By JENNIFER CLANCY
The 2024 Presidential race has changed since Claudia Folska wrote about the importance of disability issues and rights in campaign platforms this election. Her article was published by The Colorado Sun back in May, before Donald Trump had been convicted of 34 felony counts in Manhattan; before the assassination attempt on the former President’s life; before Biden’s disastrous debate performance in June; before the presumptive Democratic nominee exited the race ahead of the Democratic National Convention; and before Kamala Harris ascended into her campaign of joy and turning the page.
Even if national politics feels like a never-ending whirlwind, the everyday politics of disability remain present and predictable. The right to dignity, participation and access for people living with disability — more than 1-in-4 adults — does not change by the person on the ticket. Issues of disability are not partisan. They do not apply only to one party or subscribe exclusively to any single ideology. Disabilities affect everyone — all genders, ages, ethnicities, races, nationalities, professions, geographies, behaviors, religions, and education levels.
Despite being the largest minority voting bloc in the U.S. (28%), only 1-in-3 voters living with a disability believe politicians actually care about what they think. What drives this sentiment? It’s both the vibe and the policy.
Information channels drive vibe: News and social media, partisan podcasts and national-scale political events play an outsized role in how Americans feel a candidate is representing. But for all the talk about immigration, abortion, and defending democracy, the disability voting bloc is not wrong to notice that their issues are not frequent stump speech or news cycle material. A recent BBC top ten issues list does not include disability rights beyond how they might abstractedly fit into other categories. Neither does NBC.
Disability rights need to be a top-ten pillar in their own right.
And while the rhetoric, behaviors and even single word choices — think ‘weird’ from the Dems; or the documented weaponization of words by Trump and the GOP — of political candidates directly influence vibe, for those open to listening or limited by conscription. For a quick comparison of the words and actions of the 2024 Presidential candidates as related to disability:
Donald Trump
- In an op-ed published in Time Magazine by his nephew, Donald Trump was quoted in the Oval Office as saying, “maybe those kinds of people should just die.” According to Fred Trump, the then-President was more concerned about expenses than the human lives of people with disabilities.
- Now, in his current 2024 bid for the top job, Trump continues to mock those living with disability — and his disparaging behaviors afford no mercy ranging from the current President Joe Biden to a reporter doing his job.
- If his words and actions are not enough to illuminate how a second Trump presidency might address disability issues, look no further than the controversial Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation playbook put together for a second Trump administration.
Kamala Harris
- In 2019, Kamala Harris unveiled her plan for Americans with disabilities — focusing on expanding access to education and employment opportunities — making hers the only campaign at the time to have a disability platform.
- Harris’ advocacy for the disabled community was on full display in 2023 when she was joined by Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg at a convening of disability rights leaders at the White House. The focus was on increasing transportation accessibility.
- And in her 2024 bid for the 47th POTUS title, the Biden-Harris administration is fighting for the disabled community every day.
Looking closely at healthcare policy, this side-by-side comparison of each candidate’s record serves as a guide for the disability voting bloc. Of course, voting is so much more complex than any single issue; and single-issue voters have largely already made up their minds.
But for voters with disabilities doing their due diligence before November 5th, issue by issue, there is certainly plenty to think about.