address some of the local need.
Third, we can offer no more here than a single shot at a moving target. CIT and mental health courts are both burgeoning trends on the criminal justice landscape. Inevitably, in the time between the compilation of this data and the reader’s consumption of this study, more programs will have been established, and the states where they have will have earned better grades. We nonetheless believe there is value in considering where things stand in mid-2013.
FINDINGS
The following chart summarizes the findings of our examination of states’ criminal justice diversion efforts:
State Percentage of population served by a mental health court
District of Columbia 100%
Percentage of population served by CIT
100%
Average Grade Percentage
100% A+
Utah 85% 97% 91% A+
Florida 67% 97% 82% A
California 78% 79% 79% A
Ohio 63% 88% 76% A
Connecticut
Illinois
Idaho
Nevada
Washington
Colorado
Georgia
Maine
New Mexico
North Carolina
Arizona
Minnesota
Delaware
Oklahoma
Pennsylvania
Oregon
Kentucky
Missouri
Alaska
Hawaii
Nebraska
New York
Virginia
Texas
Wisconsin
Kansas
Tennessee
Indiana
Maryland
New Hampshire
North Dakota
Michigan
Wyoming
Montana
Louisiana
100%
37%
69% B+
78% 59% 69% B+
76% 58% 67% B+
88% 37% 63% B
62% 63% 63% B
35% 86% 61% B
49% 70% 60% B
34% 83% 59% B
63%
24%
50%
87%
57% B
56% B
21% 84% 53% B-
31% 70% 51% B-
100%
0%
50% B-
59% 40% 50% B-
60% 40% 50% B-
54% 38% 46% C+
28% 61% 45% C+
51% 38% 45% C+
44% 44% 44% C
70% 12% 41% C
42% 40% 41% C
75%
5%
40% C
6% 70% 38% C
44% 27% 36% C
11% 60% 36% C
18% 49% 34% C-
16% 51% 34% C-
25% 37% 31% C-
30% 31% 31% C-
40%
22%
19%
34%
30% C-
28% D
48% 3% 26% D
0% 52% 26% D
17% 30% 24% D
8%
38%
23% D
New Jersey
South Carolina
7% 33%
27% 10%
20% D
19% F
Vermont 35% 1% 18% F
Alabama 34% 0% 17% F
South Dakota
0% 29%
15% F
Iowa 8% 13% 11% F
Massachusetts 13% 3% 8% F
Mississippi 2% 13% 8% F
Arkansas 10% 0% 5% F
West Virginia
Rhode Island
Nat’l Average
9% 0%
0% 0%
48% 49%
5% F
0% F
49% C+
The outlying performance of the District of Columbia, while certainly commendable, merits qualification. Because the District is a single jurisdiction, the only possible result for each practice was zero (no program), or 100%. The comparison to multi-jurisdiction states here is misleading.
Among the 50 states, only Utah, Florida, California and Ohio have very high prevalence rates for both of the measured diversion practices. Some other states have strikingly lopsided results: either laudable on mental health courts and paltry on CIT (New York, Delaware) or vice versa (Virginia, North Carolina).
The results are alarmingly bottom-heavy. One-third of the states earn grades of D or F based on an averaging of the two penetration rates. Several at the very bottom have little or no adoption of either practice (Arkansas, West Virginia, Rhode Island).
RECOMMENDATIONS
For state criminal justice systems to improve their performance in the diversion of people with severe mental illness, most of the impetus will have to come from local law enforcement agencies to launch their own CIT units and mental health courts.
Here are five strategies policymakers and others could implement to divert more people with severe mental illness out of state criminal justice systems.
o State lawmakers: As needed, initiate and pass legislation to provide authorization for new specialized courts on a pilot or permanent basis.
o State lawmakers: Incentivize and otherwise encourage local law enforcement to start diversion programs. For example, state governments could provide matching funds to underwrite the launch of local diversion efforts and/or provide technical assistance in accessing federal grant funds.
o Local jurisdictions: Seek federal grant funds to underwrite launch of mental health courts. The U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) administers a Mental Health Courts Program. As stated on the BJA’s website, “[t]his program funds projects that seek to mobilize communities to implement innovative, collaborative efforts that bring system-wide improvements to the way the needs of adult offenders with mental disabilities or illnesses are addressed.” Information on grants is available pm the Bureau of Justice Assistance website.
o Law enforcement agencies: Contact the CIT Center at the University of Memphis at for practical information and tools for implementing CIT.
o Members of the public, particularly those with a severely mentally ill loved one or friend: Though not a substitute for assisted outpatient treatment (AOT), mental health courts can be a valuable intervention tool once an individual has entered the criminal justice system. Mobilize and advocate for the creation of CIT units and mental health courts in your own communities. In some communities, NAMI affiliates have successfully encouraged or led CIT training efforts. Write, call and visit local elected officials to urge them to establish mental health courts.
