Paul Longmore: An open letter to disability rights constituency
September 15th, 2008
Guest commentary:
What Kind of Advocacy
Do Americans with Disabilities Really Need?
By Paul K. Longmore
Ever since Sarah Palin’s acceptance speech, the “needs” of children with disabilities have gotten a lot of press. Palin pledged to be a “friend and advocate” for those children. News stories have reported the excitement of parents and other people in the disability rights constituency that disability issues are finally getting some attention. Some of them have decided to support the election of Palin and John McCain. But do the Republican candidates offer the kind of advocacy Americans with disabilities really need? I don’t believe they do, and I want to explain why I am voting for Barack Obama and Joe Biden instead.
Before that, I should probably explain a bit about myself. I know what it is like to grow up as a child with a significant disability. And I’ve certainly known how hard it can be as an adult. I had polio as a boy. I’ve used a ventilator for many decades now and driven a power wheelchair for the last seven years. I have no use of my arms. I employ personal assistants to do housekeeping and aid me with basic personal needs. I struggled for years with oppressive bureaucracies and unfair public policies such as work disincentives. I recounted those battles in Why I Burned My Book and Other Essays on Disability (2003). Because of the disability rights movement and despite most government policies, I finally achieved my main goal and became a professor of American history at San Francisco State University. Because of what I’ve had to deal with, I also became a disability rights activist and a disability studies scholar.
Looking back, I can see how difficult it all was for my parents and what little support they got. It is understandable that parents of children with disabilities would clutch at Sarah Palin’s promise to be an “advocate.” Many of them are increasingly desperate. Last month a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study documented the “chilling” rates of “hardship” among middle class as well as poor families with disabled children. They “are struggling to keep food on the table, a roof over their heads, and to pay for needed health and dental care.” (1) Large numbers of adults with disabilities face the same economic hardships.
We’ve made a lot of progress in disability rights, but in some ways it’s even harder financially for people with disabilities and their families than it was when I was a child, a youth, and a young adult. From both my personal experience and professional work, I understand what it’s like for a lot of us. And I think I have some grasp on what sort of advocacy we need.
Would Palin provide that kind of advocacy? Would a President John McCain support the needs, interests, and rights of Americans with disabilities? What about Barack Obama and Joe Biden?
In their convention speeches, Palin, John, and even Cindy McCain focused only on children. The media have talked almost exclusively about children too. What so many people seem to forget is that children with disabilities grow up to become adults. Ninety percent of the 54 million Americans with disabilities are adults. Most acquired their disabilities after childhood.
In addition, the media talk has mostly been about “compassion” not about “issues.” There has been little discussion about issues that matter to people with disabilities of all ages, issues such as health insurance, community-based personal assistance services, education, employment, and civil rights. Research has repeatedly found that voters in the disability constituency — adults with disabilities, parents, and many professionals — decide how they will vote based on candidates’ positions on disability issues. But they are often frustrated in trying to get that information.
In what follows, I summarize and critically examine the information I have gathered about the candidates’ stands. I have gleaned it from online and printed sources as well as contacting some of the leading experts in the various communities that compose the disability rights constituency. Some of the information out there in the blogosphere is wrong. I’ve tried to get accurate and reliable information instead. Sometimes those experts I mentioned set me straight about things I had thought were true that they said were incorrect. It strikes me as significant that as far as I can tell the vast majority of those experts and other disability rights leaders are supporting the Obama-Biden ticket.
I want to make clear that I’m not speaking for that campaign. The analysis below represents my assessments, my conclusions, about the candidates’ positions on issues. Here’s what I’ve found out:
Obama and Biden have a set of detailed policy proposals called their “Plan to Empower Americans with Disabilities.” You can find it on their campaign website. (2) In contrast, the McCain-Palin website’s single page on “Americans with Disabilities for McCain” offers no policy positions. (3) Elsewhere, that website mentions autism and disabled veterans but no other issues. (4) (The Obama-Biden website also lays out policy proposals regarding both autism and disabled veterans.) So I’ve tried to glean McCain’s and Palin’s stands from their speeches, votes, and actions.
