Hey guys, not to break up a great thread, but I found the following to be
really
interesting.

Bobby


>
>                        Justice For All
>
>                        [log in to unmask]
>
>             John Williams Interview with John McCain
>
>ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY  by John Williams February 2, 2000
>
>John McCain: "We Must Put the Disabled to Work"
>
>The New Hampshire primary winner says he's a champion for people with
>disabilities -- and his record makes clear he is.
>
>It was an experience I'll always remember. On Jan. 27, with temperatures
>in the single digits, I departed from Baltimore-Washington International
>Airport for snowy New Hampshire in hopes of talking with some of the
>candidates in the 2000 Presidential campaign.
>
>I've never been on the campaign trail before, and it was an eye-opening
>experience. I saw how candidates stage photo opportunities, answering
>questions that range from the sublime to the ridiculous. I interviewed
>New Hampshireites. And I learned all about the rigid pecking order of
>the media hounds who dog the candidates' every move. Those TV
>personalities covering the campaigns can be snarling beasts in person.
>
>But I got my interview. It was an in-your-face encounter with Senator
>John McCain (R-Ariz.), pulled together at two stops of his whirlwind
>campaign through the Granite State. At Yoken's Restaurant in Portsmouth,
>I literally squeezed in between the TV microphones and pushed myself in
>front of other reporters. Armed with my trusty Sony microcassette tape
>recorder, I started blasting away: "Senator, as President of the U.S.,
>will you support the Americans with Disabilities Act?"
>
>MEET THE AUTHOR. Then and there, I saw up close the John McCain that
>everybody has been talking about -- a plain-speaking, sometimes gruff
>man who has made candor his trademark. "Of course I will," he replied.
>"It's the law of the land. It's Americans we are protecting. I helped
>write the Americans with Disabilities Act. I know it, and I support it."
>
>He's not lying about that. Elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986, McCain
>was instrumental in writing two key sections of the landmark 1990
>legislation -- Title I, which says employers can't discriminate against
>people with disabilities in hiring and promotions, and Title II, which
>extends the same protections to disabled people who work for state and
>local governments. McCain's stay in the "Hanoi Hilton" as a prisoner-of-war
>during the Vietnam War, where he was beaten and tortured, is now part of
>the candidate's lore. But less well-known is that McCain's experience left
>him with limited mobility of his arms -- he can't raise his hands much
>higher than his head because of the beatings he received while imprisoned.
>
>I continued. "Senator, with more than 11 million unemployed adults with
>disabilities nationwide who can benefit from access to assistive technology,
>will you recommend increasing funding for the R&D of new products for
>disabled people?"
>
>Blind people must have someone pull the lever for them, which violates the
>spirit of the secret ballot.  "I will," McCain replied. "These are Americans
>we are talking about. Disabled people have the right to share in the
>American
>dream, and President McCain will see they do it. I would also suggest
>forming
>public-private partnerships to increase the further development of
>technologies and opportunities for disabled people in this Internet Age."
>
>McCain is a chief sponsor of S. 511, the Improving Accessibility to Voting
>for Disabled & Elderly Americans Act, which he introduced with fellow
>Vietnam
>War veteran Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) last March. The McCain-Kerry bill
>would make it easier for people with disabilities to vote by making polling
>places more accessible. It would also allow blind or visually impaired
>people
>to vote privately with new polling equipment. As it stands now, most blind
>people must tell someone else how they wish to vote, so the person can pull
>the lever for them. That can be degrading, and it violates the spirit of
>the secret ballot. What's more, it can keep the disabled from voting. The
>bill is awaiting action by the Senate Rules Committee.
>
>A LONG HALL. McCain has long championed such initiatives. And he enjoys the
>support of the Paralyzed Veterans of America and the American Foundation for
>the Blind. In New Hampshire, he had the support of the New Hampshire
>Disability Rights Center, the state's Developmental Disabilities Center,
>and the Granite State Independent Living Foundation.
