From KCCI-TV, Des Moines:

An Iowa woman who volunteers for the McCain campaign is challenging the absentee ballot her son cast for Barack Obama, saying her son does not have the mental capacity to make an independent decision.

Brenda Lyddon’s son Christopher Willis, 26, is developmentally delayed and lives in a group home in Grinnell, Iowa. Lyddon says she asked group home staffers not to let her son vote, but that they did anyway. The executive director of the group home said his staffers would never attempt to influence the vote of a resident.

Iowa Secretary of State Michael Mauro told KCCI that if someone expresses an interest in voting, even if he or she is developmentally delayed, that person has a right to vote.

Mauro said if a judge were to rule someone as incompetent to vote, then that person couldn’t vote.

(With video)

Earlier story: Dementia patient allegedly pressured to cast ballot — Des Moines Register

Reports that an 87-year-old Council Bluffs woman was allegedly pressured to vote absentee by a Democratic campaign volunteer raise suspicions that some people who have diminished mental capacity are being targeted, a Republican official said.

From WBEZ, Chicago Public Radio, a feature on a program in Indiana that breaks down obstacles that could otherwise prevent people with disabilities from voting. In the case of Dr. Arun Goel, that meant that an election official came to assist him at his home. Dr. Goel is paralyzed, the result of a fall. An excerpt:

… a service like this one in Indiana isn’t available in all states, says Jim Dickson of the American Association of People with Disabilities.

Dickson, who is blind, says the country’s 37 million disabled voters face a variety of obstacles when trying to vote depending on their condition. And he says politicians don’t see disabled people as a voting block.

DICKSON: We don’t all look alike and we don’t all live in the same neighborhood. Government policies matter to our quality of life.

… DR. GOEL: We all can’t just sit back and let things happen. We must put in our voice. And only putting in our voice can we change things.

(WBEZ photo)

Blind aide raises bar of expectations – The Hill (blindness)

Disabled parking placard use is on the rise – LA Daily News (law)

Report: Disabled voters face difficulty in RI - Boston Globe (voting)

Op-ed: Those with developmental disabilities need help now - Denver Post (law, politics, intellectual disabilities)

Film of Norfolk man’s life added to Library of Congress - The [Norfolk] Virginian-Pilot (Down syndrome)

Aging parents plan for future of children who still need help - Ottawa Citizen (caretakers)

Extreme Makeover: Emotional buildup – New York Times (disabilities, media, chronic illness, entertainment, television)

He’s immobile, but his story has the power to move - Today Show (muscular dystrophy, media, parents, personal stories)

Op-ed: New ADA rules overturn common sense — Miami Herald (ADA)

Disabled band scores film first - BBC News (entertainment)

Man accused of harassing autistic boy faces hate-crime charge - The Seattle Times (autism, hate crime)

Book review: ‘Deaf Sentence’ — New York Times (deafness)

Redskins ordered to provide hearing-impaired fans ‘aural content’ in stadium - ESPN (deaf/hard of hearing, law)

Redskins ordered to continue captions — Washington Post (deaf/hard of hearing, law)

From ABC7 News, WLS-TV in Chicago:

Disability rights advocates in Chicago say organizations across the country are actively working to improve voter turnout among people with disabilities on election day. Approximately 40 million Americans with disabilities are eligible to vote.

Leaders of the Chicago group Access Living want voters to be aware of challenges facing people with disabilities, including:

• Lack of employment (an estimated seventy percent of people with disabilities of employment age do not have jobs);
• Lack of accessible housing; and
• Lack of funding for special education services.

Susan M. LoTempio, writing in the Buffalo News, says New Yorkers with disabilities wonder whether new governor David Paterson will do anything to help knock down the barriers that hinder their efforts to live satisfying, productive and rewarding lives.

They point out that the laws already on the books – including the Americans with Disabilities Act – haven’t solved the deep-rooted problems that keep people with disabilities out of school, out of work, out of their homes and out of the mainstream of everyday life.

Among the problems they cite:

• Lack of jobs, with unemployment rates reaching up to 70 percent;
• Lack of accessible and affordable housing;
• Lack of transportation services;
• Inadequate support for parents to help children with disabilities navigate public schools; and
• Lack of access to voting.

If the issues seem complicated to legislators, for people [with disabilities], they come down to this: An accessible home, an education, a job, reliable transportation, good health care and some respect.

Most New Yorkers – and their governors – take such things for granted. Citizens with disabilities do not. And they are hoping that David Paterson understands that.

By Pam Vetter in New Mobility magazine:

The ad features a simple yet radical idea: a typical day in the life of a wheelchair user. She fixes her makeup, wheels out to her car in the rain, gets in. The car won’t start. She gets the chair out of the car, wheels to the bus stop, gets on, rides, gets off at a school. The gate is locked. She ducks under, wheels up to a polling place and — casts her ballot.

Voiceover: Every day, millions of people choose to do the right thing. There’s an insurance company that does that, too. Responsibility. What’s your policy? Liberty Mutual Insurance.

The 60-second spot is part of a national ad campaign by the insurance giant, and features Teal Sherer, an actress who uses a wheelchair in real life (above). A positive message about civic responsibility is teamed with an authentic representation of a person with a disability, living a productive life in the community. No pity, no suffering — and no excuses not to vote.

“I think what Liberty Mutual is doing is groundbreaking,” says Sherer.

NY high court order allows use of machines criticized by disability rights advocates

From Newsday:

The New York Supreme Court this week required the state to allow the use of touch screen voting machines which disability and voting rights advocates say are not accessible to people with disabilities.

Barbara Bartoletti of the League of Women Voters said people in wheelchairs or with visual impairment would have difficulty reaching them or finding their paper ballots. The court was ruling on a lawsuit filed by Liberty Election Systems, the maker of a machine which had been barred by the state Board of Elections.

“This decision is a very bad one for the disability community in New York,” Bartoletti said.

The state of New York is years behind on multiple deadlines to comply with the Help America Vote Act, which is designed to make voting more accurate and more accessible to the disabled.

See earlier posts:

• Help sought for aging, disabled voters
• Judge warns New York to comply with voting law