Here are some of the policy positions of the two pairs of candidates:
Medicare. Obama co-sponsored legislation to end the two-year wait for recently disabled persons to qualify for Medicare after qualifying for Social Security Disability Insurance. This proposal is important because that waiting period is a time when many people with disabilities have no health insurance. McCain has not taken a position on that bill.
Mental Health Parity. Obama also co-sponsored the Mental Health Parity Act. This legislation would prohibit health plans from requiring higher deductibles or co-pays while offering mental health benefits more limited than the medical coverage they provide. McCain has not taken position on that bill.
Health Insurance. The McCain-Palin website seeks to refute the “myth” that under his healthcare plan, people “with pre-existing conditions would be denied insurance.” In fact, that is not the criticism being made. Rather, the criticism is that McCain’s healthcare plan would not ban insurance discrimination against individuals with disabilities and pre-existing health conditions.
As further refutation, the website points out that McCain supported the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 which did provide “some protection against exclusion of pre-existing conditions.” In fact, that protection is both expensive and limited.
The website also declares that “nothing in John McCain’s plan changes the fact that if you are employed and insured you will build protection against the cost of any pre-existing condition.” This is a very complicated issue, but putting it as simply as possible this defense of McCain’s plan ignores the difficulties many people with disabilities and pre-existing conditions have in getting and maintaining both employment and insurance. It also implicitly assumes that they have the financial resources to purchase insurance.
Finally, the website promises that “as President, John McCain would work with governors to find the solutions necessary to ensure those with pre-existing conditions are able to easily access care.” This language is a euphemism for the creation of high risk pools that have high premiums, high deductibles, time limited coverage, and often long waiting lists. Elsewhere, the website promises that McCain will “limit premiums” and provide assistance to families below a certain income level. But this market-driven approach has not worked in states that have established high risk pools.
By way of contrast, here is the comparable section of the Obama-Biden “Plan”:
“Guaranteeing Health Care Coverage: Many people with disabilities do not seek work or leave the workforce because they need the guaranteed health insurance that the federal government’s benefit programs provide. As a result, many stay on Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI), which include Medicare or Medicaid coverage, rather than take a job that might jeopardize their health care coverage. Barack Obama has pledged to sign universal health care legislation by the end of his first term in office that will assure that Americans with disabilities will have quality, affordable, portable coverage that will allow them to take a job without fear of losing coverage. People with disabilities who lose their Medicare or Medicaid eligibility by taking a job, but still cannot afford coverage, will be provided a subsidy in order to purchase coverage. Moreover, under Obama’s plan, insurers will not be able to deny coverage on the basis of pre-existing conditions.”
In addition, Obama co-sponsored legislation that would allow states to enroll families with incomes up to 300% of the poverty level in the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). This policy is vital for families with children who have expensive disability-related healthcare needs, children like Sarah Palin’s son. McCain and his fellow Republicans in the Senate opposed the bill. Gov. Palin, reported the Wall Street Journal, was “reluctant to support significant expansion” of Alaska’s version of SCHIP, so she chose to accept families with incomes only “up to 175% of the poverty level.” The Journal called Palin’s policy “stingy compared with other states.” (5) Nor has she restored the state’s mental health program that was essentially dismantled several years ago. Nor has she reduced the state’s “Developmental Disabilities Waiting List, a list of individuals whose needs qualify them for assistance, but that the state doesn’t have adequate funding to help.” (6) Or so the Alaska administration says. This at a time when the state government is awash in oil revenues.
Palin has “never elucidated a health care plan or vision or any kind of connection to the disability community,” said Jim Beck, executive director of Access Alaska, an advocacy and independent living services agency for people with disabilities. “We’re really suffering from not having a big plan.” (7) Palin has not made “health care one of her top priorities,” reported the Wall Street Journal, but she does strongly support a “market- and business-driven” approach. Expanding health insurance “was less of an issue for Gov. Palin, much as it is less significant for Sen. McCain.” (8) Nonetheless, McCain too embraces the ideological dogma that profit-oriented businesses will resolve the inequities in the U.S. health insurance system and somehow cover those who are currently uninsured or underinsured. Among those Americans struggling the most desperately are people with disabilities and families.
