Does this election matter for people with disabilities and their families?
Does this election matter to people with disabilities and their families?
Our daughter Penny, who has Down syndrome, cast her first vote last week. When I asked her what mattered to her in voting for President, she replied, “Believing in other people’s rights. Caring for the community and world.”
And when I asked her about the experience of voting, she said, “Since I am 18, it felt powerful. The experience made it easy to understand what I was doing In the moment.”
Nearly one-third of eligible voters in this election are disabled or live with a disabled family member, according to a recent study out of Rutgers University. It’s unclear whether families and individuals affected by disability take their experience into consideration when they vote:
“limited prior evidence indicates that people with disabilities are similar to those without disabilities in patterns of party identification and placement on a conservative-liberal scale, but are more likely to favor a greater government role in health care and creating employment opportunities.”
So we don’t know whether disability will be a major factor in who we choose to elect. But we do know that the votes of people with disabilities matter.
After she cast that vote, I asked Penny, “What difference do you think your vote makes?”
She replied, “My vote makes a huge difference.”
All of our votes make a huge difference.
MORE WITH AMY JULIA:
- More of Penny in her own words
- Using Our Strength to Lift Up
- Workshop: Reimagining Family Life with Disability
- FREE RESOURCE: 10 Way to Move Toward a Good Future (especially for families affected by disability)
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