CONCLUSION
Public officials have at their disposal an array of tools for reducing the criminalization of mental illness. These include restoring sufficient public psychiatric beds to meet the need for inpatient treatment, improving civil commitment laws and standards to increase treatment access before individuals with severe mental illness engage with law enforcement, making broader use of court-ordered outpatient treatment to support at-risk individuals with severe mental illness in the community and the two proven diversion strategies reported here: mental health courts and crisis intervention teams.
Among the 50 states, only Utah, Florida, California and Ohio are reaching at least 60% of their populations with each of the measured diversion practices. Other states have strikingly lopsided results: both laudable on the use of mental health courts and paltry on using CIT (New York, Delaware) or vice versa (Virginia, North Carolina). What’s more, the overall results are alarmingly bottom-heavy. One-third of the states earn grades of D or F based on an average of the two prevalence rates. Several states at the very bottom have made little or no adoption of either practice (Arkansas, West Virginia, Rhode Island).
Nationwide, mental health courts and CIT are each available to less than half our population. The national letter grade on diversion is a “C plus.”
The national disgrace of criminalization will not end until we stop regarding this failure as acceptable and make universal use of the diversion tools known to keep individuals with severe mental illness out of jails and prisons.
REFERENCES
i “More Mentally Il Persons Are in Jails and Prisons Than Hospital: A Survey of the States,” Treatment Advocacy Center 2010. ii Compare: L. A. Teplin (1990), “The prevalence of severe mental disorder among male urban jail detainees: comparison with epidemiologic catchment area program,” American Journal of Public Health; 80:663–669; H. J. Steadman, F. C. Osher, P. C. Robbins et al. (2009), “Prevalence of serious mental illness among jail inmates,“ Psychiatric Services;60:761–765.
iii See “Problem-Solving Justice,” webpage hosted by Center for Court Innovation, accessed June 6, 2013. iv See “
v See “Assisted Outpatient Treatment,” webpage hosted by Treatment Advocacy Center, accessed June 6, 2013. vi See “CIT Overview,” webpage hosted by CIT International, accessed June 6, 2013. vii See “CIT Facts and Benefits,” webpage hosted by CIT International, accessed June 6, 2013.
Improving Responses to People with Mental Illnesses: The Essential Elements of a Mental Health Court,”
Council of State Governments Justice Center and the Criminal Justice/Mental Health Consensus Project 2008.
viii Lamb et al. (1995) “Outcome for psychiatric emergency patients seen by an outreach police-mental health
team,” Psychiatric Services;
46(12):1267-71.
ix
Steadman et. al. (2000). “Comparing outcomes of major models of police responses to mental health
emergencies,” Psychiatric Services; 51, 645-649
Treatment Advocacy Center
TreatmentAdvocacyCenter.org Twitter: twitter.com/treatmentadvctr
Facebook: facebook.com/TreatmentAdvocacyCtr
~~~
Tapes show prisoners with mental health conditions forced from cells with pepper spray. Los Angeles Times (10/31) by Paige St. John
SACRAMENTO — Videotapes released Thursday by a federal court show mentally ill prisoners in California being forced from their cells by guards who douse them repeatedly with pepper spray.
Some of the inmates are being forced to comply with medication orders; others are to be moved to new cells.
The six tapes, created by guards abiding by a state policy to record all cell extractions, were shown in court in October as part of a lawsuit by inmates' lawyers seeking a ban on the use of pepper spray against the mentally ill. The tapes were ordered released by U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton, who is holding hearings on the issue in Sacramento.
In one tape shot in July of last year at California State Prison at Corcoran, a screaming, naked prisoner is sprayed five times in 15 minutes before being tackled to the ground by about half a dozen guards and then strapped to a gurney.
His prison psychiatrist testified that the psychotic inmate had lost touch with reality and needed emergency medication.