Many adults with disabilities and parents of children with disabilities confront another particularly harsh and unjust situation caused by public policies. Medicaid “long-term care” funding is skewed toward institutionalization or nursing home placement. But most of those adults and parents want people with disabilities of all ages to have the option to live in the community, with or near family and friends. Agreeing with them, Obama and Biden are co-sponsoring the Community Choice Act (CCA) to allow individuals to decide where they will live by funding community-based personal assistance services. McCain opposes the bill. He assumes it would cost too much. (9) But studies have shown that community-based or independent living is almost always cheaper than institutionalization. It also ensures the self-determination prized by people with disabilities, including many people with Down syndrome. These competing policies will have a major impact on Palin’s son. Will she endorse CCA? Can she persuade her running mate to vote for it?
Education. In 1975 after years of strenuous lobbying mostly by parents, Congress passed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (since renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act). Up until then, most such children were barred from public schools and got little or no education. Nowadays, most go to school and graduate. Congress promised to provide up to 40% of the funding for this mandate but has never done so. Obama and Biden favor full funding. McCain nowadays says he does too, though in past years he voted against it.
The Obama-Biden “Plan to Empower Americans with Disabilities” lays out a comprehensive policy agenda to enhance educational opportunities for young people with disabilities from early childhood through college. It also includes consideration of transition from school to work. It is too detailed for me to go into here, but if you are a parent, professional, or person with a disability concerned about educational opportunities I would urge you to go online and look at that portion of the “Plan.”
As far as I can tell, the McCain-Palin website’s several pages on education include nothing about the education of children and youths with disabilities. (10) (I can’t be certain because, unlike the Obama-Biden website, the McCain-Palin website has no “Search” capability.)
Biden, an original cosponsor of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, has a long record of supporting the educational rights of children with disabilities and the civil rights of all Americans with disabilities. He came to his advocacy from personal knowledge of the prejudice youngsters with disabilities come up against. As a boy who stuttered severely, he experienced ridicule and abuse firsthand.
Some news outlets and blogs erroneously reported that as governor Sarah Palin slashed special education funding. Others are now incorrectly saying that she increased such funding 300%. The funding was indeed increased, but Palin only signed a bill developed by others. CNN reported that the bill’s actual co-sponsors felt “frustrated… by [her] stepping in only at the last minute.” Meanwhile, Sonya Kerr, an Anchorage attorney specializing in disability rights, sued the state and Palin for failing to provide adequate services for children with disabilities. (11)
Palin also cut $125,000 in funding for assistive technology for people with disabilities. According to Alaskan disability rights advocates, before her acceptance speech she showed little interest in disability issues. “I can tell you she wasn’t a champion for disabled children as governor,” said one state senator. (12) It’s not that Palin only became aware of these matters after her son’s birth in April. Her sister’s son has autism. (13)
Employment. The Obama-Biden “Plan” to “increase the employment rate of workers with disabilities” encompasses several major innovations. Perhaps most notable, they pledge to implement Section 503 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act. That provision requires all federal agencies and federal contractors to “take affirmative action to employ and advance in employment qualified individuals with disabilities.” Section 503’s affirmative action mandate has never been enforced. “Affirmative action in employment for adults with disabilities,” notes the “Plan,” “is not enforced with goals and timetables like the affirmative action requirements for people of color and women found in Executive Order No. 11246 and its progeny.” As president, Obama will direct the Secretary of Labor to bring the regulations implementing Section 503 more into line with that executive order. In other words, he recognizes disability as a civil rights category comparable to race and gender.
Just as important, Obama promises to establish a National Commission on People with Disabilities, Employment, and Social Security. He will charge this commission to undertake, at long last, the elimination of work disincentives in Social Security Disability Insurance, Supplemental Security Income, Medicare, and Medicaid policies.
In addition, Obama pledges to increase substantially federal hiring of workers with disabilities. He will also provide private-sector employers with resources to accommodate workers with disabilities and encourage them to use tax incentives to hire more workers with disabilities. Moreover, federal programs will provide support for small businesses owned by persons with disabilities. Finally, administration policies will assure “flexibility at work” to both workers with disabilities and nondisabled workers who have responsibilities at home to provide assistance to family members with disability-related and healthcare needs.
In contrast to this comprehensive plan regarding employment, I can find no mention of employment and people with disabilities on the McCain-Palin website.
