Writing in the Houston Chronicle, Marty Wyngaarden Krauss recaps President John F. Kennedy’s efforts to advocate on behalf of people with disabilities, challenging a national system that was based on neglect and ignorance. Sarah Palin should learn from his example, she says.

Her pledge should commit our nation to reaching the next level of informed action. It is the only way to ensure that for her son, as for millions of other sons and daughters with disabilities, the prospects for a valued and meaningful life are secure in our country.

Krauss lays out a roadmap for Palin

First, government study and action can be a powerful instrument for positive social change that affects individuals, their families and the support systems that help them.

Second, Palin may have to re-examine her core beliefs about advocating for less government activity on behalf of its vulnerable citizens. Successful reform may require an expansion of government activity, not a retraction of its presence in human lives.

Third, she should commission a new study of the life circumstances and human potential of persons with intellectual disabilities to build on the last several decades of extraordinary change in federal, state and local health, educational and social service systems, and from research about the biological, environmental and familial factors that shape the prospects for persons with intellectual disabilities.

Krauss is provost and senior vice president for academic affairs and John Stein professor of disability research at Brandeis University.

UPDATE: This op-ed is no longer available at the Houston Chronicle, but can be accessed at the Austin American-Statesman site here.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 17th, 2008 at 7:20 am and is filed under Campaign 2008, NOT2BEMISSED, commentary, intellectual/developmental disabilities, politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.