Guest commentary on Palin: ‘We need more than a photo-op’
September 4th, 2008By Jim Flanigan
Executive director of the Renssalaer County, NY, chapter of the Arc
I applaud Sarah Palin for her decision to follow through with her pregnancy after learning her son would be born with Down Syndrome. Her life and the lives of all her family members will be enriched by Trig.
However, I hope self advocates and families and friends of people with disabilities will not vote solely on the basis of Sarah Palin being a parent. There is so much more at stake.
When I first started working in this field 34 years ago, state institutions were the predominant place where government funds were spent. School age children with special needs were often excluded from public instruction. There were no supported employment programs and community residences were in their infancy.
The changes since then have been dramatic. In New York State we were able to use waivers and optional services to shift Medicaid funds from institutions into the community. Things are still not perfect, but today our state has built a system based on individual choices with a wide range of options available to persons with disabilities and their families.
For the past two years we have been fighting a battle for survival. Using regulations drafted by the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) the Bush Administration has attempted to gut Medicaid funding for services to people with disabilities and push us back into those dark days of institutions. This year we barely survived this threat. We were able to do so only because Congress passed moratoriums against those CMS regulations.
The current moratoriums run out in April, 2009; three months after a new President is sworn in. What can we expect from a new administration? As senators, Barack Obama and Joseph Biden voted for the moratoriums and against the regulations that would have devastated our funding. John McCain was absent from a key vote. Sarah Palin was in Alaska.
There are some serious questions that John McCain and Sarah Palin need to answer. Will they withdraw the CMS regulations and make the moratoriums permanent? Will they retain people like Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt, who were responsible for those regulations? What assurances can they give self advocates and families that they won’t destroy the fragile Medicaid system that holds community services together?
We need more than a photo-op. It would truly be ironic if a parent of a son with Down Syndrome becomes part of an administration that turns its back on community services. We are not going back.
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September 5th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
As a parent of a child with Down Syndrome AND a proud Democrat, I take some offense at the sweeping generalization Cara makes about abortion in her comment above. There’s no way that the nearly 90% of “terminations” after prenatal testing for DS is purely from the Democratic branch of the tree, no matter how much you might like to believe that. My guess is that it’s more like 50/50 and that those people who would think or say that they were anti-abortion would come up with some justification for not having their child who would be most likely born with Down syndrome.
I love my son more than anything, but I struggle every day with health care costs for myself and health and therapy costs for my boy that he will need for his entire life. The only way to truly be pro-life and pro-child is if a system is built that encourages and helps families to nurture our children not just at home but in society as well.
And for me, that’s not a stand the Republican party appears to want to take, either historically or looking forward, no matter what words Sarah Palin uses in a speech.
September 5th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
As a sibling of a developmentally-challenged person I was outraged by Sarah Palin’s pandering. Her son is 4 month’s old; hardly enough time to understand what having a challenged child takes. She’s been to no IEPs, she’s not dealt with the teasing in school, she’s never seen the pained expression on a fully-understanding adult’s face after some ignorant jackass refers to him in a derogatory manner. She needs to live it and prove herself before she starts telling us she’ll be our advocate.
September 4th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Is she really serious or was this another carefully planted sound bite aimed at niche voters who could make a difference on Nov. 4th?
I’ve seen how this word is misintepreted, redefined, and misused on both sides of that bipartisan line here in Ohio and at the federal level of government.
So before I make my decision, I would like to know exactly what her vision is for this “advocacy” she so passionately professed on Wednesday.
Is there anyway we can force the issue or get a commitment from both candidates?
September 4th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
I agree that the Republican party has a long way to go. However, the Democratic party deals with those with disabilities in their own way… abortion.
September 4th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
Since Arizona ranks #1 and Alaska ranks #4 for taking care of their developmentally disabled, maybe they don’t have to make it a priority, because they already have made people with disabilities a priority.
While Illinois the disgrace of the nation ranks 49th in funding for the developmentally disabled, 49th for the amount of funding that the state provides for education, however with a 44 billion dollar pension debt (1 billion dollars owed to medicaid healthcare providers and others) we do rank #1 for the worst pension debt in the nation, we rank #5 for wealth with some of the highest taxes in the nation.
Senator Obama has earmarked more dollars for chicago museums and parks than for the aged or disabled, check the stats. As a resident of Illinois with a disabled brother and children, I can assure you the last thing you want to do is make the country like Illinois.
September 4th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
As a mother of a son with Autism I applaud Sarah Palin for keeping her son & am excited to know that children with disabilities and their parents may finally get the assistance that they need. I’m blessed to live in Arkansas because of all the progress Mike Huckabee had made here but there is so much more that needs to be done & national attention is what we need.
September 4th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
Well said Jim. You are absolutely right , WE WILL NOT GO BACK! Don’t let the rhetoric fool you, disability issues have never been high on the priority list of John McCain or the Republican party for that matter.