Leigh Anne McKingsley (formerly Davis) | Source | Senior Director of Disability and Justice Initiatives at The Arc of the Unite...

"Our society has long perpetuated the harmful myth that people with IDD are asexual beings, which couldn't be further from the truth. Far too often, people with IDD are kept in the dark about one of the most fundamental human experiences — sexuality and relationships."

The questions over Givens' competency and the allegations surrounding his death at Marion reflect the trouble that people with disabilities face when they come in contact with the criminal justice system, said Leigh Anne McKingsley, the senior director of disability and justice initiatives at The Arc. McKingsley says incidents like Givens' suspicious death happen elsewhere. But "I think the difference is that we don't often know about it," she told NPR. "That's the scary part. We do have data from the [National Crime Victimization Survey] to show just how often people with [intellectual and developmental disabilities] are victimized" generally, she said. "The survey looked at categories of disability and found that people with cognitive disabilities, which includes IDD, were much more likely to be victimized compared to people with other types of disabilities."

"Just training in and of itself is not going to create that long-term change that we are hoping for," said Leigh Anne Davis, director of criminal justice initiatives at The Arc, a national disability advocacy organization. That means going beyond officer training to address the many areas in which people with disabilities are not being identified and supported, she said. One of The Arc's programs, Pathways to Justice, brings in not only law enforcement officials but also attorneys and victim service providers for instruction. "So our goal is to help communities understand that this is a community-wide issue, that there's not one specific spoke within the criminal justice system or in our communities that can address it adequately alone," Davis said.