Civil Rights. McCain and Biden voted for the Americans with Disabilities Act. They and Obama voted for the ADA Amendments Act. All three declare their support of anti-discrimination protections and guarantees of equal access and reasonable accommodations. But disability rights leaders point out that the Amendments Act is necessary because, contrary to Congress’s intent, federal courts dominated by right-wing judicial activists decided that millions of Americans with disabilities — people with epilepsy, diabetes, mental health disabilities, HIV-AIDS, and other disabilities — do not match the ADA’s definition of “disability” and therefore do not qualify for its protections. McCain and Palin pledge to appoint more judges like Scalia and Thomas, Roberts and Alito, the very jurists whose rulings have left 70% of Americans with disabilities without civil rights protections.
In contrast, Obama has declared that as president he will appoint “Judges and Justices who respect laws designed to protect people with disabilities [.] …. The Supreme Court’s interpretations of the ADA have shown disrespect for Congress’ intent and frustrated the law’s goals of fully integrating people with disabilities into society.” “As a former civil rights lawyer and a strong advocate for workplace diversity, Barack Obama understands the critical importance of reducing workplace and labor market discrimination against people with disabilities…” Reversing the Bush administration’s cutbacks in funding for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), “the agencies tasked with enforcing anti-discrimination laws that protect workers with
disabilities,” he pledges full funding and increased staffing to reduce the backlog of discrimination complaints and “prosecute efforts to remedy systemic discrimination.”
McCain and Palin have made no comparable pledge. Indeed, with their philosophy of disengaged government they could not. Perhaps after a few years “experience” raising a child with a disability, Palin will see things differently. But people with disabilities have already waited an awfully long time for their civil rights and the vital services they need.
These are just some of the issues that concern the disability constituency. Disabled veterans’ needs are a complex issue I am studying. I may write about it at a later date. Suffice it to say for now that Sen. McCain has apparently favorably talked about a voucher system, essentially a privatization of at least elements of the veterans’ benefits system. This proposal is provoking deep concern among many veterans with disabilities.
The American Association of People with Disabilities estimates that there are some 36 million potential voters with disabilities. If we conservatively reckon that for every voter with a disability there is at least one nondisabled voter concerned about disability issues (a family member or professional), we are talking about a voting bloc comprising tens of millions of Americans. That voting constituency could determine the outcome of a close election. Yet despite all of the talk in the last couple of weeks about compassion toward children with disabilities, our issues still get only limited attention from the news media and most politicians. I have concluded that Barack Obama and Joe Biden are paying attention. That’s why I’m going to vote for them.
Paul K. Longmore is a professor of history and director, Institute on Disability, at San Francisco State University.
FOOTNOTES:
(1) “UNC study: ‘chilling’ hardship rates among families raising disabled children,” August 18, 2008, http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/health-and-medicine/unc-study-chilling-hardship-rates-among-families-raising-disabled-children.html
(2) http://www.barackobama.com/issues/disabilities
(3) http://americanswithdisabilities.johnmccain.com/AmericansWithDisabilities.htm
(4) http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues
(5) Jim Carlton, Michael M. Phillips, Elizabeth Williamson and Laura Meckler, “In Alaska, a Nuanced Record,” Wall Street Journal, (September 4, 2008), A1.
(6) Brendan Joel Kelley, “Sarah and the kids,” Anchorage Press, (September 11, 2008), http://www.anchoragepress.com/site/basicarticle.asp?ID=831
(7) Kelley, “Sarah and the kids.”
(8) Carlton, et al., “In Alaska, a Nuanced Record.”
(9) National Forum on Disability Issues, Columbus, Ohio, July 26, 2008, http://www.aapd.com/News/election/080726forumtrans.htm
(10) See also the Council for Exceptional Children’s Voter Education Guide, Election 2008, Meet the 2008 Candidates, available at http://www.cec.sped.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=10557
(11) CNN, “Biden’s comments on special needs kids called ‘new low’,” September 10, 2008, http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/09/biden.special.needs/index.html#cnnSTCText
(12) Kelley, “Sarah and the kids.”
(13) CNN, “Biden’s comments.”
