Gov. Janet Mills signed a bill on Thursday that would eliminate the planned use of restraints for adults with intellectual disabilities and autism.
“It’s just a huge civil rights victory for people with developmental disabilities in Maine, probably the one of the biggest that I've ever seen,” said Staci Converse, managing attorney and leader of Disability Rights Maine’s developmental disabilities team.
Planned use of restraint refers to situations where a person is restrained as part of their behavior management plan in educational, vocational, residential, and community agencies. Converse said planned restraints are different from restraints in emergency situations, which the law still allows.
“We're not talking about those emergency circumstances,” Converse said. “No one is asking [providers or caregivers] to sit there and watch someone try to run in front of a car and not stop them. Of course, you're going to stop them, right? Just like anybody else would, because it's an emergency. But you can’t prevent someone from leaving their house because you have a fear in the future they might run out in front of a car.”
Converse said planned restraint in adults with developmental disabilities is a form of discrimination, and sometimes can amount to physical assault.
“That’s not allowed for children, that's not allowed for people with mental health labels, that's not allowed for people with brain injury, just people with developmental disabilities,” Converse said.
The bill, LD 769, was submitted by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Aging and Disability Services. The Department said in testimony at public hearings in March that the measure would also improve access to behavioral health services and streamline the review process of behavioral support plans for adults with developmental disabilities.
Converse said the measure will provide a safer and more equitable system of care for these individuals, as the use of restraints put both caregivers and the people they serve in physical danger. Advocates testified at public hearings in March that restraints cause lasting physical and emotional trauma.
Margaret Cordoza was born with intellectual disabilities and said the physical and emotional trauma of being restrained has stayed with her.
"From that experience, [it]forever has felt like a piece of me has been lost, has been taken away, and there has been no feeling to be able to refill what I've lost," Cordoza said. "It also causes an extreme level of mistrust."
Samantha Severance also testified about being restrained while living at a group home.
"I have been restrained many times," Severance said. "One time, I was being restrained and a staff put all their weight on me and I couldn't breathe. I felt like I was going to die. When I wasn’t being restrained, I was in fear that I would be. It felt like nobody cared about me or my safety."
Opponents who testified against the bill argued that the use of planned restraints are necessary to keep everyone safe in dangerous situations.
“For the small number of individuals with persistent and severe behaviors that require approved planned restraints as part of their support in these plans, the proposed restriction to emergency-only restraints removes a critical tool (including blocking, shielding, and redirection) that allows teams and support professionals to tailor interventions to each person's unique needs,” said Laura Cordes, executive director of the Maine Association for Community Service Providers, in her testimony.
However, the law would not prohibit the use of restraints in emergency situations.
Federal guidance says planned use of restraints on people with disabilities should be used only as a last resort.
Other states, like Minnesota and Kentucky, have recently taken steps to reduce the use of restraints, according to the National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities Services.
