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From: ADA Watch and the National Coalition for Disability Rights <
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Date: Tue, Sep 9, 2008 at 10:44 AM
Subject: Election Edition: Conventions, National Forum, Media and more...
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 *ADA Watch:** Election Edition*

 National Coalition for Disability Rights (NCDR)

601 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 900S

Washington, DC 20004



*Get involved in politics as if your life depended on it, because it
does.*-- Justin Dart



*Be political or die*. -- Ed Roberts



*Freedom Bus Registers New Voters…*

The *Road To Freedom<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=76GnD66NiFjUzK4aEu1sNxf3h%2BnBe6Xa>
* bus and traveling disability rights exhibit, a project of *ADA Watch *and
the* National Coalition for Disability Rights*, continues to tour America. A
community organizing effort generating grassroots support for the
restoration of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Freedom bus
tour is also focused on increasing civic participation and has registered
thousands of new voters at more than 120 bus stop events nationally.



***If you are not yet registered to vote, go to:
http://www.usa.gov/Citizen/Topics/Voting/Register.shtml<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=UdhrFy8U39QlYdX2BmIagBf3h%2BnBe6Xa>



*Road To Freedom at the Disability Issues Forum and the Conventions… *

This summer, *Road To Freedom* stops included the *National Disability
Issues Forum* in Columbus, Ohio with Senator *John McCain* (via Satellite
link) and Senator *Barack Obama* campaign surrogate, Senator *Tom Harkin*.
More recently, *ADA Watch/NCDR*'s *Jim Ward, *along with board
member*Marcie Roth
*, brought the *Road To Freedom* to the *Democratic National Convention* in
Denver, Colorado. Jim addressed the Disability Caucus and shared the podium
with *Senate Majority Leader* *Steny Hoyer*, *Congressman Langevin*, DNC
Chair *Howard Dean*, DNC Senior Advisor on Disability, *Becky Ogle*,* *Obama
campaign National Disability Vote Director* Kareem Dale *and many others.  ADA
Watch/NCDR is a nonpartisan nonprofit. As such, we made equal efforts to be
represented at the *Republican National Convention* in St. Paul. We were
offered an opportunity to exhibit the bus at an affiliated event there but,
unfortunately, we could not afford the associated exhibitor contribution of
$30,000. While there were few disability-specific activities at the *Republican
National Convention*, ADA Watch/NCDR board member Marcie Roth represented
the coalition there and, as executive director of the *National Spinal Cord
Injury Association*, hosted a disability event promoting the National
Disability Agenda.

* *

***Click here to go to the Road To Freedom Photo Gallery of these events:
http://adawatch.smugmug.com/gallery/5919088_b4QMF/1/368576264_Ki3jG#368576760_St4mi<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=RnTBJftSOAM8AsCKI0TaAhf3h%2BnBe6Xa>



*National Agenda for Disability Rights…*

ADA Watch/NCDR has launched a drive to promote the *National Agenda for
Disability Rights* - a declaration of values and goals to advance equity and
opportunity for people with disabilities. This document, which is being
vetted in the disability community at the national, state and local levels,
seeks to build unity and broadly focuses on civil rights, housing,
government services, transportation, education, healthcare, assistive
technology and more. We are distributing the *National Agenda* to the
presidential campaigns and encourage you to get it to candidates at the
state and local level to support these policy priorities.



***To view the *National Agenda*, go to:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/3620189/A-National-Agenda-for-Disability-Rights<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=%2FjORG6iDBxD4y%2BpKFufPghf3h%2BnBe6Xa>



*Jim Ward Joins the "Roster of Experts" at the Institute for Public Accuracy,
Comments on Governor Sarah Palin…*
ADA Watch/NCDR president and founder Jim Ward was invited to join the
"Roster of Experts" of the Institute for Public
Accuracy<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=yBR51Vgp84sK%2BL%2BmclrXOhf3h%2BnBe6Xa>,
a nationwide consortium of public policy researchers, analysts and activists
committed to providing well-documented analysis of breaking news stories and
material flowing from major think tanks into mainstream media. With its
media office at the *National Press Building* in Washington, DC, IPA widens
media exposure for progressive perspectives on many issues including human
rights and economic justice. After presidential candidate *Senator John
McCain* chose *Governor Sarah Palin* as his running mate, IPA released
Ward's comments in response to Palin's claim that, if elected, she would be
an advocate for people with disabilities. Ward commented that having a
family member with a disability alone was not a guarantee that a candidate
would necessarily support the disability rights agenda. Ward asked:



 "Will Governor Palin now get John McCain to end his opposition to the
*Community
Choice Act*, which would end the institutional bias in America's healthcare
financing system and allow people with disabilities to live in their own
homes and communities rather than isolated nursing homes and other
institutions?

