Nonverbal Woman Taken Hostage in Colorado – Who Will Speak Up?

Disability advocates are infuriated about a case involving a nonverbal woman with disabilities who they say is being held hostage by Jefferson County in Colorado. "It is truly outrageous," said Julie Reiskin, director of the Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition. "I call this torture." County officials have assumed temporary guardianship over 36-year-old Sharisa Kochmeister, a college graduate, and removed her from her home and her father — the only person in Colorado who helps her communicate. They placed her in a nursing home and forbid her family, friends and even her doctor from visiting her, according to people close to the situation. "You take someone who is nonverbal, who is dependent on one person for communicating, and you remove that ... this makes me so mad," said Reiskin. "This is part of not understanding a population. You put them in an institution against their will with a bunch of people who have dementia. This is torture."