By Don C. Reed
“Free advice costs nothing– and it’s worth the price!”— Alan Kin
I am of course overjoyed with the Harris/Walz presidential campaign. Vice President Kamala Harris is a smiling warrior. “When we fight, we win,” she says, and so we banish doubt. Governor Tim Walz has an equally winning attitude—“We can sleep when we’re dead!”, as he puts it. They appear to be doing everything right.
Even so, if I could offer one suggestion, one piece of “free advice”, it would be this: ask Hillary Clinton to lead A group “Disability Voters for Harris!”.
Why? Look at the numbers…
“A recent poll of 1000 likely voters shows that…34% are swing voters, 36% (are) Democrats, and 29% Republican.” (1)
If we split the swing voters evenly, that leaves a seven per cent margin between Dems and Republicans—that’s a lot, especially in a close contest, when a handful of votes can make all the difference. Think of Florida 2000 when a mere 537 votes decided the Presidential race, giving us George Bush instead of Al Gore, an oil man instead of an environmentalist.
Consider: one American in four has a chronic (long-lasting or incurable) disease or disability. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this may be 61 million adults with a disability! (2)These are not empty statistics, but people we know, members of your family and mine.
Examples: my wife Gloria had pancreatic cancer, from which she died. My son Roman is paralyzed from the shoulders down, from a spinal cord injury. I personally have a condition called peripheral neuropathy in the legs, feet, and hands: pain like eagle claws clutching in.
But the disability community has powerful friends, like Vice President Harris, a long-term supporter. Her first major assignment in the White House was to organize a conference on “Transportation Accessibility and the Americans with Disabilities Act.” (3) This involved items like providing $5 billion to make airports more accessible for folks in wheelchairs.
Groups involved in that effort included heavy-hitter organizations like:
The National Association of the Deaf, Paralyzed Veterans of America, United Spinal Association, National Council on Independent Living, AMTRAK Board of Directors, Americans for Disabilities Act, National Aging and Disability Transportation Center, American Foundation for the Blind, the Wounded Warrior Project, Microsoft’s Disability Policy Advisors, National Disability Rights Network, American Association of Retired People, Access Living, Muscular Dystrophy Association, Harvard University Disability Justice Club, and more.
And Hillary Clinton?
While making her own Presidential run, Hillary systematically involved the disability community, as a voting bloc: she saw us as “a group of Americans who are too often invisible, overlooked and undervalued, who have so much to offer but are given too few chances to prove it.” (4) What an honor and an excitement it would be if she could squeeze in the time to lead this group of Democratic friends!
There are also people who are of little or no use, like former President Donald Trump.
His nephew, Fred Trump, wrote a book: “ALL IN THE FAMILY: the Trumps and How We Got That Way”. (5)
Referring to a group of disabled people, Donald said:
‘Those people, the costs. Why don’t they just die?'”
He later expressed a similar opinion about the author’s disabled son, (Trump’s grandnephew) saying:
“I don’t know, he doesn’t recognize you. Maybe you should just let him die and move down to Florida.”
And have you seen the video of Trump as he cruelly imitates a disabled reporter, flapping his arms and talking in a high squeaky voice?? (6)
As voters with a disability, we are “experts” on the condition which afflicts us; our opinions carry weight; our words as well as our individual votes. We cannot sit idly by; we need to let our voices be heard, so America can decide properly.
Trump, or Harris: the choice before us could not be more clear.
We can support a dynamic and empathic woman with a record of positive leadership—or a man who seemingly does not care if we live, or die.
If you are one of America’s 61 million voters with a disability, know your power, and use it—spread the word, share a ride to the polls— above all, when it is time, vote!
As my paralyzed son Roman Reed always says: “Take a stand—so one day, everybody can!
Important: aside from a few small-dollar donations (very small!) I have no connection to the campaign of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.
- https:respectability.org/2018/10/disabilities-affect-74-percent-of-likely-voters/
- https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/infographic-disability-impacts-all.html
- https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/07/12/readout-of-vice-president-harriss-convening-on-transportation-accessibility-and-the-americans-with-disabilities-act-ada/
- https://www.npr.org/2016/09/22/495000558/clinton-puts-focus-on-56-million-invisible-disabled-voters
- https:respectability.org/2018/10/disabilities-affect-74-percent-of-likely-voters/
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PX9reO3QnUA
- https://www.amazon.com/All-Family-Trumps-How-This/dp/1668072173
Don C. Reed is the author of four books on the California stem cell program, including most recently: Science, Politics, Stem Cells and Genes: CALIFORNIA’S WAR ON CHRONIC DISEASE, from World Scientific Publishers Inc., available at a discount from:
https://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/12997#t=aboutBook
Visit his website at: https:www.stemcellbattles.net
Reed has also written numerous books and award-winning articles on sharks, dolphins, eels, seals and killer whales, based on 15 years as a professional diver for Marine World Africa USA. His books are available at Amazon.com.