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    • Voters with disabilities say 2024 presidential candidates are ignoring them
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    Voters with disabilities say 2024 presidential candidates are ignoring them

    Umito Posted on

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    Sarah Massengale, a 36-year-old undecided voter living in rural South Carolina, felt empowered when she first contacted the vice president. Kamala Harris» campaign to tell his story.

    “Their website was accessible,” says Massengale, who is blind due to a congenital condition. “It was easy for me to find a place to write to him. And I felt really empowered and shed a few tears about it.

    She said she waited and waited, and did not receive a response from a staff member, and attributed this to society’s disregard for people with disabilities. But she said the experience stung because she had a very high opinion of Harris, whom she called “very powerful” and “very badass.”

    Disability rights advocates say candidates often ignore their community, even though the Census Bureau says more than 13% of people in the United States have disabilities, and a 2021 Rutgers University study found that 17.7 million people with disabilities voted in the 2020 election. (11 million adults with disabilities did not vote that year.)

    Two major national disability advocacy groups — the American Association of People with Disabilities and Disability Belongs — say they failed to get the campaigns for Harris, Donald Trumpand earlier, for Joe Biden to fill out questionnaires outlining their positions on disability issues.

    A third group, the National Disability Rights Network, said it asked primary candidates to conduct interviews with presidential candidates before presidential primaries in New Hampshire, South Carolina or Washington, D.C. When no candidates participated, they pivoted and did a video interview. voters.

    “It’s very difficult to get candidates for public office to share their answers and tell us what they think on particular issues,” said Ariel Simms, president and CEO of Disability Belongs, an advocacy organization most of whose staff are disabled.

    Disability issues are pretty much the same as everyone else’s, Simms said. “In the disability world, we have a saying that every issue is a disability issue, or every policy issue is a disability policy issue, because no matter what we look at, there will always be a unique impact on the disability community. ” she said.

    She highlighted the ongoing conversation about the cost of living. People with disabilities spend more on health care services, mobility devices and household services. “It’s just part of our daily lives, in addition to paying for food and absolutely essential health care,” she said.

    The Harris campaign provided no comment for this story.

    Harris told a voter a town hall in October, “All people, regardless of disability, should have equal access to housing, employment opportunities, education and, again, dignity.”

    The Trump campaign has disputed the idea that Trump is ignoring people with disabilities.

    “President Trump will be president for ALL Americans, including Americans with disabilities,” Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for Trump’s campaign, said in a statement to USA TODAY.

    LaQuanda Clark, a 41-year-old woman who lives in Lexington, South Carolina, criticized Trump for mocking a disabled reporter at a campaign event in 2015. The reporter suffered from a chronic illness affecting arm movement, and Trump waved his arms while criticizing the reporter’s article.

    “It was a big no for us,” said Clark, a burn survivor who had both hands amputated.

    Clark said Harris does a good job of inclusion at her events, but she would like to see the vice president tackle disability issues head-on. Clark wants more funding for independent living agencies that help people with disabilities learn life skills and find jobs, like the one where she works.

    “As a disabled person and a black woman, I am part of many minority groups, and when it comes to who is running now, it is a difficult decision because disability is not brought to the forefront,” Clark said. said.

    Matt Bellina, a 41-year-old from Holland, Pennsylvania, said he was a Gary Johnson libertarian before supporting Trump during his first campaign for president. Bellina lives with ALS, a fatal neurodegenerative disease, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease after the famous New York Yankee who died of the disease.

    Asset signed an invoice Bellina personally asked him to support efforts to make it easier for terminally ill patients to participate in clinical trials of experimental drug treatments.

    “I don’t like or like political figures,” Bellina said. “They are simply meant to be tools that citizens use to shape policy. Trump is a more useful tool than Harris.”

    Harris proposed that Medicare pay for home health care, a measure that is widely seen as beneficial to people with disabilities, who often need institutional care in nursing homes for insurance to pay for it. Others must rely on Medicaid, which has an asset limit to qualify, so people with disabilities must spend their savings.

    “The problem with home health care is the lack of quality candidates,” Bellina said. “Medical coverage doesn’t address the root cause.”

    Massengale called Harris’ home health care proposal “a good start” but also said it would not benefit him. As a prediabetic, she wants a law that makes certain medical devices more accessible to blind people.

    Speaking to USA TODAY just days before the election, she remained undecided about who to support. She said she hopes to go to the polls with the intention of voting for one presidential candidate and choosing another when she enters the voting booth.

    “I don’t feel seen,” she says. “I feel considered as a woman. I feel considered a member of the LGBTQ community. But I don’t feel seen as a blind person.

    Umito
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