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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

    Harry Posted on

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    Sarah Massengale, a 36-year-old undecided voter from rural South Carolina, felt empowered when she first reached out to the Vice President. Kamala HarrisHe started a campaign to tell his story.

    “It was possible to access the websites,” said 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 some tears over it.

    He said he waited and waited, and when he didn’t get a response from an employee, he chalked it up to societal disdain for people with disabilities. But he said the experience bothered him because he cared so much for Harris, whom he called “so strong” and “so badass.”

    Disability advocates say candidates often ignore their communities, but Census Bureau More than 13% of people in the United States have a disability and by 2021 Education at Rutgers University It was revealed that 17.7 million disabled people voted in the 2020 elections. (Another 11 million adults with disabilities did not vote that year.)

    Two major national disability advocacy groups—the American Association of Disabled Persons and the Disabled People’s Association—say they are unable to campaign for Harris: Donald Trumpand for previously filling out surveys explaining Joe Biden’s positions on disability issues.

    A third group, the National Disability Rights Network, said it is asking primary candidates to interview presidential candidates ahead of presidential primaries in New Hampshire, South Carolina or Washington, D.C. When no candidate participated, they turned and did a video interview. voters.

    “It’s very difficult to get candidates running for public office to share their responses and tell us what they think about certain issues,” said Ariel Simms, president and CEO of Disability Belongs, an advocacy organization where most staff members have disabilities.

    Disability issues are pretty much the same as everyone else’s, Simms said. “We have a saying in the disability world 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. he said.

    He noted the ongoing conversation about the cost of living. People with disabilities spend more on healthcare, mobility devices and home services. “This has become part of our daily lives, along with paying for food and absolute basic healthcare,” he said.

    The Harris campaign had no comment for this story.

    Harris told one voter: a town hall “All people, regardless of disability, should have equal access to housing, job opportunities, education and dignity,” he said in October.

    The Trump campaign has pushed back against the idea that Trump ignores people with disabilities.

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

    LaQuanda Clark, 41, who lives in Lexington, South Carolina, criticized Trump. cynical A disabled reporter at a campaign event in 2015. The reporter had a chronic condition that affected arm movement, and Trump was waving his arms while criticizing the reporter’s article.

    “That was a big ‘no’ for us,” said Clark, who survived burns that cut off both hands.

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

    “As a person with a disability and also as a Black woman, I’m in a lot of minority groups, and when it comes to who’s running right now, it’s a tough decision because people with disabilities are not being highlighted,” Clark said. in question.

    Matt Bellina, 41, of Holland, Pennsylvania, said Gary Johnson was a libertarian before supporting Trump in his first presidential run. Bellina is living with the fatal neurodegenerative disease ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, after the famous New York Yankee who died of the disease.

    Embers signed a bill Bellina personally asked for his support on this issue, which would make it easier for terminal patients to participate in clinical trials for experimental drug treatments.

    “I don’t like or dislike political figures,” Bellina said. “They are just supposed 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; This move is widely seen as benefiting people in the disabled community who must receive institutional care, often through nursing homes, for insurance to pay. Others must rely on Medicaid, which has asset limits, to qualify, so people with disabilities are forced to dip into their savings.

    “The problem with home health care is a shortage of quality candidates,” Bellina said. “Medicare coverage does not address the root cause.”

    Massengale called Harris’ home health care proposal a “great start” but said it wouldn’t help him. As a pre-diabetic, what he wants is legislation that would make some medical devices more accessible to blind people.

    Speaking to USA Today just days before the election, he was undecided on who to support. He said he expects to go to the polls planning to vote for one presidential candidate and choose the other once he enters the cabinet.

    “I don’t feel seen,” he said. “I feel seen as a woman. I feel seen as a member of the LGBTQ community. But I don’t consider myself a blind person.”

    Harry
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