It would be interesting to learn what the other candidates think of these
issues. It would be a good idea for the blind groups to issue a set of
questions and publish those answers along with a scorecard. How have
candidates voted on important issues?
--- forwarded message ----
Justice For All
[log in to unmask]
Presidential Candidates on Disability Issues
Presidential candidates will not address disability issues
if no one asks them to. Your voice, as an independent advocate
or as an inside supporter, can help force the candidates to
raise their voice on the issues you care about. Every voice
helps!
--
John Williams of BusinessWeek.Com conducted the following
interview with the Vice President. John notes, "I am waiting
to hear from George W. Bush, John McCain and Bill Bradley's
campaign so we can air their views on disability issues."
ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY by John Williams
January 5, 2000
Q&A with Al Gore: Using Technology to Connect the Disabled
As President, he would expand rights and opportunities for
people with disabilities and strengthen the ADA.
By now, most people have their own views and impressions of
Vice-President Al Gore. He's locked in a spirited campaign
with former New Jersey Senator Bill Bradley for the 2000
Democratic Presidential nomination to succeed Bill Clinton
in the White House come November.
Few people realize that Gore -- first as a U.S. representative
and senator from Tennessee, and later as Veep -- has been an
outspoken advocate for the rights of people with disabilities.
He and his wife Tipper have been part of a national effort to
improve care and treatment for mental illnesses. And he has an
intimate knowledge of many assistive technologies and their
benefits for people with disabilities.
While he took a lot of ribbing for claiming to be one of the
creators of the Internet, Gore has been a leading supporter of
government funding for the Internet and making it more accessible
to the disabled. It doesn't end there. His campaign manager,
former House Democratic Whip and Wall Street exec Tony Coelho,
is an epileptic -- and a passionate champion for the rights of
the disabled.
Gore displayed his considerable knowledge on the afternoon of
New Year's Eve, when he spoke by telephone with me and Douglas
Harbrecht, news director for Business Week Online. During the
interview, he paused briefly to check on Tipper, who had an
operation to remove a benign growth from her thyroid two days
prior to the interview. They were home by themselves. Gore
seemed to be relaxed during the interview, and he was exception-
ally well-versed on these issues. And he pulls no punches. Here
are edited excerpts from our conversation:
Q: What role do you see assistive technology playing in the new
millennium for people with disabilities?
A: Assistive technology promises breakthroughs for millions of
Americans with disabilities by making it possible for them to
make a connection between their minds and the minds of other
people, and to the workplace.
Our [White House] budget initiative this year included $35 million
that would have doubled the investment in the development and use
of assistive technology to help people with disabilities work.
That funding unfortunately was cut by the Republican majority in
Congress, but I will fight to support such investments. I believe
I can make a case to the Congress in a way that will convince them
to support the investment.
My view is the federal government should provide accessible technology
and information. We recommended and Congress enacted changes to section
508 of the Rehabilitation Act that strengthens the obligations of
federal agencies to provide assistive technology. [The Administration]
is [now] working on the regulations.
With these changes, the federal government can use its purchasing power
to influence private companies toward developing universally designed
technology that is accessible to almost everyone.
Telecommunications services and equipment represent a special case.
That is why I am pleased that the Federal Communications Commission
under the leadership of Bill Kennard announced it will make tele-
communications equipment and services available to people with
disabilities. And the FCC has also required closed-captioning for
video for the 27 million Americans with hearing disabilities.
I think the key [for business] is to be flexible in the employment area.
[They should not ask] "What's wrong," or "What is your disability?",
but "What's going to work for you?" And then, provide the assistive
technology that will make the connection.
Q: Recently the Supreme Court narrowed the definition of a workplace
disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Are you familiar
with the decisions? While business cheered, many in the disability
community were outraged.
A: There were several cases. One of them is Sutton v. United Airlines
and another is Murphy v. United Parcel Service (see BW Online, 6/23/99,
"A Grand Slam for the Disabled"). I believe the court inappropriately
narrowed the scope of the ADA by excluding persons simply because they
are able to mitigate their disability through medication or the use of
a medical appliance.
The problem is employers may conclude that a person is too disabled to
work, even though under the law they are not covered by the ADA,
according to the decisions. The result is a Catch-22 for persons
with disabilities. These decisions could seriously undermine the
goals of the ADA by excluding from the Act's coverage many people
who are discriminated against by employers because of a physical or
mental impairment.
I believe that Sutton and Murphy shouldn't be applied to reach unfair
results that are inconsistent with the original intent [of Congress].
If courts interpret these cases to exclude many people with disabilities
who deserve protection under the ADA, I am committed to working with
the next Congress, which I hope will be a Democratic Congress, to amend
the ADA. But we can not risk opening up the ADA in a Congress that is
hostile to the ADA, such as the current [GOP] Congress. That would open
it up to destructive amendments that can eliminate the important
progress that we have made. Also, I think we ought to strengthen the
Hate Crimes Law to include people with disabilities.
