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| Graphic with an aqua blue background and text in black that reads: "#CripTheVote Twitter Chat, Death Penalty & Disabled People, Sunday, July 16, 7 pm ET, Guest host: @talilalewis, http://cripthevote.blogspot.com/"
We are thrilled to have TL Lewis as our guest host for another #CripTheVote chat this summer. This discussion on July 16 will focus on the death penalty and disabled people. Please join us! Information on how to participate and the chat’s questions below.
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About TL Lewis
Recognized as a White House Champion of Change and one of Pacific Standard Magazine's Top 30 Thinkers Under 30, Talila engineers & leads innovative and intersectional social justice campaigns that illuminate and address grave injustices within our legal system that have gone unaddressed for decades. Talila's advocacy primarily focuses on creating equal access to the legal system for people with disabilities & individuals who are Deaf, DeafBlind, DeafDisabled & Hard of Hearing. As one of the only people in the world working on deaf wrongful conviction cases, Talila regularly presents at universities; testifies before legislative & regulatory bodies; and trains members of congress, attorneys, and law enforcement about this and other disability-related topics. As the creator of the only national deaf prisoner database, Talila advocates with & for hundreds of deaf defendants and incarcerated & returned individuals.
Talila serves as the volunteer director for Helping Educate to Advance the Rights of Deaf communities (HEARD), an all-volunteer nonprofit organization that works to correct & prevent deaf wrongful convictions; end abuse of incarcerated people with disabilities; decrease recidivism for deaf and returning individuals; and increase representation of disabled people in professions that can combat mass incarceration.
Talila, who just completed a third and final year as a visiting professor at Rochester Institute of Technology, is a recent graduate of American University Washington College of Law and has received awards from numerous universities, the American Bar Association, the American Association for People with Disabilities, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, the Nation Institute, National Black Deaf Advocates and EBONY magazine, among others.
Talila, who just completed a third and final year as a visiting professor at Rochester Institute of Technology, is a recent graduate of American University Washington College of Law and has received awards from numerous universities, the American Bar Association, the American Association for People with Disabilities, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, the Nation Institute, National Black Deaf Advocates and EBONY magazine, among others.
How to Participate
Follow @GreggBeratan @AndrewPulrang @DisVisibility @talilalewis on Twitter
When it’s time, search #CripTheVote on Twitter for the series of live tweets under the ‘Latest’ tab for the full conversation.
If you don’t use Twitter, you can follow along in real time here: http://twubs.com/CripTheVote
If you might be overwhelmed by the volume of tweets and only want to see the chat’s questions so you can respond to them, check @DisVisibility’s account. Each question will tweeted 5-6 minutes apart.
Check out this explanation of how to participate in a Twitter chat by Ruti Regan: https://storify.com/RutiRegan/examplechat
Check out this captioned #ASL explanation of how to participate in a Twitter chat by @behearddc. #CripTheVote https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lJ9YRAwOj4
Introductory Tweets and Questions for 7/16 Chat
Welcome to the #CripTheVote chat looking at the death penalty and disabled people.
We are pleased to have guest host @talilalewis with us today! Remember to use the #CripTheVote hashtag when you tweet.
If you respond to a question such as Q1, your tweet should follow this format: “A1 [your message] #CripTheVote”
Please note throughout the chat ‘ID’ stands for intellectual disability & SMI ‘Serious Mental Illness’ #CripTheVote
Q1. #DisabilityJustice advocates often discuss nexus b/t racism, ableism, classism & the legal system. How are these connected? #CripTheVote
Q2. Explain how lack of disability competency/sensitivity lead to #WrongfulConviction+harsher sentences for #PwD? #DeafInPrison #CripTheVote
The Supreme Court ruled in Atkins v. Virginia that execution of people with intellectual disability violates the 8th Amendment. #CripTheVote
Under Atkins, states are tasked with figuring out how to define which defendants are intellectually disabled. #CripTheVote
Despite Atkins, people w/ intellectual disability are still on on death row & many have been executed as recently as this year. #CripTheVote
In March this year SCOTUS ruled that Texas' method of determining ID was unconstitutional. http://www.npr.org/2017/03/28/521823516/supreme-court-strikes-down-mental-disability-standards-for-death-row-cases #CripTheVote
Q3. @ABAdueprocess is pushing for a #SMIexemption to the #deathpenalty similar to ID exemption carved out by Atkins. Thoughts? #CripTheVote
Q4. Should states use IQ+the “medical community’s diagnostic framework” to determine disability status? Thoughts? #SMIexemption #CripTheVote
Q5. Some #DisabilityJustice advocates don’t support outright disability-based exemptions.Are exemptions inherently problematic? #CripTheVote
In April, the state of Arkansas rushed to execute eight people in just 10 days. #ARexecutions #8in10 #CripTheVote
For more info on #8in10+#ARexecutions+#DeathPenalty, follow @abrahambonowitz+@RDunhamDPIC+@DPInfoCtr. #CripTheVote https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/node/6722
Q6. Name one/several recent #deathpenalty cases that involved #disabled people. What concerns you about this/these cases? #CripTheVote
Q7. Many people on #deathrow & those who have been released from death row discuss acquiring #MentalIllness. What causes this? #CripTheVote
Q8. Why is it critical for prison & death penalty abolitionists to include disability in their race, class, gender critiques? #CripTheVote
Q9. What have you learned from this chat & how will it affect/change your abolition/advocacy, conversations moving forward? #CripTheVote
The hour has flown by! Sadly, this concludes the #CripTheVote chat on the death penalty. Thank you for joining us.
Special thanks to our guest host @talilalewis! A Storify of this #CripTheVote chat will be up shortly. #CripTheVote
Please keep the convo going! You can find updates & more info here: http://cripthevote.blogspot.com/ #CripTheVote