"When we order involuntary medications, the inmate is told they will receive medications whether they like it or not," said the psychiatrist, Dr. Ernest Wagner.
Lawyers representing some 30,000 mentally ill prisoners say the tapes show excessive force, the abuse of men who may have little understanding of what is happening to them or why.
"The mentally ill are being punished for their mental illness," Jeffrey Bornstein, a San Francisco attorney representing inmates, told the judge.
Witnesses for the state, including California's director of adult prisons, said in court that in all of the taped incidents guards followed proper procedure. It is safer to remove prisoners from their cell at a distance rather than use physical force, they said.
The corrections department filed the videos with the court Thursday and issued a statement calling the use of force "always a last resort for our staff."
Extracting inmates from their cells is typically done to keep them "from harming themselves or others and to ensure that they are placed in a more appropriate mental health setting," the statement said.
"What you don't see on these videos," it said, "is the hours of discussions that take place between the inmate and clinical staff before a cell extraction is ordered and the video camera starts rolling."
The agency said that it is in the process of revising rules to limit the amount of pepper spray used at any one time.
The 31-year-old inmate in the footage from Corcoran last July had been suicidal, Wagner testified — refusing to eat food, consuming his feces and hearing voices. Eventually the court ordered the man medicated, and he was brought out of his cell to have the drugs administered.
Without the medication, Wagner told the court, the prisoner "would have died."
After being removed from his cell, the inmate remained strapped down, under Wagner's orders.
He was released when a different doctor came on duty and then was moved to an isolation cell, according to medical files read in court. His prison sentence was extended by three months as punishment for refusing orders.
In November of last year, the inmate was admitted to a prison psychiatric hospital, where his condition improved, court documents show. He was then returned to the general prison population and paroled in February, according to courtroom testimony.
Karlton had ordered that the names of prisoners be removed or covered up in the videos, out of concern for their medical privacy. The state also obscured the names of all staff involved in the incidents.
Three of the six tapes were aired in court without editing. The others had only the names of inmates blocked or erased.
Copyright © 2013, Los Angeles Times
~~~
Cop Tricked Autistic Teen Into Buying Pot, Lawsuit Claims. The Huffington Post (10/31) Kathleen Miles
FOLLOW:


An undercover police officer tricked a teenager with autism into buying pot for him, a lawsuit filed by the boy's parents alleges.
The 17-year-old, who isn't named in the lawsuit, was arrested with 21 other high school students on drug-dealing charges as part of a sting operation last December at Chaparral High School in Temecula, Calif. and neighboring schools. His parents, Catherine and Doug Snodgrass, on Wednesday announced a lawsuit in state Superior Court that seeks unspecified damages from the Temecula Valley School District, alleging negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
"Certain parts of my son have been damaged in ways that I think will be permanent," Doug Snodgrass told The Huffington Post.
According to the Snodgrasses, a police officer pretended to be their son's friend, which pleased them because he has trouble making friends. When the couple suggested inviting this new friend home, the friend "would always have an excuse, saying he couldn't or he was grounded," Catherine Snodgrass said. The parents said they later learned the "friend" was Deputy Daniel Zipperstein of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, who was posing as a student named Daniel Briggs for several months at their son's school.
Zipperstein hounded their son to sell him marijuana or his prescription medication, the parents said they later learned.
The teen couldn't access his prescription medication because his parents keep it locked. After more than three weeks of pestering, the teen bought a half-joint from a homeless man and gave it to the officer, who had given him $20 weeks earlier, according to the Snodgrasses. The teen did this once more before refusing to continue, prompting the deputy to end the supposed friendship, the parents said.
The couple said their son was arrested soon after that. He was taken to the police station and was not allowed to see his parents until his court date two days later, the parents said.
Once they were able to see him, Catherine Snodgrass said in the below video, taken at a community meeting the parents helped organize in August, she found her son traumatized. "The look in his eyes will forever haunt us," she said. The parents have started a legal fund to help pay for the lawsuit.
Since his arrest, the teen has been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, which has included insomnia, panic attacks, depression, paranoia and infliction of self-injury, his parents said. Before the arrest, in addition to autism, their son had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, Tourette syndrome and anxiety disorders.
The drug sting resulted in the arrests of 15 students from Temecula Valley High School, five from Chaparral High School and two from Rancho Vista Continuation High School. Authorities seized heroin, LSD, ecstasy, marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamines and illegal prescription drugs.