See also earlier posts:
- History professor flourishes through activism
- Scholar: Poynter column trivializes oppression of people with disabilities
To download, click here: Paul Longmore: An open letter to the disability rights constituency
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on Monday, September 15th, 2008 at 8:14 pm and is filed under Campaign 2008, IDEA, Medicaid/Medicare, NOT2BEMISSED, advocacy, asset management, benefits, books, civil rights, disabilities, education, employment/jobs, families, first-person, health care, inclusion, independent living, institutionalization, insurance, mental health, polio, politics, post-secondary education, poverty, public attitudes, stigma, veterans.
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November 3rd, 2008 at 6:17 am
To Peggy, who says that Governor Palin doesn’t have a clue what raising a child with autism is like, please note that Governor Palin has a 13 year old nephew with autism.
November 2nd, 2008 at 6:34 pm
Obama’s record is proof he doesn’t have anyone with disabilities in his best interest. He supports and advocates the murder of unborn children including those with disabilities … I don’t trust him on anything, much less disability rights. When it comes to the rights of the disabled, I trust Sarah Palin over Obama.
October 31st, 2008 at 2:32 am
I am writing this to pose a question: to what extent has either candidate and/or their party supported more funding for Accessible Technology please? Thank you.
Mitchell
October 24th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
Insurance discrimination based upon disability is already prohibited by the Americans with Disabilities Act. Lack of enforcement of the ADA by states who permit insurance companies to discriminate is the reason this practice continues … there is no downside to the insurance companies for doing so.
The 40% of “full funding” as promised by the original IDEA (the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975) was for 40% of the EXCESS COSTS of educating these children, not 40% of the total costs. Furthermore, it is Congress that appropriates the money for the IDEA — so blame our federal legislators, not the executive branch.
October 16th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
In response to Peggy’s statement: “Having a baby with Down syndrome does not make you an advocate for all children with special needs. I do not know of any adult person with Down’s that is physically aggressive, that cannot be toilet trained, or that is non-verbal.”
In your claim that Gov. Palin couldn’t possibly advocate for all children with special needs, it appears that you deem her statement as overbroad or reaching; however, your claim does the exact same thing regarding adults with a diagnosis of Down syndrome.
Just like there are many differences among people without disabilities, there are also many differences and a wide range of abilities, behaviors, traits and health issues among individuals who happen to have the same disability. Avoid the “Disability Hierarchy” where someone compares one disability with another, it creates a class system among those who have no need of another imposed barrier. Over-generalizations are similar to stereotypes which we know are also harmful. Individuals with Down (no ’s) syndrome experience such a wide variety of characteristics that it could almost be argued that it follows a Spectrum as well….Ever heard of a Dual diagnosis, how about the rare but occuring Triple Play?
October 16th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Having a baby with Down syndrome does not make you an advocate for all children with special needs. I do not know of any adult person with Down’s that is physically aggressive, that cannot be toilet trained, or that is non-verbal.
Palin does not have a CLUE what raising a child with autism is like. No one does unless they have, so I will certainly not be voting for her because of this! I will be voting for Obama because of many reasons but one is that he is involved with the autism community and has them included in his plans for the future.
October 6th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
Just as some people are amazed that a parent of a child with Down syndrome would vote for McCain and Palin simply because of Trig Palin, I am amazed that parents are expected to vote for Obama simply because of his promises on disability issues. I am the parent of a child with Down syndrome, and I find Obama’s policies on abortion repugnant. If he can’t be trusted to protect the most vulnerable people with disabilities, why should I trust him to help them after they are born?
Thanks, but no thanks.
October 6th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
Let me start of and say I am a father of a special-needs child.
You fail to consider how important it is to have a parent of a child with a disability in the White House. Once the campaign is over, and the promises forgotten, who do you think will still remember about special-needs children? Obama? No. Biden? No. McCain? No. Palin? Yes!
The fact she has a special-needs child means she will learn first hand what it takes. To me, that is worth more than anything you have cited because most of those issues are pre-Trig.
You also neglected many positives by Palin while she was governor of Alaska. For example: Palin tripled funding for high-cost special needs children from $26,900 per student in 2008 to $73,840 per student in 2011. If you are going to do research, please make sure it is complete instead of presenting just one side when it suits you.
“Palin also cut $125,000 in funding for assistive technology for people with disabilities.” This is for Alaska’s 2009 budget. But, you failed to do any research on it. What was the technology for? Why did she veto it? The answers require research but perhaps you didn’t want to know the answers? For all I know, it could be 60″ Hi Def TVs for people in nursing homes. As of now, all you are doing is echoing other blogs.
