Olmstead, Cognitive Disability and the Running of the Bulls in Spain

It's easy to make fun of the video to the right --- especially when it comes to "PHYSICAL DISABILITIES."

• When it comes to "COGNITIVE DISABILITIES" --- I think we're often talking a "MIDDLE OF THE ROAD" APPROACH when it comes to the "BIOLOGICAL BASIS OF BEHAVIOR"---
  • And a lot of what I am proposing on this website --- is that the ROUGH MESSY APPROACH we've been taking is more and more obviously OUT-DATED.

 

• I think the INTELLECTUAL EVIDENCE for this --- in some ways MATHEMATICAL, LOGICAL and even ALGEBRIAC --- is there ---
  • Robert Sapolsky at Stanford has done an excellent job of collecting the EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE and making this case in his book "Behave:  The Biology of Our Best & Worst Selves"
    • I think there is also a biology to our boring and meh selves --- but its not as interesting.

 

• I've made this point before that some of those SOFT SOCIAL CONCERNS --- are turning into SOME HARD BIOMARKERS.

 

• Further, those BIOMARKERS can be EXTREMELY HELPFUL to INDIVIDUAL TREATMENT.

 
Are we just talking about 4 BIOMARKERS for PTSD --- probably not. 

Medical Dialogues
Markers of PTSD in the Blood (2023)

Channel 9 Next

CO Lawmaker Argues People with Disabilities "ASSUMED THE RISK"

When we start bringing in the Broad Categories of Factors that impact HUMAN BIOLOGY and in turn HUMAN BEHAVIOR --- that includes:

• the Systems of the Body
• the In Utero Environment
• the Microbiome
• the Physical Environment which can impact our biology, and
• the Social Environment which can impact our biology
  

• This should be greatly expanding what we mean by Mens Rea in the Criminal Law.
  

I think it could also greatly expand what we mean by "UNNECESSARY INSTITUTIONALIZATION" under Olmstead and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

There is already a LANDMARK OLMSTEAD SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT out of Georgia from 2010 that was intended to be a US Dept. of Justice TEMPLATE FOR THE NATION.

• focused on providing appropriate housing and services for thousands of inmates with "Developmental Disability" and "Mental Illness" upon release from incarceration.
  

In 2023, "Mental Illness" in many cases is looking like "DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITY" with an IQ over 70.