[4alabama] Disability and Democracy: Penn State Professor Analyzes Presidential Candidates' Disability Policy

[Judy R. Roy]

Source: Crooked Timber, by Michael Bérubé (Excerpted)


Although Nation Council on Independent Living is non-partisan and does not
necessarily accept the views offered below, we wholeheartedly support
critical analysis of the candidates' disability policies.  This very long
article has been excerpted for length, but the author explores the issues
further and more in depth in the full story.



...So I thought I'd write a little something about the candidates' policy
positions on disability, because apparently (a) no one knows that the
candidates have policy positions on disability and (b) policy positions on
disability are not as important as flag pins. Granted, disability policy
never swings an election. And why should it? Unless you yourself have a
disability, or unless you know someone with a disability, or unless you're
concerned about things like employment or health care, or unless you might
get sick or injured someday, or unless you're planning on aging, disability
policy is irrelevant to you.



Hillary's disability policies are pretty damn good, especially when it comes
to health care, which I've always considered (not that I'm alone in this)
the issue on which she's more solid than Obama. Why her campaign chose
instead to emphasize her crossing of the Commander-in-Chief threshold with
McCain, and the 3 am phone call from the wolves in the forest, is anybody's
guess...



Hillary's overall American Health Choices Plan (16-page .pdf) is about as
good as a private-insurance-based plan can be. But if you're looking for
disability policy, you'll look in vain. You'll read about "eliminating
insurance discrimination" (page 5) and "creating a retiree health legacy
initiative" for "major American employers with workforces that face
unusually high health care costs due to a high ratio of retirees" (a group
that includes "our major manufacturers," and, for Pennsylvanians like me,
evokes "mine workers") that will "provide a tax credit for qualifying
private and public retiree health plans to offset a significant portion of
catastrophic expenditures that exceed a certain threshold" (page 8). (That
passage is followed by a qualifier: "Such reinsurance would be time-limited
to reflect the short-term demographic need of the aging baby boomers, and
would be devised in a manner that does not add to our long-term fiscal
challenges." Yes, well, good luck with that.) But the wonky point remains:
if you're interested in public policies for people with disabilities, the
Clinton campaign offers you a series of sane, sound proposals - many of
which would benefit people with disabilities, but few of which speak of
"disability."



Obama, by contrast, has a separate heading titled "Disabilities." This in
itself is remarkable; but it turns out that this isn't just a matter of
better web design. Whoever is advising Obama on disability policy is really,
really smart. The nine-page .pdf, "Barack Obama's Plan to Empower Americans
with Disabilities", says many of the same things Hillary does - about
supporting full funding for IDEA, providing health coverage for the most
vulnerable among us, and hiring 100,000 people with disabilities in the
federal government (except that someone needs to tell the Obama camp that
it's Executive Order 13163 Obama needs to reinstate, not 13173, which
created an Interagency Task Force on the Economic Development of the Central
San Joaquin Valley; reinstating 13173, whatever its merits, probably won't
do much for disability policy in the United States). But the plan is,
remarkably enough, at once broader and more specific than Clinton's.  It
promises $10 billion in early intervention programs for children with
special needs, via Early Head Start, Early Learning Challenge Grants, and
IDEA Part C.



It proposes "a comprehensive study of students with disabilities and
transition to work and higher education" - something that (a) has never been
done and (b) is of great interest to teenagers with disabilities and their
loved ones. "As president," we're told, "Barack Obama will initiate such a
study and task his Secretary of Education with researching: the barriers
that keep students with disabilities from seeking and completing higher
education; the barriers that prevent students from making a direct
transition to work; the extent to which students with disabilities are able
to access loans and grants; reasons college students with disabilities drop
out at a higher rate; and best practices from schools that have effectively
recruited and graduated students with disabilities that can be implemented
more widely.



The funny thing is that Hillary Clinton is among the [The Genetic
Non-Discrimination Act's] other cosponsors in the Senate, but you won't
learn that from her website (why, I can't imagine). More importantly, if you
have genes, or if someone you know and love has genes, you should be
interested in genetic privacy. Because you never know when your employers
might require you to submit to blood tests so that they can take a peek at
whether you have any genetic susceptibility to debilitating conditions. Down
that road lies the world of Gattaca, my friends, and that's why it passed
the House last year by a vote of 420-3. Unfortunately, Tom Coburn (R- Outer
Wingnuttia) has blocked it in the Senate, and since Coburn is apparently one
of Obama's Friends From the Fringes, now would be a good time for Obama to
ask his friend to do us all a great big favor.



Oh, and the rhetorical appeal to "my friends" reminds me! I'd almost
forgotten all about that John McCain fellow. ...Yes, well, McCain's
disability policy is much easier to summarize: (a): we need to cut costs;
and, following from (a), (b): don't become disabled:



Controlling health care costs will take fundamental change-nothing short of
a complete reform of the culture of our health system and the way we pay for
it will suffice. Reforms to federal policy and programs should focus on
enhancing quality while controlling cost.



This means you, solider - and you too, person with autism, you, person with
Alzheimer's, and the rest of you malingerers. Buck up! Your job is to
control health care costs for the rest of us.  McCain 2008: Because People
Who Talk About Health Care and Disabilities Are Just Taking Cheap Shots.



Judy R. Roy
Independent Living Resources of Greater Birmingham
206  13th Street S.
Birmingham, AL  35233-1317
Phone  205.251.2223  ext 102
Email  bhamilc1 at bellsouth.net
There are only four kinds of people in the world: those who have been
caregivers; those who are currently caregivers; those who will be
caregivers; those who will need caregivers. - Rosalynn Carter