October 1st, 2008 at 11:44 pm
I am a conservative. I don’t think that big government is the answer to my problems as a person with a disability. In fact, I don’t think that government can do much for me that it doesn’t already do. I do like the idea of not taking the Medicare away if I have a job for more than 8 months that makes too much money.
The reason that the presidential candidates don’t focus all their efforts on such a huge group as us people with disabilities and our friends and relatives is that ours is not the only issue, and it’s a relatively minor issue for the president. We need advocates in Congress. As a former Navy Brat and Marine wife, I am very uncomfortable with the idea of Obama in the White House.
I honestly don’t feel like politicians can do much for me in general. I became disabled in a car accident at the age of 25. Before that I thought that discrimination was a thing of the past because it’s illegal. Now I know how silly that was, but I was clueless.
The ways to change how I’m treated by this society are
#1 Raise awareness. I am so happy that Palin is a candidate, no matter who wins, because simply being a candidate brings these issues to the spotlight.
#2 Children. Through Ability Awareness in Action, children can value our diversity and focus on people’s abilities. This will gradually change how society treats us.
This article was informative for me because there were so many points where there’s simply no data for the McCain Palin camp. So, I’m going to write them and ask them to let us know where they stand now. I don’t want to know where they stood 5 years ago. I want to know where they stand now.
Six years ago, I had no idea what life was like as a person with a disability. So, my perspective’s completely different. I want to know how Palin’s perspectives have changed as a mother of a child with a disability, and I want to know how McCain’s perspectives have changed as he’s getting to know her and reading articles like this.
Palin’s views are going to continue to evolve as she watches her son grow up in this society. I hope that she’ll be a good influence on McCain. For now, I’m still going with McCain as the lesser of two evils. I don’t want a Socialist president, even if he has a Democrat label. So I’ll take the Democrat president with the Republican label.
September 29th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
Paul:
Thanks very much for the breadth and depth of your article.
“The American Association of People with Disabilities estimates that there are some 36 million potential voters with disabilities.”
With such numbers a candidate for U.S. President either “gets it” on a fundamental day-to-day level that most all public policy matters have disability issues and components, or he or she just does not “get it.” The breadth and depth of proposals side by side from both candidates lets one know who of the two “gets it” more often than not.
Bryon MacDonald
September 23rd, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Mr. Longmore- Thank you so much for your insight, and all of your research. I have grown concerned with bumper-stickers now seen with some frequency “My child is special needs, and I will vote McCain/Palin”. From what I have learned, nothing could be farther from the truth. As my daughter has an autistic spectrum disorder, I am well aware of Sen Obama’s work in the state of Illinois for autism. He even has a position paper on ASDs on his website– incredible! Obama and Clinton were among the first to co-sponsor the Combat Autism 2005 bill, which Sen Dodd (D) co-authored.
In 2002, Senator McCain argued forcibly AGAINST earmarks for Autistic Schools of Excellence in a bill passed by the House, and never again spoke on autism until the current campaign. Opportunistic and self serving.
September 17th, 2008 at 11:38 am
I sent this link around to several friends and colleagues, wanting their input on the candidates’ positions. I received one reply that offers some important points, particularly about the accessibility of the candidates’ websites (and this one, too):
I read through the write-up. Thanks for sharing something that’s important to you. I agree that democrats have better track record regarding people with disabilities. That’s precisely what Palin was referring to when she said that families with disabilities would have an advocate in the White House (as they haven’t in previous Republican administrations with the notable exception of Bush41 who signed the ADA of 1990 despite pressure from other Republicans not to). I don’t have time to fact check Longmore, but I was able to quickly verify that he is wrong that there is no “search” capability on John McCain’s website. It’s there on the front page at the very bottom. Probably an honest mistake, but would he let one of his students make such an error without marking their score down?
I also ran a test to see if the web homepages of mccain and obama were section 508 compliant. Neither are which means that sight-impaired internet users might not be able to get the information from the candidates websites with their screen-reading software. Longmore’s letter website was section 508 compliant but failed the WAI (Web Accessibility Initiative) test. We all still have a long way to go despite campaign promises.
