In remarks prior to signing the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990, President George H.W. Bush said, “Let the shameful wall of exclusion finally come tumbling down.” And so it has. Our society is more open and accessible to people with disabilities than ever before and the ADA has become a global model for disability access and inclusion.
Yet debris from the wall of exclusion continues to block the path to opportunity and employment for too many people with disabilities. To date, only one candidate, Hillary Clinton, has spoken out on these barriers to full inclusion for people with disabilities. With a little over a month to go before the election, disability advocates have heard nothing from Donald Trump, Gary Johnson, and Jill Stein concerning their policies and priorities for improving access and opportunity for Americans with disabilities. Their silence is a matter of deep concern for those in the disability community as it should be for all Americans.
Of the nearly 30 million working-age individuals with disabilities, 27 percent, or more than 8 million people, live in poverty; more than double the rate of 12.5 percent for the entire population. Equally troubling and certainly related is the disproportionate labor force participation rate. For Americans with disabilities it is less than one-third the rate of those without a disability.
Ensuring people with disabilities have the same access to opportunity and enjoy the same civil rights protections as people without disabilities is a moral imperative. That is why a growing number of individuals and organizations representing thousands and thousands of people with disabilities are calling upon the presidential candidates to complete the 2016 Presidential Candidate Questionnaire on disability policy concerns.
Developed by the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), the National Council on Independent Living (NCIL), and the REV UP Campaign, the questionnaire notes that “Americans with disabilities continue to face discrimination in many areas including employment, housing, transportation, health care and education.” In light of this reality, the questionnaire encourages candidates to “address these disparities and set forth a vision to ensure the civil rights of people with disabilities and our full inclusion in our society.”
Hillary Clinton has completed the questionnaire. On the matter of employment, Secretary Clinton states, “People with disabilities are an essential part of our workforce, and it is important to analyze and remove all of the barriers to ensuring them equal access, so that we can all benefit from their contributions. We made a promise to Americans when we passed the ADA, and I intend to keep that promise by changing the landscape of employment for people with disabilities.”
Day in and day out people with disabilities make remarkable contributions to our communities. We aspire to live independent lives and to contribute our talent and energy to the future success of this great nation. The time has come, and in fact is long past due, for the full slate of presidential candidates to share their priorities and their vision for ensuring the 56 million Americans with disabilities have the same access and opportunity to achieve the American Dream.
The shameful wall of exclusion has indeed come tumbling down but our work is not finished. From the debris of that wall let us continue to build a bridge to inclusion for Americans with disabilities. As for those who seek to lead, help us understand what you would do to make this possibility a reality. In so doing may we take a further step in fulfilling the promise of our nation’s founding, to make ours a more perfect union for all people.