Critics of undercover drug stings argue it's unfair to target teenagers, who are often emotionally vulnerable. “Sending police and informants to entrap high school students is sick,” Tony Newman, director of media relations at the Drug Policy Alliance, said in a statement. “We see cops seducing 18-year-olds to fall in love with them or befriending lonely kids and then tricking them into getting them small amounts of marijuana so they can stick them with felonies.”

The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department declined to speak with HuffPost, but said in a statement that the department "followed all pertinent laws and the case was reviewed by the DA's Office. Had there been entrapment issues, the DA's Office would not have filed the case."
Temecula Valley School District said in a statement to HuffPost that it did not initiate the investigation, but cooperated when approached by the sheriff's department. Chaparrel High School declined to comment.
A 2007 Department of Justice report found that drug stings can have favorable results in the short term, but can force dealers underground and have not demonstrated long-term success.
Drug stings have become an annual occurrence in Riverside County, which includes Temecula. In 2011, deputies posing as students spent four months at high schools in Moreno Valley and Wildomar, arresting 24 students on drug-dealing charges. In 2010, 14 students were arrested in an undercover sting at Palm Desert High School.
Diane Goldstein of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, a coalition of former police officers dedicated to opposing drug war policies, told HuffPost she met the Snodgrass' son.
"Within two minutes, you can tell this kid does not have the capacity to understand what he's doing," Goldstein said. "It's abhorrent that an undercover officer would continue to try to get him to sell drugs.
"What's our obligation to our kids? We should develop holistic programs to make children successful rather than merely punishing them," Goldstein, a retired lieutenant commander of the Redondo Beach Police Department, added. "Otherwise it’s a school-to-prison pipeline."
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Pa. woman admits to caging child with a disability, 12. SF Gate (10/31)
TOWANDA, Pa. (AP) — A northern Pennsylvania mother has admitted keeping her 12-year-old daughter, who has cerebral palsy, in a makeshift cage and in a locked closet.
Mary Beth Frankenfield of Dushore pleaded guilty Thursday in Bradford County Court to a misdemeanor charge of child endangerment. She will be sentenced Nov. 25.
Investigators said starting in December 2010, Frankenfield and her husband, Richard Frankenfield, routinely locked the 10-year-old girl in a cage made from a crib and plywood and forced her to stay there for extended periods. Police said the girl was also locked in her parents' bedroom closet for long periods.
The parents told police they wanted to protect her from getting into things.
Richard Frankenfield is due in court for a preliminary hearing Nov. 8.
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INTERNATIONAL
Thousands of Greeks, including many who have disabilities, protest planned new property tax. The Washington Post (10/31)
ATHENS, Greece — Retirees, the disabled and high school teachers were among thousands of protesters who clogged the Greek capital’s streets Thursday to demonstrate against a new property tax and other austerity measures. The show of anger disrupted traffic for more than eight hours.
Parliament is due to vote next week on proposals to replace an emergency property tax included on electricity bills with a permanent levy, breaking a pledge made last year by the conservative-led coalition government to abolish the tax.
New planned cuts to state benefits and the public workforce have also prompted unions to call another general strike for Nov. 6.
An economic crisis led Greece to take billions of euros in rescue loans from other European countries and the International Monetary Fund in recent years. In return, it has had to overhaul its economy and impose harsh measures including cutting salaries and imposing new taxes.
The government has promised a six-year recession will end in 2014, but unemployment has continued to rise. By the latest measure, it was near 28 percent, with 31 percent of the country living in poverty or at risk of poverty, according to the EU statistics agency, Eurostat.
More than a thousand disabled demonstrators from all over the country blocked traffic outside the Labor Ministry building before filing through the city center in wheelchairs, on crutches and using white canes for the blind.
Yannis Vardakastanis, a blind Greek who heads the European Disability Forum, said the protest was called after disabled people were denied an exemption from the new property tax. “We are the poorest of the poor, but we must not let them turn us into victims,” he said.
Michalis Kouklos, who is blind and unemployed, took a six-hour bus ride from the northern city of Thessaloniki to attend the demonstration.
“We’re here to defend the obvious things that everyone needs to live in dignity,” the 35-year-old said. “I wish there had been more of us here today because things are getting really bad.”
