As a result of the passage of House Bill 21-1014, known as the Disability Symbol Identification Document Act, Colorado residents with disabilities ranging from mental health to physical impairments now have the option to add a disability symbol on their identification card or driver license. This inconspicuous marker, which does not designate what the specific disability is, notifies authorities that the individual has a non-visible disability that could impact their capacity to properly communicate with them. The image pictured below will be located on the front of an identification card towards the bottom right of the photograph and was created and trade marked by the Invisible Disabilities Association https://invisibledisabilities.org/.
The Colorado Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) started permitting those eligible to add the disability symbol to their identifications, including driver license, in July of 2022. Interested Coloradans must bring a DR 2093 (Disability Identifier Symbol Application) completed by their healthcare provider to a state driver license office to start the process. Adding the disability identifier is completely voluntary and can be removed at any time the individual chooses at no cost to them in-person at a state driver license office facility, or online using https://mydmv.colorado.gov/_/. Going forward, the Department of Revenue will report annually to legislative committees the percentage of people with a registered vehicle that have disclosed information regarding a disability.
Law enforcement is now required to get training on this topic and only they have access to the information regarding a person's disability that’s associated with the license plate. The availability of this disability identifier is a step in the right direction for law enforcement in promoting disability etiquette when it comes to engaging with people who have non-apparent or invisible disabilities. Research has shown that between 50%-80% of encounters by officers involve a person with a disability. Nearly 25% of the state's population has a disability and about three quarters of those have an invisible or non-apparent disability. Since the law was passed there has been interest from other states to implement a similar program. Additionally, other countries including Canada have expressed an interest in having something like this on a national scale.
Also promoting Disability awareness, the Colorado disability funding committee (via Colorado Bill SB 22-217), is auctioning customized Colorado vehicle license plates to raise money for grants to help people with disabilities to access benefits as well as to fund new initiatives that enhance the quality of life of people with disabilities. Specifically, section 11 of this bill permits the department of motor vehicles to sell plates with historical license backgrounds that will benefit the Colorado disability funding committee.
The historical black license plate design is a tribute to the 1945 Colorado license plate. The black background plate with white lettering is one of four historical plates the state is currently making available, with $25 from the sale of each plate being earmarked for the Colorado Disability Funding Committee at https://disabilityfundingcommittee.colorado.gov/.
Our guest blogger is Aaron Combe. Aaron is the Employee Relations Specialist, Division of Human Resources, with the Colorado Department of Transportation and is CDOT's Statewide Program Administrator for ADA Title 1.