Found this excellent and thought-provoking article via FRIDA and decided I had to share it here.
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 ofthem 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.
The full text of Professor Longmore's commentary is
here.
Paul K. Longmore is a professor of history and director, Institute on Disability, at San Francisco State University.