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Wheelchair users' fight for bus space. BBC News (10/31) by Alex Moss
Bus companies may have made it easier for disabled people to get on to their vehicles - but are wheelchair users failing to get on board because parents with pushchairs are commandeering their spaces?
"There's this constant stress when I go for a bus as to whether there's going to be a space or not," says Doug Paulley who has used a wheelchair for 12 years.
"I'm scanning the queue for people with pushchairs or when the bus is pulling in I'm looking at the wheelchair space. There exists this permanent threat I won't be able to get on."
And Mr Paulley's story is a common one.
Although by law buses must have a space for wheelchair users, being able to access it is one of the main problems disabled passengers say they face.
Landmark court case
In February 2012, Mr Paulley, from Wetherby, West Yorkshire, was prevented from travelling on a First bus to Leeds because the driver refused to insist that a mother with a pushchair should leave the space because it would wake up her baby.
It was "the straw that broke the camel's back" and spurred him to take legal action against one of the country's biggest bus companies, resulting in a landmark victory.
Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
Someone in a wheelchair may have had a lot to deal with during their day and the last thing they want to do is get on a bus and fight for their opportunity to travel”
Chris Fry
Lawyer
"That day in February resulted in me not using a bus again for a year," said Mr Paulley, who suffers from a neurological condition.
"I lost all confidence and couldn't face it anymore.
"I ended up late for a family day out. It was an embarrassing and stressful journey and I'd just had enough."
Mr Paulley lives in a care home with 17 other disabled people and said many of the people there had also suffered from the same problem.
"We tend to have enough going on just by being disabled and thinking about whether we'll able to get on the bus or not is an extra barrier," he added.
Following a legal battle lasting 18 months, a judge ruled in September the incident was unlawful discrimination in breach of the Equality Act 2010, which applies to all transport providers. First Bus was ordered to change its policy.
But if the law requires buses to provide wheelchair space, then why did Mr Paulley end up in court?
According to his lawyer Chris Fry, without any previous case law or precedent, it was left to individual bus companies to interpret how far they would go to make sure the legal obligation was met.
"Some bus companies have decided not to take ownership of the problem and have left it to passengers to resolve between themselves," he added.
"Someone in a wheelchair may have had a lot to deal with during their day and the last thing they want to do is get on a bus and fight for their opportunity to travel.
"I think bus companies have got away with what they know to be a vulnerable area and that's enabled them to duck the issue."
And months earlier, a similar attempt by a group of disabled passengers in Darlington failed, meaning a successful result for Mr Paulley and his legal team was questionable.
The bus driver in Mr Paulley's case said he had refused to intervene because the company said its "first come, first served" policy did not allow him to force the mother to give up the space.
It was challenged by the judge who said refusing to give up a space for someone with a wheelchair was akin to ignoring a ban on smoking on buses - or carrying out anti-social behaviour on public transport.
His judgement added: "Although such a policy might inconvenience a mother with a buggy, that I am afraid, is a consequence of the protection which Parliament has chosen to give to disabled wheelchair users and not to non-disabled mothers with buggies."
The problem is all too familiar for Carole Broadbent, whose grandson David has muscular dystrophy and uses a wheelchair.
"David has had this problem getting on buses since he was nine years old and he's now 24," said Mrs Broadbent, from Hull.
"It regularly happens that a mum and pushchair are in the wheelchair space and the driver tells David he can't get on the bus because there's no space."
Back in Mr Paulley's case, Mr Fry said that ensuring disabled passengers were given a space should not amount to a battle between wheelchair and pushchair users.
'Not troublemakers'
A lengthy discussion thread on Mumsnet, an online forum for mothers, was used in evidence in the case.
A parent had posed the question asking if they were being unreasonable to think pushchairs had the same priority on buses as wheelchairs.
The overwhelming response was in favour of wheelchair users.
Mumsnet founder Justine Roberts said it was "great" to get space for a pushchair on a bus but the website's users were clear that wheelchairs had to take priority.
"What Mumsnet users would like to see is improved space for pushchair storage but certainly not at the expense of space for wheelchair users," she added.
Mr Fry agreed mothers were "not troublemakers" and that drivers were also "not to blame".
"It is the bus operators' responsibility to provide clear instructions and training to staff about the correct use of the space so they are well-briefed to act when there is any confusion or dispute," he said.
