As the parent of a daughter with an intellectual disability, I was excited to read Democrat Elizabeth Warren’s detailed, thoughtful plan to ensure and advance the rights of people with disabilities. It is rare for a presidential candidate to make disability rights a central focus of a campaign.
The needs of people with disabilities are usually relegated to small parts of other policy – a section of health care, or part of housing policy. Not with Liz Warren. She knows that for the almost 13 percent of Americans who live with a disability, and the millions of other Americans who love someone with a disability, disability rights are not an afterthought, not in the small print, but are an essential part of daily life.
People with disabilities are allowed, legally, to be discriminated against in terms of equal pay, voting rights, criminal justice and countless other areas. A Warren administration, like the Obama administration, would prioritize hiring people with disabilities. A Warren administration would make sure that people with disabilities have a seat at the table, and are a vital voice in every policy and every plan enacted. That is why I am so eager to make Elizabeth Warren our next president.
(Though I am a town councilor in Yarmouth, in this letter I am expressing my personal views and do not in any way speak for the Yarmouth Town Council.)
Meghan Casey
Yarmouth
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