Opinion: Eric's Law is vital protection for D.C. residents with disabilities

Washington, D.C. is living through an extraordinary moment.

As federal intervention and law enforcement visibility increasingly reshape life in the District, many residents, especially Black and Brown residents, are carrying a heightened sense of vulnerability about their safety, autonomy, and interactions with police. At the same time, families of children and adults with disabilities are navigating another reality that has always existed: the fear that a misunderstanding during a police interaction could become a tragedy.

That is why D.C. must act now to pass Eric’s Law.

Eric’s Law would allow District residents with non-apparent, or “hidden,” disabilities to voluntarily place a symbol and notation on their identification cards. In Maryland, the law allows residents to add a butterfly symbol and the words “hidden disability” to their state ID, driver’s license, or moped permit. It is simple and voluntary, and rooted in dignity. Most importantly, it can save lives.

The law is named after Eric Carpenter-Grantham, a young Black man with high functioning autism from Maryland. After the murder of George Floyd, Eric’s mother sat him down to explain how to interact with police officers.

Raise your hands. Don’t reach suddenly. Speak clearly. Stay calm. Like so many Black parents, she was trying to prepare her child to survive.

But Eric also thought about his friends, other young people with autism and hidden disabilities who may communicate differently, become overwhelmed, shut down, run away, or struggle to respond to commands under stress. He worried they would not know what to do in a frightening encounter with law enforcement, or that their behavior might be perceived as aggression or noncompliance. So he came up with an idea: a voluntary identifier that could immediately signal to officers that a person may need patience, understanding, or accommodations.

That idea became Eric’s Law.

More than 21,000 Marylanders have reportedly opted into the program, demonstrating both the need for and trust in this approach. D.C. should not lag behind.

The urgency is clear when we look at the data. Research consistently shows that people with disabilities are disproportionately impacted by police use of force. Studies estimate that one-third to one-half of people killed by police have a disability. Disabled people make up approximately 20 percent of the U.S. population, yet account for 30 to 50 percent of those subjected to police use of force. Black disabled Americans face even greater risk. One report found that more than half of disabled Black Americans have been arrested by age 28.

This issue is also deeply personal for me. My sister is a breast cancer survivor in her 30s who lives with hidden disabilities connected to her treatment and recovery. Some days, she cannot move as quickly as others expect. She often experiences brain fog and fatigue that people cannot immediately see or understand. Yet those realities shape how she moves through the world every day.

The realities of our city create even more potential danger, particularly for kids. Thousands of students travel across ward lines every single day to get to school. On an average weekday, approximately 35,000 student trips are taken using DC One Cards through the Kids Ride Free program. Students in Ward 7 travel the farthest distance to school each day, often navigating long commutes across the city to access educational opportunities.

Many young people rely on the DC One Card as their primary form of identification while independently navigating buses and trains. Imagine a teenager with autism becoming overwhelmed during a Metro delay, struggling to process instructions from transit police, or shutting down during a stressful interaction. Integrating Eric’s Law protections into DC One Cards for students participating in Kids Ride Free would provide an additional layer of safety and recognition for young people who may need support in moments of confusion or distress.

Critics may raise concerns about privacy, misuse, or effectiveness. Those concerns deserve thoughtful discussion. Eric's Law is not a magic bullet, and supporters should not pretend otherwise. A marker on an ID cannot eliminate bias, replace de-escalation training, or guarantee that every interaction with law enforcement will end safely. Many difficult encounters begin before an officer ever asks to see identification. But the fact that a solution is imperfect does not mean it lacks value. Eric's Law is one tool that can help prevent misunderstandings when identification is requested during traffic stops, transit encounters, emergency responses, school-related incidents, or other interactions where a person may struggle to communicate in expected ways.

Eric Grantham, a young Black autistic man, saw a problem that many adults overlooked. That is why I am grateful that Councilmembers Janeese Lewis George and Zachary Parker have introduced legislation to bring Eric’s Law to the District of Columbia. 

Now the community must show up as well. I encourage residents, disability advocates, educators, students, parents, transit riders, and families to testify at the June 4 hearing on this law and make their voices heard. Too often, policies designed to protect marginalized communities only gain urgency after tragedy. We have an opportunity to act proactively instead of reactively.

We should seize it.