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.

No matter the results, this election will do wonders to raise awareness about Down syndrome.