"Will Governor Palin, like Senator John McCain, continue to support judicial
nominees to the Supreme Court and lower-level courts who have disregarded
the intent of Congress and dramatically rolled back the civil rights
protections of the Americans with Disabilities Act, leaving millions of
Americans with epilepsy, diabetes, mental illness, HIV-AIDS, and other
disabilities unprotected?"



***To view the extensive media coverage regarding Governor Palin and
disability, go to:
http://www.patriciaebauer.com/<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=uPPHMKsH60%2Fe%2Fpxax1ovHBf3h%2BnBe6Xa>



*More on Disability and the Presidential Election in the Media…*

*Disability has entered into media coverage of the presidential campaign in
a number of interesting ways - some good, some not. From the legally-blind
Governor of New York declaring that Barack Obama will fight for people with
disabilities, to Governor Sarah Palin pledging to families of children with
"special needs" that they will have an advocate in the White House,
disability is getting attention during this campaign season. While there is
much debate about the difference between "special needs" and "civil rights,"
nobody is complaining about disability rights being elevated as a public
policy concern. There is, however, as evidenced by the traffic on various
disability blogs, a real concern that a child may be used to evoke
"sympathy" or "pity" regarding disability while issues of human rights and
social and economic justice go unaddressed. Disability rights advocates are
also voicing concern about the unfair treatment of Senator McCain regarding
the possibility of his having Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and the
stigma associated with this diagnosis. Some in the media are playing up the
vulnerability of people with disabilities as they assail Senator McCain
regarding his treatment of his ex-wife and a constituent, both who were
wheelchair-users. Finally, Rosa Brooks reminds us in the LA Times that Obama
is not the "messiah" by pointing out that the "*wheel-bound conventioneers
are still in their wheelchairs." *Remember folks: We don't write this stuff!
*



*In Denver…*

The *Democratic National Convention* had multiple speakers with
disabilities, including New York *Governor David A. Paterson*, who is the
second legally-blind governor in national history and the first to ever
address the *Democratic National Convention*. Paterson declared that, "The
promise of America has diminished for people with disabilities. Only 37
percent of Americans with disabilities are employed. Only 30 percent of
blind people are employed. And, over the past 8 years, the employment gap
between people with disabilities and the general population has increased."
Supporting Obama for president, Paterson continued, "And just as he fought
for people with disabilities as a civil rights lawyer, Barack Obama will
fight for us as president. For example, he has pledged to work with Congress
to overturn Supreme Court decisions that wrongly narrowed the Americans with
Disabilities Act."



***To read the full text of Governor Paterson's address, go to:
http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2008/08/patersons-speech.html<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=1RQMB5o%2FXmru6qYOTszp%2FRf3h%2BnBe6Xa>



"Four years ago, *Tammy Duckworth* watched the *Democratic National
Convention* on television in Iraq, where she served with the Illinois
National Guard. This year, she was a featured speaker. After narrowly losing
a close race for the 6th Congressional District seat in 2006, she was
appointed by the governor as director of the *Illinois Department of
Veterans' Affairs*. The major, who lost both legs and injured her right arm
in an attack on her helicopter in Iraq, walked to the podium Wednesday night
on her prosthetic legs."



***Read the Chicago Tribune interview with Tammy Duckworth at:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-5_questions--_friaug29,0,6530970.story<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=oCHVE%2Bl6EsJjo%2Fm%2Fry0ffBf3h%2BnBe6Xa>



In her speech at the Democratic Convention *Senator* *Hillary Clinton* said,
"I will always remember the single mom who had adopted two kids with autism.
She didn't have any health insurance, and she discovered she had cancer.  But
she greeted me with her bald head, painted with my name on it, and asked me
to fight for health care for her and her children."



