Tag Archives: discrimination

NJ’s Proposed Step Forward May Be a Step Too Far

New Jersey Senate Bill S192, introduced January 13, 2026, would allow residents diagnosed with a traumatic or acquired brain injury to voluntarily add a designation to their driver’s license or state ID. The notation, stored in a Motor Vehicle Commission registry accessible to law enforcement, aims to improve interactions between officers and brain-injured individuals.

The bill is sponsored by Senate Transportation Committee Chair Senator Patrick Diegnan, with Senator Parker Space among its co-sponsors, making it a bipartisan measure. “[Individuals with brain injuries] often have differing communication styles and body language, which an officer could misinterpret. Having a designation would help to lower the risk of negative encounters,” states Diegnan.  This is not Diegnan’s first push on the issue. Predecessor bills S3673 and A2961 carried over from the 2024 – 2025 session.

Other states have already enacted comparable measures. Virginia allows residents to voluntarily add a traumatic brain injury designation to their driver’s license or ID card through the DL-145 form. Maine has codified acquired brain injury identification cards under Title 29-A, §1410-A of state statute. While New Jersey, Virginia and Maine may politically lean left, the contents of the bill are bipartisan, in relation to state. In right-leaning Tennessee, Code § 55-50-307 provides a similar acquired brain injury designation for driver’s licenses and photo ID cards.

Proponents argue the bill saves lives by reducing dangerous miscommunications during traffic stops. Critics, however, raise civil liberties concerns, as a visible disability marker could expose individuals to stigma, implicit bias, or unequal treatment. Well-intentioned protection could inadvertently promote discrimination against the brain-injured population.

What will happen to S192 in New Jersey remains uncertain. Since introduction, the Senate Transportation Committee passed it with amendment by a unanimous 6–0 vote on February 5, 2026. It now sits in Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, before being sent to the Senate and Assembly.

McNabb Continues to Address “Cruelty”

Over 69,000 TBI-related deaths occur annually in the United States, yet survivors face mockery rather than support:

Recently, Payton McNabb—who suffered a traumatic brain injury during a 2022 volleyball game—was mocked by transgender comedian Stacy Cay, who called footage of McNabb’s injury “pretty funny” and criticized her for falling “like a toddler.” McNabb responded powerfully to those repugnant so-called jokes: “A grown man mocking a teenage girl’s traumatic brain injury isn’t comedy—it’s cruelty.” This is particularly notable since transgender discrimination is often at the foreword of the news and “cruelty” is one note that is used to rightfully describe it.

In schools, students with TBI face bullying from peers and even faculty. As for American adults, the percentage who have had a TBI, and are living with its consequences, ranges from 19-29%, according to recent statistics. Adults experience workplace discrimination in many ways, despite federal protections. These laws, specifically the 1996 TBI Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, ostensibly protect survivors from discrimination but do not eliminate the problem.

Unrelated to McNabb’s trauma, President Trump previously dismissed TBIs as “just a headache”, in reference to service members. This 2020 ignorant statement is, unfortunately, shared by many who have no first- or second-hand experience with brain injury. As commonly is the case for those who interact with those who have a neurological injury, President Trump’s understanding of brain injury and respect for brain injury survivors has since changed. Recently, he honored Payton McNabb at his Congressional address. (McNabb also addressed the North Carolina General Assembly in 2023 and her bio is currently available to view in the congressional record.)