Q: Will the enforcement of federal laws guaranteeing the rights of
people with disabilities be a major priority for a Gore Administration?
And if so, how?
A: Yes. I feel very strongly about the enforcement of the ADA, the
civil-rights laws, and all laws that are designed to remove barriers
and allow full participation of Americans with disabilities in our
society. That is true with regard to special education. It's true
with the Fair Housing Act. It's true across the board.
I will appoint Supreme Court justices who will uphold the ADA. I will
enforce the Transportation Dept.'s regulations to make [all public]
buses accessible. I do not agree with the recent decision by the 8th
Circuit on the ADA [which narrows the rights of individuals to sue
state governments for job discrimination under the ADA]. The Justice
Dept. has filed a petition with the Supreme Court disagreeing with
that decision.
One of our priorities must be increased funding for enforcement of
our civil-rights laws and a reduction of the backlog of private-sector
discrimination complaints at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
This means giving [federal regulators] the resources they need to
investigate complaints under the ADA.
Q: How should America's public schools implement the Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which extends and guarantees
to children with disabilities the same educational resources as other
students? And do you see a stronger federal role?
A: I am committed to strong enforcement of IDEA. I have proposed a
tripling of the funding under the new law. We have made some progress,
and this Administration has successfully opposed two amendments to
IDEA that could have led to the unfair expulsions of students with
disabilities.
I think the IDEA has to be much more actively enforced. We enacted
a stronger IDEA in 1997. In the year 2000, it will serve 6.2 million
children with disabilities. We need to meet the needs of children
with special needs in a way that works for all of our children, that
does not cause school boards to pit the needs of some students
against the needs of other students, and parents against parents
in a battle of limited resources. That means starting with a
substantial down payment, the largest-ever increase in special
education.
I have proposed a special pool for funding for [those] few children
who require particularly costly services. We can reduce the cost of
special education by reducing the numbers of children unnecessarily
referred to special-education services in the first place. That
means we ought to identify learning disabilities earlier and intervene
more quickly to help all children get a strong educational start.
Finally, I think we need to offer both special-education teachers
and regular classroom teachers more training on how to deal
effectively with students with disabilities.
Q: How do you respond to parents of able-bodied children who say
"If you put children with disabilities into class with my kids, you
will slow down the learning process for my children"?
A: I would say the federal government should provide the teachers
with the training to educate children with disabilities. If we
implement this law correctly, there is simply no justification for
fearing a negative impact on the other children. There are, of
course, significant advantages for other children, because it
prepares them for life in a society where Americans with disabilities
have equal access to all jobs and institutions, and I think that's
good for all of us.
Q: Will a Gore Administration employ people with disabilities in
areas other than special education and rehabilitation?
A: I am completely supportive of the principal of inclusion and
diversity. I have worked hard in this Administration to expand
employment opportunities for people with disabilities and to
encourage the appointment of Americans with disabilities. I
intend to make that policy a goal of a Gore Administration if I
am entrusted with the Presidency.
Q: Besides providing telecommunications devices for the deaf and
hard-of-hearing so they can contact your campaign staff, what
else has the Gore campaign done to make itself communications-
accessible to disabled people?
A: Our headquarters is accessible to people using wheelchairs
[and with] other mobility disabilities. We have paid particular
attention to the use of sign-language interpreters and other
accessibility requirements at all of our campaign events. We
have made certain that our communications are accessible to
everyone. We are developing campaign materials in Braille.
Tony Coelho, my campaign manager, can tell you about others.
He and I have talked about making our campaign accessible to
people with disabilities, and we both share an all-out commitment
to making this campaign a model of accessibility.
Q: How would you get states to buy into the Work Improvement
Incentives Act so more people with disabilities can go to work?
A: I'm glad that we just got the legislation passed. I'm a strong
supporter of it. I want to go a lot farther. The day after it was
enacted, I unveiled a campaign proposal based on the highly
successful Welfare to Work Program that I call the Disabilities
to Work Program. This program is designed to use assistive
technology aggressively to connect people to the workplace.
It's designed to encourage private-sector employers to hire
Americans with disabilities and to make the federal government
much more of a role model in expanding employment opportunities
for Americans with disabilities.
Q: Mr. Vice-President, thank you for your time, and Happy New Year.
A: It's been my pleasure. Thank you very much. Happy New Year.
As assistive technology columnist for Business Week Online,
I have also approached the campaigns of George W. Bush, Bill Bradley,
and John McCain for interviews on disability issues. Stay tuned.
Williams writes a weekly column for Business Week Online on
assistive technology. For information on assistive technology,
write to him at [log in to unmask] You can also discuss these issues
on BW Online's Assistive Tech Forum
John Williams
[log in to unmask]
--
Fred Fay
Chair, Justice For All
[log in to unmask]
http://www.jfanow.org
Register to Vote Online at http://www.fec.gov/votregis/vr.htm
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