By Don C. Reed
“Free advice costs nothing — and it’s worth the price!” — Alan King
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 them one piece of “free advice”, it would be this: ask Hillary Clinton to lend her strength to a support group “Disability Voters for Harris!”.
Why? According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) there may be as many as 61 million adults with a disability! Their politics track similarly to the general population, with perhaps a slight preference for Democrats — far too many to ignore.
“A recent poll of 1000 likely voters shows that…34% are swing voters, 36% (are) Democrats, and 29% Republican.” (1)
A seven per cent margin between Dems and Republicans? That’s a lot of Democrats, especially in a close contest, when a handful of votes can make all the difference. Think of Florida 2000, when a mere 538 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. (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 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 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, unfortunately, others: people like Donald J. Trump.
Trump’x 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, the former President 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)
Our choice is clear.
We can support a dynamic and caring young woman with a record of positive leadership — or a man who does not seem to care: if we live or die.
As voters with a disability, we are “experts” on the condition which afflicts us; our opinions carry weight. We need to let our voices be heard, to help America decide.
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!
Note: aside from a few small donations, I have no connection to the campaign of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.
1. https:respectability.org/2018/10/disabilities-affect-74-percent-of-likely-voters/
2. https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/infographic-disability-impacts-all.html
4. 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/
5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PX9reO3QnUA
6. https://www.amazon.com/All-Family-Trumps-How-This/dp/1668072173