Advocating for children and adults with disabilities, this blog began during the 2008 presidential campaign to track the candidates' positions and records. Citizen advocacy for people with disabilities and their families is critical, and not just during election seasons. Don't let your elected officials play politics with your children and loved ones. They deserve better.
Still trying to decide who to vote for? Want to easily share a summary of the top issues to people with disabilities? Review this blog's most popular posts this election season:
Easter Seals on Campaign Issues: Exclusive Interview. The head government relations official at Easter Seals on the record of the Obama Administration, health care reform, special education, and key differences between the candidates' positions. Thank You, Ann Coulter! A response to Coulter's offensive use of the "r-word."
With a few exceptions, the topic of disabilities has been largely absent from this year's presidential campaigns. If it were a top issue, I wouldn't take the time to write this blog. The decisions that will be made in the next four years will have a tremendous impact on people with disabilities and the people who care about them, yet the candidates have addressed these issues only in the context of health care reform and, to a lesser extent, education policy. Autism Speaks even launched a campaign called "1 in 88 can't wait" to try to get both candidates -- or even one of them -- to share their plans to address the needs of the 1 in 88 people who have autism.
With three tweets using the words "retarded" and "retard," you did what disability advocates could not have done without you. So thank you. Specifically:
Thank youfor giving John Franklin Stephens a national platform to express the hopes and challenges of people with disabilities. The positive impact he's making will far outweigh the damage that your offensive and heartless attacks have caused.
Thank youfor giving people like Amy Gravino a voice. In this powerful video from Autism Speaks, Amy (who has Asperger's Syndrome) asks both candidates to talk about autism and follow up on their words with action for people like her.
Thank you for inspiring people who care about people with disabilities to vote this year. Before your "retard" tweet this week, you had tweeted "I had no idea how crucial the retarded vote is in this election" on Sept. 26. Based on your insensitive remarks, I have to assume you have no friends or family members who are affected by disabilities, but most people do. And you've made our voices louder and our impact greater this election year.
Regardless of your political leanings, you have to wonder how any political commentator can get away with this. A slip of the tongue would be more excusable than a carefully worded Twitter message calling the president "the retard."
I highly approve of Romney's decision to be kind and gentle to the retard.
— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) October 23, 2012
Read the CNN article, "Ann Coulter's Backward Use of the 'R-Word.'" If anything good can come from such an offensive attack (on both the president and on all people with disabilities), it's this response from a Special Olympics ambassador that's making the rounds on Facebook and Twitter like crazy. I'm encouraged to read John Franklin Stephens' words and to see so many people stand up for him and others. He says in part:
"...After I saw your tweet, I realized you just wanted to belittle the President by linking him to people like me. You assumed that people would understand and accept that being linked to someone like me is an insult and you assumed you could get away with it..."