September 17th, 2008 at 9:27 am
Dear Paul,
Thanks for this very useful and insightful analysis. It is now really clear to me that Obama is light years ahead of McCain in this crucial area (as well as others). I will send this article around to my friends, students, and colleagues.
Sincerely,
Lennard
September 17th, 2008 at 8:35 am
Thank you Paul for providing such a comprehensive over-view of the issues in this election without once mentioning lipstick. I did an earlier guest commentary on one aspect of this issue — Medicaid. Right now the Bush Administration has proposed 7 regulations that would devastate funding for services to people with disabilities in New York State (and I assume most other states). The only thing stopping these regulations is a moratorium imposed by Congress, that expires in April, 2009.
In the Senate, Obama and Biden voted for the moratorium and against the cuts. The only Senators not voting were Ted Kennedy (who was undergoing cancer treatment) and John McCain. I have written to McCain’s campaign web site asking for clarification on his position on the Medicaid issue. I have not received a reply. I believe he is trying to duck the issue and hide behind Sarah Palin’s son.
People with disabilities, their friends and families should be outraged that their votes are being viewed so cheaply.
September 17th, 2008 at 6:37 am
Paul:
I appreciate the tone and content of this essay. It marshals the arguments, makes them, and points out the author’s perspective and point of view. It’s no secret that, since the New Deal of Franklin Roosevelt, the Democrats have been consistently more in favor of programs and services for disabled people as a party than the Republicans. So, I would expect that the Democratic Party platform and candidates are on record as taking positions favored by the disability advocate and activist community. There is nothing like fighting against smug oppressors, secure in the rightness of their convictions, to radicalize people and in many cases to politicize them.
I, like Joe Biden (I never realized this before your essay, Paul) also experienced stuttering as a child and, to some extent as an adult. Until recently, it was still one of the physical characteristics that it was permissible to laugh at. However, unlike Sarah Palin, I have never experienced what it is like to have a child with a disability like Down Syndrome. I have, though, seen parents who (of whatever political bent before their child’s birth) become activist, engaged, and committed to disability rights and disability services as a result of the experience they have directly, as parents. Sometimes, second hand experience (like that of the sister’s son with autism) can cause this and sometimes it does not.
So, I would hope (based on experience) that not only will Governor Palin (regardless of the November election) become more familiar with the issues but that she will be part of the effort to ensure that disability does not continue to be seen as a tragedy to be avoided or euthanized, but part of human variation, to be celebrated with other forms of diversity.
Still, people running for office must be judged on their records and their statements, not on filmy hopes for the future.
Thanks,
Tim L.
September 16th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
I want to thank you for the tremendous amount of research you did. I knew about the Community Choice Act and I have been telling my friends and family about it. Thanks also to Patricia Bauer for her blog.
Keith
Austin Texas
September 16th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
As an American with a disability, and as a voter longing for serious discussion of disability issues (or any issues), I appreciate Dr. Longmore’s essay and hope it’s read by a huge number of voters … and all the candidates as well. I’m concerned, however, that the AAPD figure of “36 million potential voters with disabilities” doesn’t impress either political camp. If they believed it, it would strike fear into their little vote-hungry hearts. They’d be falling over each other trying to impress us with their grasp of the issues. Neither side is doing that.
All things being equal, though, I agree with Longmore’s conclusion and will cast my vote for Obama-Biden.
September 16th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
to John (Not Longmore) Planned parenthood does not eliminate people with disabilities! It helps women who have no other health care provider to get good reproductive care! You need to find out more about them…
John Longmore this is a great article, thank you for taking the time to analyze the facts and write intelligently about the candidates positions and statements. I agree with you Obamba has is hands down over McCain.
September 16th, 2008 at 9:49 am
Wonderful, but who will IDEA matter to, if we continue down the road of eliminating people with disablities. Can’t help people who don’t exist. And to be honest, they all make big promises. Obama’s record does not assure me that he has anyone with disabilities in his best interest. Show me the proof he has done anything at all for anyone with disabilities past his partisan voting, which is questionable at best.
… And how about taking the 300 million dollars of taxes that goes to Planned Parenthood, and put it toward education and the IDEA plan! That is a lot of money to go to one place that systematically wipes people out of the equation. Food for thought.