Danielle Jacobs, known as Kayden Clarke online, was a transgender activist living in Mesa, AZ who was fatally shot by local police today while they were conducting a "safety check" at his residence. His mother told various media sources he was no threat to the community, and the police were aware he suffered from Asperger's Syndrome.                                                      We call upon the Mayor of Mesa, AZ to conduct a full, impartial investigation and retraining of Police Officers who respond to such calls.  The responding officers must be held fully accountable.  Furthermore, we'd like to share an open letter from an activist in the transgender community and founder of Purple Lighthouse, Xander McDonald: A lot of us are shaken up by the death of Kayden Clark, especially those of us who are autistic and transgender as he was. What is happening in the aftermath is we are seeing that many people do not understand what it's like to be autistic and trans. Kayden's life was about communicating that struggle to the outside world. 1. We are at risk from bullying from cisgender people. We are at risk from nonautistic people. We are at risk from bullying from nonautistic transpeople who are not accepting of those with disabilities. We are at risk from bullying from cisgendered disabled people who are not accepting of those who are trans. Figuring out who is an actual ally is difficult. It cuts off many avenues of support. 2. We are often told by our families or caregivers that we don't have the capacity to understand what we are saying when we tell them we are transgender. Being autistic delays our transition because we are often so dependent on others for survival. When the ones we love, trust and depend on continue to deny our very existence, it puts us in great danger. 3. Traditional trans support resources may not be accessible to autistic transpeople. When an autistic person is in crisis, our ability to process auditory information is usually limited. This means that we can't hear well or talk clearly. This makes a suicide hotline useless or even triggering. A support group with more than 5-6 people, especially if it's held in a room with a lot of echoes, wears us out quickly. It requires turn-taking perspective, reading body language and a host of other pragmatic speech skills. An autistic can be verbal, but struggle greatly with nonverbal skills. We build ramps for people in chairs, we offer sign language interpreters, those who serve the transgender community need to understand accommodations for autistics. 4. Arizona is particularly dangerous for autistic transpeople because of our health care system. It discriminates against autistic people. The Arizona Division of Developmental Disabilities has a huge gatekeeping system in place, so that only 6% of autistics can get services, and most of those are white, male and from privileged families. The local autism groups cater to that demographic almost exclusively. Autistic children from low income families can receive a limited amount of services from the Behavior Health system. Autistic adults, nearly all of whom are low income, are not eligible for most services in the Behavior Health system in Arizona. Even if you have a qualifying diagnosis and autism, you can get turned down for having autism. You can be discriminated against by providers for having autism. They don't treat autism, they don't have to educate their providers about it, they don't have to accommodate for it. AZ Center for Disability Law has refused for over a decade to file a class action suit. Ability360, NAMI, all the autism orgs, they turn a blind eye to it. Kayden Clark got told by his therapist that he had to get his Aspergers problem fixed before being allowed to proceed with transition. 25% of transgender people meet criteria for Aspergers. Be mad at the Mesa Police Department for lack of training, but also be mad at the AZ Behavior Health System and the AZ State Legislature for their failure in this area. Those singing this petition demand the city of Mesa is thorough and transparent in the investigation of Kayden Clarke's shooting by responding officers, establishing a fiscal plan for Mesa police department's training in crisis response, and prioritizing adequate mental healthcare for citizens in need as a primary goal of the Maroy's office of Mesa, AZ.