Full Frontal, the Deaf, and the Police

Full Frontal with Samantha Bee continues to be one of the most worthwhile half-hours on television. A recent example was last week's segment on police interactions with deaf people. That's not something you hear about in the media much, right?

It got all the key points across quickly and clearly (and in an eye-catching way). Think about it. You're a deaf driver and police stop you for something. They yell at you from behind the car to do all the usual things they yell at drivers. But you can't hear them, of course.

Similar things happen with people who aren't neurotypical, as in the case of a St. Paul teenager with autism who was beaten unconscious by police because he didn't do what they said right away. The same thing could happen with a person who doesn't speak English.

Police assume everyone they encounter can hear, see, and understand them, and that is just not an assumption that can be made now, if it ever could. And an autistic or deaf person of color is at extra risk, it goes without saying; it's a threat multiplier.

I know that at some level police commanders are aware of these complexities, but that awareness doesn't seem to make it to an operational level on the street enough, especially for people of color (enough = all the time, enough = so people can assume they will be treated like humans).