I just read yet another outstanding article by Pul Longmore entitled "Palin Talks About Special Needs Children, But Obama has Substantive Plans For All People With Disabilities". The article appeared in the Huffington Post October 4. Below is the link:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-k-longmore/palin-talks-about-special_b_131758.html
Here are some of the highlights worth noting:
Palin talks about being a friend of "special needs children". This is great but Longmore points out that 90% of Americans that have a disability are adults.
The McCain/Palin website has a single page about "Americans with Disabilities for McCain". The Obama/Biden website has detailed policy proposals and a comprehensive "Plan to Empower Americans with Disabilities".
Longmore provides excellent summaries of the McCain and Obama positions on health insurance, medicare, mental health parity, and community based personal assistance services. If you are undecided who to vote for or want to confirm why Obama is the logical choice disabled Americans I urge you to read Longmore's article.
On final point, Obama and Biden support the Community Choice Act, CCA, S. 799. At the national presidential forum on disability issues held last July McCain stated that such a law would cost to much and was the wrong kind of legislation. This is the sort of legislation that will some day have a profound impact on the life of Sarah Palin's son Trig. If Palin is indeed the friend and advocate of children with special needs a good way to demonstrate that would be to change McCain's position with regard to the CCA. Palin has done nothing that has impressed me but this sure would be a step in the right direction.
William, thaks for commenting over at Disability Matters.
ReplyDeleteTwo things, please:
1. Please email me at markmos@regent.edu if you'd like, as I would like to talk with you off-forum about your disability/travel and other experiences.
2. I have a somewhat different take on Palin (see Disability Matters). I think we probably could agree on this: irrespective of many ways the pie is sliced, we absolutely need to stand together on disability issues, no matter where we find them, because disability transcends political party, social class, nationality, ideology, etc.,etc.
I'm more convinced than ever that we need to recalibrate our advocacy for disability irrespective of all of our other affiliations. Difficult? Yeah. Worth it? Absolutely
Bests, Dr. Mark Mostert
Mark, I will contact you off-forum. Our take on Palin is a bit different but our overall aim is the same. I have little patience with ignorance and cannot tolerate social inequities. I suspect this is why our views differ. Regardless, I agree whole heartedly that a united front in terms of disability rights is a must. As a group, people with disabilities are splintered and this makes effective social, political and economic actions hard to press forward.
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