Another sector is heard from – the disabled community – in the gnashing of teeth over the Safe-T Act, particularly the segment addressing pre-trial fairness.

“When I want to meet with my attorney, I didn’t have the visual aids I needed to read the documents,” said Stephon Woodley, a visually impaired former inmate. “It’s impossible to prepare. You don’t want to share (discovery materials and evidence) with inmates, and the guards are not there to read that stuff to you.”

And Carlean (cq) Ponder, director of disability rights and housing policy at The ARC, said police need to be aware. “If a person has an obvious disability or asks for an accommodation,” she said, “then law enforcement at any stage, like the initial arrest, is supposed to honor that request under the” Americans with Disabilities Act.

The two were part of a Zoom panel discussion about how the new laws will affect the disabled.