***Read more at:
http://www.ageofautism.com/2008/09/the-autism-vote.html<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=ZVRlZnfQo1cWJDWg4cFnHhf3h%2BnBe6Xa>



*In St. Paul…*

At the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, John McCain declared, "I
fight for Jake and Toni Wimmer of Franklin County, Pennsylvania.  Jake works
on a loading dock, coaches Little League, and raises money for the mentally
and physically disabled.  Toni is a schoolteacher, working towards her
master's degree.  They have two sons; the youngest, Luke, has been diagnosed
with autism.  Their lives should matter to the people they elect to office.
They matter to me.  And they matter to you."



***Read more at:
http://www.ageofautism.com/2008/09/the-autism-vote.html<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=o0WwCQvh49dBFy5eQJ3LjRf3h%2BnBe6Xa>



In her acceptance speech as the Republican vice presidential nominee, Alaska
*Governor Sarah Palin* promised families with special-needs kids that they
would have a friend and an advocate in the White House. "I pledge to you
that if we are elected, you will have a friend and advocate in the White
House," Palin said. Palin's fifth son Trig, who was born with the extra
chromosome that causes Down syndrome joined Palin and her husband Todd on
stage at the *Republican National Convention* last week.



***Read more at:
http://www.efluxmedia.com/news_Palin_Promises_to_Be_A_Friend_An_Advocate_of_Families_with_Disabled_Kids_23829.html<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=qCj8RNzdtrogO8W7FyVhmhf3h%2BnBe6Xa>



*"Fit to be President?"*

"…it would be more difficult for a wheelchair-using *Franklin D.
Roosevelt*or a multiply afflicted
*John F. Kennedy* to get elected. In their epochs, the media conspired to
withhold the extent of their infirmaries. Throughout the years, presidents
such as *Grover Cleveland* (jaw cancer), *Woodrow Wilson* (paralyzed from a
stroke) and *Coolidge* (clinical depression) concealed their conditions. It
was only recently, too, that details of *Reagan*'s limitations due to
Alzheimer's disease during his second term have come to light."



***Read more at:
http://www.kansascity.com/445/story/783665.html<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=S%2FxZqZSJBMUyJossO96wkBf3h%2BnBe6Xa>



*"McCain's History of Hot Temper Raises Concerns"*

"As McCain continued walking, *Jane Duke Gaylor*, the mother of another
missing serviceman, approached the senator. Gaylor, in a wheelchair equipped
with portable oxygen, stretched her arms toward McCain. 'McCain stopped,
glared at her, raised his left arm ready to strike her, composed himself and
pushed the wheelchair away from him,' according to *Eleanor Apodaca*, the
sister of an Air Force captain missing since 1967."



***Read more at:
http://www.kansascity.com/445/story/785831.html<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=35%2F3tcnMGErNU%2F80bpXlShf3h%2BnBe6Xa>



*"McCain Had an Affair and Left his Wife after She Became a Wheelchair-User"
*

"If you put your family on the stage, you become accountable for choices
that are normally kept private. Mr. McCain left his first wife, who was
confined to a wheelchair by a car accident."



***Read more at:
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-twelve-steps-to-the-white-house-921545.html<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=dzjYndiwJ%2BT8vZtzsCZe4Rf3h%2BnBe6Xa>



*"Obama and Those Wheelchair-bound Conventioneers"*

"The convention is practically over, but Barack Obama has yet to utterly
transform U.S. politics or perform any miracles. Wheelchair-bound
conventioneers are still in their wheelchairs, and the only loaves and
fishes are those provided by caterers."



***Read Rosa Brooks' Op-ED in the Los Angeles Times at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday/la-oe-brooks28-2008aug28,0,1052207.column<http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=Sk8wm2j9FFFhNIrERufjlhf3h%2BnBe6Xa>




-- 


Kendall

An unreasonable man (but my wife says that's redundant!)

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one
persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress
depends on the unreasonable man.

-George Bernard Shaw 1856-1950

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