Disability Investigative Group Stands Behind New Bill

The local Disability Investigative Group (DIG) is supporting a new bill that is being considered in the U.S. Senate.

Bill S. 2781, also known as Rosa’s Bill was introduced on November 17, 2009, and is written to change references in Federal law to mental retardation to references to an intellectual disability. Also, it aims to change references to a mentally retarded individual to references to an individual with an intellectual disability.

President of DIG, William Tatters, is standing firmly behind the substance of this bill.

“Our group has people with mental disabilities. It’s not just physical,” said Tatters.” A lot of them have been offended by those terms. We have written our legislators in the past, and we’re glad it’s gotten some recent attention. I hope this passes because people are categorized right away as mentally retarded. There are many kinds of mental disabilities, and they are all categorized into ‘mental retardation.’ We have written our legislators in the past and we will continue to do this. This is the correct language. Intellectual disability not mentally retarded. I plan on writing Senator Specter and other State Senators including Senator White to get this passed. I think it’s very important to use the correct language when addressing people with disabilities. The more aware we make people about the correct language, maybe attitudes will be changed about people with disabilities. Every body has capabilities of doing things. Everybody can do something.”

According to Cindy Bracken, President of The Arc of Armstrong County, Intellectual disability occurs before the age of 18. An individual with an intellectual disability has an IQ score of 70 or below and a significant deficit in one or more areas of adaptive behavior. The three main causes of Intellectual Disability are Down Syndrome, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, and Fragile X Syndrome. Down Syndrome is an example of a chromosomal disorder which happens sporadically and is caused by too many or too few chromosomes or a change in the structure of chromosomes. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is caused by the use of alcohol during pregnancy, and Fragile X Syndrome is a single gene disorder on the X chromosome which is the leading inherited cause of an intellectual disability.  

Bill S. 2781 has been read twice and was recently referred to the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. This all comes about at a convenient time because March happens to be Intellectual Disability Awareness Month.