For now, Mr Paulley's case has set a legal precedent meaning there is a blueprint for other disabled passengers to follow if they encounter similar difficulties. A judge at Leeds County Court also awarded him £5,500 in compensation.
But the victory may be short lived if First's application for leave to appeal the decision is granted.
In a statement, the company said: "We recognise how important it is that bus services are accessible to all customers and our drivers across the country are trained to act in accordance with our policy, which is to ask in the strongest polite terms to make way for the wheelchair user, which the driver did in [Mr Paulley's] case.
"A previous court decision on very similar facts decided that this approach was correct. There is therefore real uncertainty as to our obligations and we have decided to ask for permission to appeal as we believe it raises important issues for the wider industry."
What happens elsewhere?
Under Transport for London rules, when a wheelchair user wants to board the bus and the space is occupied by a pram, the driver will use an automated iBus message and if necessary the PA system to alert passengers
Passengers with pushchairs on Lothian buses are given travel tickets to use on another bus if they are unable to complete their journey if they have to make way for a wheelchair user
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Down syndrome pregnancy blood test on trial. BBC News (10/31) 
by James Gallagher
A simple blood test during pregnancy which can detect Down's syndrome in the developing foetus is to be trialled by the NHS.
It could significantly reduce the number of women needing invasive testing, which can cause miscarriage.
The study at Great Ormond Street Hospital will assess how and when the blood test could be introduced across the NHS.
In the UK, 750 babies are born with Down's syndrome each year.
All pregnant women in the UK are offered screening for Down's syndrome.
Miscarriage danger
Currently a woman's risk is assessed, based on her age, an ultrasound scan and markers in the blood. Those deemed at high risk of a child with Down's are offered an invasive test.
Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
It could very significantly reduce the number of invasive tests and increase detection”
Prof Lyn Chitty
Great Ormond Street Hospital
It involves using a needle to take a sample of either placental cells or of the fluid that bathes the baby - but this procedure carries a one-in-100 chance of miscarriage.
The aim is to reduce the number of women having the invasive testing by more accurately assessing the risk.
The new blood test, which is already available privately, looks for tiny fragments of DNA from the placenta and the foetus floating in the mother's bloodstream.
Down's syndrome is caused by an extra copy of a massive stretch of DNA - a part or even all of chromosome 21. The test can analyse the free floating DNA for extra copies.
It is thought to be 99% accurate. Those with a positive result will still be offered the invasive procedure to confirm the result.
Prof Lyn Chitty, from Great Ormond Street who is leading the trial, told the BBC: "It could very significantly reduce the number of invasive tests and increase detection, this is seriously exciting stuff and it would be great to get it into the NHS.
"What we are trying to do is give information on how and when to introduce it into the NHS."
The NHS National Institute for Health Research funded trial will analyse the scale of the benefit and the best way to inform mothers and train staff, including midwives, about the test.
"One of the very important aspects of our study is looking at ways to ensure women understand the test and the implications of the results so that they can choose whether or not to have it," she said.
'Earlier and safer'
Dr Anne Mackie, from the UK National Screening Committee, said: "Early indications suggest that using Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NIPT) to screen women who are found to be at a higher risk of having a baby with Down's syndrome would enable earlier and safer detection of the condition.
"[We have] been working in close collaboration with Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, particularly in looking to ensure the new test does not affect the quality of the current service offered to pregnant women."
Carol Boys, the chief executive of the Down's Syndrome Association said: "We would be delighted if tests which lead to miscarriage were discontinued.
"We understand that the new test is approximately 99% accurate for those women who have already been established as having a high chance of carrying a baby with Down's syndrome, and are interested to see if that accuracy is maintained in women where this has not already been established. The studies for this are still under way."
She said the information and education provided to women and health professionals would be important.
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CULTURE/MEDIA
Katie Price speaks out, and the week's other disability stories. BBC News (11/1) by Damon Rose
Are you in the disability loop? Here's our top spots for this week.
Katie Price, model, businesswoman and mother to disabled child Harvey, was outspoken in an interview with Sam Walker on BBC Radio 5 live this Monday.
Walker asked her if she thought there was enough help available for families with disabled children. Price said, "There actually is a lot of help out there but some people are too ignorant and they don't want to look for the help." She mentioned that her son is "statemented" in the UK's standard education system and gets his medical treatment via the NHS: "But you do have to fill out the forms and you do have to take the time out to do it. If you look for it you can find it."
