The Political Voices of Women

Here is a guest post by community member Emily Kronenberger…

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A few days ago, I posted on my blog, New Wave Grrrl, about the gaps surrounding Sarah Palin’s purported policy priority of addressing the needs of children with disabilities. I questioned the McCain-Palin ticket’s ability to put our money where their mouths have been on the subject of more funding for people with special needs. On October 24th, Palin gave a speech in my home state of Pennsylvania, on just what she and John McCain planned to do in order to better serve children with disabilities.

Although Palin’s speech was heartfelt, and I believe she truly cares about disability issues as a parent and as an aunt of children with developmental disabilities, her speech and the so-called McCain-Palin plan for children with special needs (which comes less than two weeks shy of Election Day) still falls flat, and still lacks any real promise of change in the quality of life for individuals with disabilities.

One glaring reason for this is the complete lack of policies that support people with disabilities beyond childhood. People who live with physical, developmental, cognitive, and multiple disabilities need various levels of care and support services throughout their entire lifetimes, in order to achieve a better quality of life and live fully within their communities. This includes not just vocational services for people with disabilities who can and want to work, but actual Medicaid dollars to fund the programs that provide for independent living in the community and not in State institutions, regardless of the severity of one’s disability.

Palin did mention teens in her speech, within the context of education and transition to adulthood planning, but again, the McCain-Palin approach is fragmented and does not address the current and critical health and human service needs of young people with disabilities. A recent study published earlier this year in the Journal of School Health showed that adolescents in special education programs are more likely to contract Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) than their typically developed peers. In adddition, we know that young people with disabilities are more likely to be victims of sexual abuse and assault. Better sexuality education and health services are needed to address these serious issues, and under a McCain-Palin Administration which would continue to fund harmfully inaccurate Abstinence-Only Education programs in schools, it is unlikely that these issues would ever see the light of day.

Palin also mentioned how lucky she and her family are to have such a strong network of social supports, and acknowledged that others who are surrounded by less family or have fewer resources are less fortunate. Wow! But neither Senator McCain nor Governor Palin have track records of supporting family-friendly work policies that would make it easier for families to put together the kind of support networks that Palin referenced in her speech. Their actions of not supporting family leave, benefits for same-sex partners, or pay parity for men and women strongly suggest that they recognize their privelege of having access to services and family supports, but will do nothing concrete to create the same access for others. How is this a populist message?

Last, although it is not funny, I almost have to chuckle to myself when I hear Palin talk about IDEA and fully funding this law, which gives children with disabilities the right to a free and appropriate education that best meets their needs. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was originally passed with the provision of the federal government eventually funding 40% of the cost for states in order to provide education to children with disabilities. This act also includes a provision for Early Intervention, a voluntary program that provides therapeutic and educational services to infants and toddlers with disabilities. IDEA has never been funded fully, which has thrown the special education and Early Interventions systems within many states into decades of problems while not being able to serve enough children with disabilities. This story includes Palin’s state of Alaska, which has little infrastructure and one of the worst track records of serving children with special needs in-state.

Moreover, not only has John McCain routinely voted against more funding for IDEA during his tenure in the Senate, but he has also vowed to freeze all federal spending indefinitely if he becomes President. This could likely be disasterous for vital federal programs that serve people of all ages with disabilities, including veterans, not to mention for states which count on federal dollars to make their budgets whole and to provide the most basic of services to the most vulnerable people in our society.

The recent McCain-Palin proposal to address the needs of people with disabilities is not only too little too late, but it is derived from a complete lack of policy knowledge and understanding that has haunted their entire campaign.