October 5, 2017
On September 29, 2017, the AATA responded to a request for public comments (Docket No. CDC-2017-0607) by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) regarding the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS). In the letter, the AATA emphasizes the critical need for the CDC to implement policies and procedures to require the collection of sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) data within the NVDRS for all decedents. AATA further points out the disproportionate statistics that affect the LGBTQ community, such as that LGBTQ youth seriously contemplate suicide at almost three times the rate of heterosexual youth and are almost five times as likely to have actually attempted suicide. The letter concludes: “One of the primary goals of the NVDRS is to better understand and ultimately prevent the occurrence of violent deaths, and the best mechanism to achieve this is to require that SOGI data be collected. Therefore, the AATA supports the systematic collection of accurate statistical data which would help art therapists to better serve LGBTQ youth and adults and aid in suicide prevention.”