When pressed on what she meant by people being ignorant, Price said it could be that some parents are "too lazy". She said, "They probably think 'oh there isn't help' but you have to go and find it. It's not going to come to you… People might think that because their child is disabled that no one will want to help. Well, that's the wrong attitude because there is help if you go out and get it."
Price went on to say she would never want to change her son: "Not everyone's perfect. Just because we can walk and talk and see, doesn't mean to say we're perfect because we're not."
What does the world look and feel like after a brain injury? The website aphasiacorner.com has been promoting its aphasia simulator on social media to mark World Stroke Day on 29 October. Aphasia is defined as the loss of ability to understand or express speech after brain damage (such as that caused by a stroke). It comes in different forms.
Click the "play" button and you begin to appreciate various difficulties. For instance, a voice tells you to click on "cow" but confusingly offers you a picture of a horse and a cat, with no cow in sight.
Simulating disabilities only gives some of the picture, obviously, but the website hopes to educate and raise awareness of the problems involved.
Wearable technology has been talked about for years - now it's here in the form of Google Glass, the intelligent specs due to go on sale in 2014. Smart specs promise so much for the non-standard among us, they could almost have been invented on our behalf.
Google has consulted disabled people when developing their much talked about hands-free technology. It has a camera, it speaks to you (and you to it), and gives contextual information about what's in front of your eyes - in effect, an audio-visual information filter between you and the world.
It has potential for many different types of disability. A video on USA Today shows a quadriplegic woman taking photos and sharing them over social media with the glasses. It sounds basic but if you can't use your arms, you can't put a camera to your eyes. With smart glasses you always have a camera up at eye level so no limb movement is necessary.
More unusual concepts are also being discussed. On-board facial recognition software could give information about emotions to people with autism who may find it hard to know if someone is happy, sad, upset or amused. And another glasses project can reportedly tell blind people the name of a person who has just walked in the room, or even have your guide dog speak to you..
Follow @BBCOuch on Twitter and on Facebook, and listen to our monthly talk show
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SPORTS
Danielle Brown aims for fourth title at Para-archery Worlds. BBC Sport (11/1) by Elizabeth Hudson
Britain's Danielle Brown will be hoping to add to her list of honours at the World Para-archery Championships which start on Saturday in Thailand.
The 25-year-old double Paralympic champion will be chasing her fourth consecutive world compound title.
This year, Brown won her first able-bodied British national title and competed at the World Championships.
"If I shoot to my ability I can come away with gold - but I can't be complacent," she told BBC Sport.
"It is a case of going there and making good shots and doing what I have been working on all year and hopefully everything will fall into place. It will be tough, but enjoyable as well.
"There is a lot of pressure on me as defending champion but not as much as there was in London. I wanted that gold so badly and I was so nervous when I was competing."
Brown's biggest challenge could come from team-mate Mel Clarke, who won silver in London, and the pair are part of a 10-strong GB team for the championships which also includes Beijing gold medallist John Stubbs, Richard Hennahane, Kenny Allen, Frank Maguire, John Cavanagh, Phillip Bottomley, Paul Browne and Sharon Vennard.
As well as the individual competition, Brown is hoping to team up with Stubbs in the mixed team competition which is now part of the Paralympic archery programme.
Brown, who has Complex Regional Pain Syndrome - which gives her chronic pain in her feet - admits that although the pain has an impact on her concentration, the sport helps her to focus on shooting her next arrow and not on her condition.
The Leicester University law graduate has already enjoyed a successful 2013. Her title at the ArcheryGB National Series finals in Nottingham was followed by a trip to Turkey as part of the GB team at the World Championships, where she missed out on a medal in the team compound event with Rikki Bingham and Andrea Gales after a play-off defeat by France.
However, Brown is hoping to use that experience in Thailand with qualifying starting on Saturday and the finals taking place on Thursday.
"Earlier this year we got a new head coach, Michael Peart, who changed my technique so it has been a frustrating year at times - but winning at the National Series gave me the confidence boost I needed for the Worlds," she said.
"To compete at my first able-bodied World Championships was amazing and I got to shoot on the finals field and I don't think I let myself down.
"I love competing and to have the chance to do that in able-bodied and Paralympic competition is great. But I never see myself as being disadvantaged by having a disability and I don't consider my disability when I am shooting.
