Getting Informed for the Presidential Election 2016

I have always adhered to the adage that reasonable people can reasonably disagree, whether it is in the context of an IEP meeting or even our current political debate.  With this in mind, I discussed in a recent blog how some of the issues in the current political elections may affect persons with disabilities but did so without taking a position on specific candidates. This blog is not partisan.   I now want to go further and discuss how each candidate’s website, platform, or public statements (Democrat, Republican, or third party) details his or her proposals for how they will address issues related to disability.  My goal is not to persuade readers to vote for one specific candidate but to ensure that readers are informed about the various positions espoused by candidates.

I’m also a strong proponent of not re-inventing wheels, and I quickly discovered that this research has already been done well by other disability-related websites.  Complex Child, which is devoted to the needs of families of children with complex medical conditions or disabilities, culled from the websites of each candidate—Clinton, Johnson, Stein, and Trump—five different categories or issues:

• Disability rights
• Medicaid, insurance, and the healthcare system
• Special education
• Community living (including Medicaid waivers)
• Specific condition plans (such as autism)

Complex Child compares how the different campaigns address, or in a number of instances, don’t address the highlighted issue.

Similarly, the American Association of Persons with Disabilities (AAPD) and the National Council on Independent Living (NCIL) provided a written questionnaire (REV UP—Register! Educate! Vote! Use your Power!) to each of the presidential candidates, of whom only Secretary Clinton and Mr. Trump responded. The candidates were questioned on:

• Leadership
  • possible creation of National Office of Disability Coordination to be headed by a cabinet level official
  • inclusion of qualified persons with disabilities in your administration
• Employment of persons with disabilities
  • Rehabilitation Act
  • Fair wages
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Transition for youth with disabilities
  • Ensuring appropriate flexibility in pubic program to support people with disabilities in the workforce
  • Advancing the civil and constitutional right of Americans with disabilities to be integrated in society
• Transportation
  • Public transportation
  • Transportation networking companies
  • Autonomous vehicles
  • Air Travel
• Technology
  • Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act
  • The Internet of Things
• Education
  • IDEA funding
  • Curriculum and transition
  • Eliminating bullying and the use of restraints and seclusion
  • Educational inclusion of people with disabilities
• Voting
• Affordable, integrated and accessible housing
• Health care
  • Discrimination in financing and provision of health care services to people with disabilities
  • Expanding access to affordable, comprehensive health care coverage
  • Improving the Medicaid program, including ensuring access to home and community based services and the elimination of bias toward institutional services in the Medicaid program

Please review the candidate responses to the REV UP survey to understand more fully the degree of substance and experience each candidate demonstrates.

If you are looking for a more partisan discussion of issues related to this election, my colleague Maureen Graves, a special education attorney in California and fellow member of COPAA (Council of Parents, Attorneys, and Advocates), has published Disability Advocates 2016.  Ms. Graves’ website espouses a specific agenda not only for the next presidential election (she only discusses Secretary Clinton and Mr. Trump and not the third party candidates) but also critiques candidates for Senate races.  Additionally, Ms. Graves rigorously argues how the outcome of the presidential election will affect our entire court system and not just the Supreme Court.  Ms. Graves highlights Clinton and Trump’s attitudes, often in their own words, on such issues related to disability as:

• Health care
• Rights vs. charity
• Special education
• Autism
• Employment
• Social security
• Environment
• Consumer protection
• Law enforcement

I personally think these websites provide reasoned and fascinating information that can help us not only view the election through the lens of disability but also educate us more fully on disability-related issues.   If you have a different and documented perspective on any of the candidate’s positions on these issues, I would greatly welcome reading it.  Please contact me and if appropriate, I will upload that information to my own blog.   

 

Comments

[D]

I am not a big fan of the new president, at least not yet. I really wish he will represent the American people regardless of color, race, ethnicity and ideals. Until then, I am grabbing my popcorn!