>
>I rode on McCain's press bus and got to chat with other reporters. Soon,
>we arrived at the Timberlane Regional High School in Plaistow, N.H. As
>McCain
>turned down a hallway, I approached him once again. He's a brisk walker, but
>it was a long, long hall, so I got all my questions in.
>
>"Senator, Vice-President Al Gore said as President he would appoint Supreme
>Court justices who adhere to his views on the Americans with Disabilities
>Act. What is your opinion on his comment?" (See BW Online, 1/05/00, "Q&A
>with Al Gore: Using Technology to Connect the Disabled".)
>
>An irate McCain started walking faster. "Of course he would appoint judges
>to the Supreme Court who support his view of the Americans with Disabilities
>Act. He has to. The Americans with Disabilities Act is the law of the land.
>Justices are supposed to enforce the U.S. Constitution and the law of the
>land." While McCain was voicing support for what Gore said, he also left me
>with the impression he was annoyed that he was even asked the question.
>
>MAKING THE LAW WORK. "President Clinton recently signed the Work Incentives
>Improvement Act [which allows the disabled to continue to receive certain
>federal and state benefits if they go to work]. For the Act to work, states
>must buy into it. What will President McCain do to persuade states to make
>health insurance available to disabled people under WIIA?" I asked.
>
>"My Administration will work with the states to make this unique bill work.
>We must put disabled people to work. They are a valuable untapped resource,"
>he replied.
>
>My final question: "Senator, as President, will you support expanding
>efforts to improve educational opportunities for people with disabilities?"
>
>"I believe we must do more in the field of special education for disabled
>children," he answered. "Not enough is being done. We need more money for
>special-education programs. We need more training for special-education
>teachers." McCain seemed to be tired, but at the next stop, he made similar
>comments on supporting special-education programs for disabled children.
>
>During the day I talked to five disabled people at three McCain meetings.
>Pete Gabrielli uses a wheelchair. He was wearing a John McCain button. He
>said he supports McCain "because he has a strong stand on sticking up for
>the military. He has been a strong supporter of the Americans with
>Disabilities Act. He is a friend of disabled people."
>
>At rallies, disabled people are turning out to show their support for
>McCain. Mary Nugent is blind. Standing in a corner at a school rally
>in the evening, she said, "I am a McCain supporter. Do you know he was a
>strong and vocal supporter for airlines to provide blind people with equal
>treatment to sighted people when we travel? I know he supports the
>Americans with Disabilities Act." Nugent said she's a member of the
>American Council of the Blind.
>
>Craig Dunbar is a Persian Gulf War veteran who said he suffers from Persian
>Gulf Syndrome. "I believe that with John McCain's genuine concern for
>veterans and his own history of being a POW, he'll make the Pentagon tell
>us the truth and finally resolve the question of this sickness," he said.
>
>My impressions of McCain? I believe him when he says as President, he would
>enforce the rights of disabled people under the Americans with Disabilities
>Act, that he would work with the states to implement the Work Incentives
>Improvement Act, and that he would ask Congress to increase funding for
>special-education programs for disabled school children. He doesn't seem
>to have the same depth of knowledge about the issues that affect people
>with disabilities that Vice-President Al Gore has, but he has a visceral
>passion.
>
>NOT A VOTE-GETTER? I also believe that if people with disabilities want
>their issues to be addressed, they must become more vocal and visible.
>They must tell the candidates such issues are important to them and keep
>telling them. They must show up at town-hall meetings, rallies, and other
>campaign events, and ask questions important to them. Only then will
>disability issues receive the national attention they deserve.
>
>For McCain to attract more disabled voters to his campaign, his staff
>needs an education, too. At one point during the whirlwind day, a senior
>McCain aide told me, "I know your area of specialty. But frankly, it's
>not our issue, and I don't see the votes." I told him there was a drive
>to get more than 1 million disabled people to vote in this election.
>
>I was sure McCain would have a strong opinion on these issues, and I was
>right. The staffs of the Presidential candidates need to understand that
>disability affects 55 million disabled people in the U.S. Their issues
>are national issues.
>
>Williams writes a weekly column for Business Week Online on assistive
>technology. For information on assistive technology, write to him at
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