"I'm focusing on what I can do rather than what I can't do. If I thought about what I can't do it would affect my life negatively."
Brown's World Championship record
Won individual compound gold and team compound gold at the 2007 and 2009 World Para-Archery Championships
Won individual compound gold, team compound gold and mixed team gold at the 2011 Worlds
~~~
Unbeaten Gallaudet aims for 1st NCAA berth. The Kansas City Star (10/31) by Joseph White
WASHINGTON — Gallaudet invented the huddle, uses a drum to signal the snap count and loses a lot of games.
For years, those were the only things anyone seemed to know about the football team at the university for the deaf and hard of hearing.
This year's Bison are dispelling more than a few perceptions with a shot at the first NCAA berth for a men's team in school history.
And they rarely huddle anymore. And they only beat the drum when the other team shanks a punt.
A team once high on novelty and low on competitiveness suddenly can't be beat, with a 7-0 record and a defensive end who has the attention of NFL scouts.
"We're also playing for the deaf community all over the country," senior running back Ryan Bonheyo said through an interpreter. "A lot of the deaf people across the country are following us. 'Nobody cares about our football team.' 'We always follow volleyball, basketball.' Football, it was like a sorry team. No chance was given to us.
"This year it's really just been different. A lot of people ask me around campus, 'Are you ready for Saturday?' 'Are you going to go on to be in an NCAA playoff?' The environment here on campus has changed."
Football got so bad at Gallaudet that the school gave up on the sport at the NCAA level in 1995 after winning just four games over five seasons. It became a club sport until the return to Division III in 2007.
The program was revived as part of a stronger financial commitment to sports and the coaching prowess of Ed Hottle and now Chuck Goldstein, a hearing coach who took over the head job in 2010 and is still mastering the nuances of American Sign Language.
"I had to change my coaching style," Goldstein said. "It was little things. Like if you're standing on the field and the sun's behind you? The players can't see you."
Goldstein also had to learn different ways to throw tantrums. His failed in his first attempt, after the Bison fumbled three times in the first half in his first game as coach.
"I wanted the kids to know I was upset. I walked in the room of the offense team meeting (at halftime) and I take a chair and I throw it across the room," Goldstein said. "It slams against the wall. Three kids turn around. Out of a group of about 35 kids, only three turn around because none of them heard me."
Goldstein installed the triple option, and the Bison have it down pat.
They average 337.6 yards rushing per game, fourth among Division III schools. Their average time of possession — 37:30 — is tops among all NCAA levels. They are 4-0 in the Eastern Collegiate Football Conference, a title they have to win get an NCAA berth.
For years, the Bison were known for using a drum on the sidelines for the snap count because the players couldn't hear the quarterback call out signals, but they've done away with tradition because opposing defenses were able to time the snap as well. The drum remains for ceremonial purposes and for one practical football use — to tell the players on the punt return team to get out of the way out of a short kick.
"We just bang the drum over and over," Goldstein said. "Whenever they feel that vibration, they look up, find the ball and run away."
The football huddle was the creation of Gallaudet quarterback Paul Hubbard in the 1890s. It was meant to keep defenses from figuring out the next play, but these days Goldstein has the players signing the plays to each other openly in front of the opponents before the snap.
"My philosophy is if you're going to take the time to learn sign language and be able to interpret what we're doing in 25 seconds, then more power to you," the coach said. "And interpreters are not cheap. Ninety dollars an hour — go ahead."
The team's marquee player is Adham Talaat, who could become the first Gallaudet player to make the NFL. The 292-pound lineman originally committed to UMass but changed his mind after a coaching change. He is hard of hearing and grew up 30 minutes from Gallaudet, but he never visited the campus until four years ago.
Talaat has a 3.9 GPA and last year was the program's first academic All-American since 1993. He's the reason Gallaudet will host a pro day for NFL scouts for the first time early next year.
"My freshman class, when we first arrived in preseason we were ranked 234 out of 238 teams," Talaat said. "We've come such a long way."
The Bison will go for 8-0 at Becker on Saturday.
"In the past, teams looked at Gallaudet as, 'You know what, that's a win.' Now it's to the point where we're on the map," Goldstein said. "Teams think twice before they schedule us."
Follow Joseph White on Twitter: http://twitter.com/JGWhiteAP
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American Association of People with Disabilities
2013 H Street NW, 5th Floor
Washington, DC 20006 United States
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