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| Denisegilmore Registered user Username: Denisegilmore Post Number: 92 Registered: 10-2000 |
Bob Kafka on Participating in the 2004 Elections" From Bob Kafka of ADAPT, bkafka@juno.com: THE DISABILITY COMMUNITY PARTICIPATING IN THE ELECTORAL PROCESS I do a lot of organizing trainings for ADAPT, A national grassroots disability rights organization. I learn a lot from the people that attend these trainings. Recently I was in Mississippi where a grandmother with a disability was telling me how she could not believe how people took for granted their right to vote. She told me how as a child she was part of the civil rights protests of the 60s and had gone to jail for that right to vote. Amazing! She confronted dogs, hoses, children being thrown in jail, and we in the disability community, that have never experienced anything close to that oppression, complain it's too much trouble for us to vote? Justin dart said it well: vote like your life depends on it, because it does! Y'all know and have been told by everyone how important this election is. Not only the presidential election but also the congressional elections. Who runs congress is important for disability rights and services. Congress writes the laws and the budget! Bush or Kerry. Republicans or Democrats. Red or blue! I know one thing. I'm going to vote on the positions the candidates take on disability issues. The question is: do disabled people and our supporters vote according to the positions candidates take on disability issues? Will the positions the candidates take on disability issues swing your vote? Will their positions on disability votes swing the vote of your families? What about the people who provide you services, equipment, therapy and education? Will the bureaucrats who are paid design the programs that support us in the community vote on the disability positions taken by the candidates? There are significant differences between the Bush- Republicans and Kerry-Democrats' positions on the role of government. Bush believes in turning control back to the states - Kerry that the federal government needs to play a strong role. There are significant differences in the Bush-Republican, Kerry-Democrat view of the judiciary. Bush will appoint judges that construe the constitution in what is called a "strict constructionist" way. Kerry believes in a more interpretive viewpoint, that things change with the times. There are significant differences on how the Bush- Republicans, Kerry-Democrats believe health and personal attendant services are to be delivered. Bush has proposed block grants to the states for Medicaid and housing while Kerry has made reform of these programs a priority. We as a community need to check out their web sites, brochures, written positions, past records. Is it rhetoric or is it action? I believe that if the disability community, families, providers, and bureaucrats all vote our self interest on November 2nd we will be the real swing voters that carry Bush-Republicans or Kerry-Democrats to victory. You hear a lot about the battleground states. There are a lot of undecided voters with disabilities and their supporters in each of the battleground states. There are active disability Get out the Vote efforts going on in those battleground states. Our votes can decide the direction of the country. Do we as a community believe that? Though I think we do it seems invisible to the media and general public. As usual, disability = invisibility. But that doesn't mean it = ineffective. If there is one thing disability teaches us it is that we can do all kinds of things no one else thinks we can do. Our political efforts to get out and influence the vote are running under the radar of the national media and only now coming to the attention of the candidates. I watched both conventions and from a disability perspective I went away disappointed. No... ANGRY. Disability was almost totally ignored. You heard about the black vote, women's vote, latino vote, gay/lesbian, NASCAR, soccer moms, & gun owners vote, the 18-24s, senior citizens, moderate Catholics, Islamic, Evangelicals, & Jewish vote, and so on and so on. What about the disability vote? 40 million of us (not to mention our supporters). You hear almost nothing! Love us. Hate us. But don't ignore us! I scan the papers with e-mails I talk to people all over the country. Did Bush mention a disability issue? Did Kerry? Did they attend a disability event? We need to demand respect from both parties. As a voting force ignore us at your peril. This is not an empty threat if we vote in large numbers on November 2nd. We are an interest group and a growing political force. We aren't courted by both parties so we are like a tree falling in the forest. They don't hear it but it makes a hell of a noise. We need to challenge both parties. How do you stand on our issues? Kissing or hugging a disabled person doesn't cut it any more. Taking positions on our issues does. For example: Where do you stand on enforcement of the ADA? What about full funding for IDEA? Are you for MiCASSA and Money Follows the Person or not? How will you decrease the 70% unemployment rate of disabled persons? Will you reform Medicaid by eliminating the institutional bias and allowing people with disabilities to live in the most integrated setting? What about mental health parity? Assistive technology? Our vote should not be taken for granted. Not in this election, nor in future elections. Though this election is critical we also need to keep our eye on the future. We need to continue to build our political influence at local, state and national elections. Our influence needs to be felt in city council, state legislative as well as school board elections. To do this we have a responsibility to be active in the campaigns. The door swings both ways. If we want respect we need to earn it. We don't want the parties to give us something because we are all "crippled up". We want them to earn our votes. Florida was decided by 536 votes in 2000. New Mexico was close as was New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Nevada and West Virginia. We can and will make a difference in this election and in the future. Listen up president Bush. Listen up Senator Kerry. Listen up Republican party. Listen up Democratic party. Disabled and we vote. Disabled and we vote. Disabled and we vote. Integration, inclusion and independence. Bob Kafka | ||
| 33ad Registered user Username: 33ad Post Number: 31 Registered: 10-2004 |
Hi Bob, I don't live in the USA, but I have been watching the election runup with interest. Point 1 - I also have disability rights interest as my wife is blind. But nobody cares for their rights. For example, who can afford the computor programs to make windows work for them? Point 2 - Bush and Kerry are only interested in Global Domination, not in the interests of American citizens. And if you want to know something, they are both members of "Skull & Bones" from college. They're working for someone higher up the "Food Chain". I support your cause, but I think it's a lost one. But you can still try. God Bless Loren | ||
| Denisegilmore Registered user Username: Denisegilmore Post Number: 93 Registered: 10-2000 |
Dear Loren, Althogh I'm not blind here is a link that may intersted you. This man John Franks began doing surveys, first, with the blind community. Please cut and paste this link into your address bar and participate in this survey as I have. Along with it is a ton full of other links that you can click on to see just what we are doing. God Bless you and your household always. In Jesus Christ of Nazareth Name. amen. P.S. I agree with you regarding the skull and bones on both of the candidates. HOwever many of these sites are not Christian orientended ......YET. Have faith. God used an ass in the Scriptures of you remember Balaams ass. Not that I'm comparing Bob Kafka with the ass but instead shining a spotlight on God's Power and Wisdom. My fngers are not working so wll tonight nd I've stopped editing now due to frustaatration. Keep the Faith and you are on the very correct path. When I have the ability to type as I can, I will posst sities for you to gaain a better understanding onn what's goiong on with the disibility community. In Christ. Denise P.Ss. again, whew....!~!!! that was a hard post to post...! Ssorry about that, itt's the fingers againgg. | ||
| Denisegilmore Registered user Username: Denisegilmore Post Number: 94 Registered: 10-2000 |
Dear Loren againn., In attemping to gtt my fngers to go where I wqaaant themn to, I left out the link. so herre iit is: http://www.raggededgemagazine.com/focus/ADAaccores1004.html |
