Disability should never be a pathway to incarceration.
People with disabilities are dramatically overrepresented in jails and prisons—not because of disability itself, but because systems fail to recognize disability, respond appropriately, or provide meaningful alternatives.
We work to transform those systems so disability is no longer a driver of arrest, incarceration, or prolonged involvement in the criminal legal system.
THE CHALLENGE
Disability has been overlooked -and criminalized-for generations.
The overrepresentation of people with disabilities in the criminal legal system is not an accident. It is the result of decades of policies and practices that failed to recognize disability, respond appropriately, or invest in community-based supports.
The result is a system that punishes disability instead of responding to it.
Changing those outcomes requires more than individual reform. It requires redesigning the systems that shape every decision—from first response through reentry.
BY THE NUMBERS
up to 50%
of people incarcerated in the United States have a disability.
Disability Goes Unrecoginized
Many disabilities are invisible or misunderstood. Without proper recognition, disability-related behaviors may be mistaken for noncompliance, intoxication, aggression, or criminal intent.
Systems Respond
with Punishment
When disability isn’t recognized, systems often respond with arrest, detention, or incarceration instead of accommodations, crisis intervention, treatment, or support. Too many preventable situations become justice-system involvement.
A Different Future Is Possible
2 - 4 x
People with disabilities are significantly more likely to experience arrest or incarceration than people without disabilities.
When disability is recognized and systems respond appropriately, outcomes improve. Communities become safer, unnecessary incarceration declines, and people with disabilities can remain connected to their families, services, and communities.
That’s the future we’re working to build.
Better Options Exist
Communities already have many of the tools needed to reduce incarceration—including diversion programs, behavioral health services, crisis response, and community supports. The challenge is ensuring those responses are accessible, coordinated, and designed with disability in mind.
CHANGE THE CONVERSATION
We elevate disability as a critical issue in criminal legal reform through research, national leadership, public education, and cross-sector partnerships.
Our Approach to Systems Change
STRENGTHEN
ORGANIZATIONS
We equip public defenders, courts, correctional systems, prosecutors, law enforcement, and community organizations with the knowledge and tools to recognize disability and respond effectively.
Accessibility becomes part of justice—not an afterthought.
No single strategy is enough. These five approaches work together to create lasting, systemic change.
BUILD
PARTNERSHIPS
Meaningful reform requires collaboration.
We bring together disability organizations, criminal legal professionals, healthcare providers, researchers, and community leaders to develop coordinated solutions that no single system can build alone.
TRANSFORM SYSTEMS
We work with jurisdictions to redesign policies, practices, and decision-making so disability is identified early, accommodations are provided, and unnecessary incarceration is prevented.
Justice should adapt to people—not force people to adapt to the system.
FILL
CRITICAL GAPS
When existing solutions don’t exist, we create them.
Whether developing new screening tools, training models, policy guidance, or demonstration projects, we build practical solutions while broader systems continue to evolve.
OUR IMPACT
Systems Change in Action
We don’t just imagine more accessible and effective systems-we build them. Our initiatives demonstrate how changing policy, practice, and partnerships lead to safer communities for survivors with disabilities and Deaf survivors.
DEFENDING ACCESS
FEATURED INITIATIVE
Ensuring public defenders have the knowledge and tools to recognize disability and provide effective representation.
Public defenders are often the first professionals with the opportunity to identify disability and interrupt incarceration.
We partner with defender offices to improve disability identification, strengthen representation, connect clients with community supports, and reduce unnecessary involvement in the criminal legal system.
Then we share what works.
We translate lessons learned into national training, practical resources, policy guidance, and scalable models that improve public defense systems across the country.
2025 IMPACT
732
4
1
Professionals trained
to strengthen their ability to represent and serve people with disabilities and Deaf people
Jurisdictions
implementing disability-centered practices
National Advisory Committee
of formerly incarcerated and systems-involved people with disabilities established
Build a more just criminal legal system.
Whether you’re a public defender, court, corrections agency, policymaker, researcher, or community organization, we can help strengthen your response to disability and create lasting systems change.