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As printed in Hearing Health, volume 20:2,
Summer 2004
By Andrew J. Imparato and Michele Halstenrud
With the Republican and Democratic national conventions
upon us, the 2004 presidential election will soon be
here. Earlier this summer, the American Association
of People with Disabilities (AAPD) presented George
W. Bush and John Kerry with eight questions regarding
their agenda for the more than 56 million Americans
with disabilities and their
families. The goal was to garner clarification of each
candidate’s position and make the information
available to voters who wish to be more fully informed
on election day.
Bush responded to the survey. As Kerry did not respond,
his position has been extracted from “Freedom,
Independence and Choices for Americans with Disabilities,”
his disability policy platform.
While Howard Dean is no longer a candidate for president,
it is worth noting that he is the only candidate that
announced a policy platform specific to members of the
deaf and hard-of-hearing (D/HH) community. Dean’s
platform included: forming a commission to study the
needs of the community and analyze what action should
be taken to encourage employers to hire and promote
D/HH workers; studying ways to provide D/HH students
with equal and sufficient educational opportunities;
increasing the tax credit available to cover costs of
hearing aids not covered by insurance; supporting recommendations
made by the National Association of the Deaf to modify
the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA);
and appointing individuals to the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) who understand the importance of access
to telecommunication services. These are all worthwhile
ideas that we can remain grateful to Dean for introducing
into the political arena.
We have included here a sampling of the questions
presented to the candidates and excerpts of Bush’s
responses and Kerry’s platform. We believe they
may be of particular interest to Hearing Health readers
to help them make an informed choice at the polls in
November.
If you are elected, what will
be your top priorities during your first 100 days in
office to improve the quality of life for U.S. residents
with disabilities?
Bush: “I will continue to pursue
the policies I proposed in the New Freedom Initiative
– the most comprehensive proposal since the Americans
with Disabilities Act (ADA) that is focused on removing
barriers faced by people with disabilities – and
I will remain open to new ideas to assist people with
disabilities as technologies develop or new needs arise.”
Kerry: Promises that one of his first
acts in office would be to appoint “a national
bipartisan Community First Commission made up of members
of Congress, governors, distinguished older Americans,
veterans, Americans with disabilities and other experts.”
It would identify short- and long-term policy reforms
that could/should be pursued to: protect the rights
of all Americans with disabilities regardless of age,
disability, state of residence, employment status or
form of assistance required; create a greater federal
role in financing and enhancing the quality of all long-term
services; and eliminate the institutional bias toward
people with disabilities in Medicaid and Medicare. The
commission would submit recommendations to his administration
and the congressional leadership by July 26, 2005, ADA’s
15th anniversary. Kerry vows to then work with Congress
so that reforms are passed and ready for his signature
within one year of when he takes office.
What steps will you take to ensure
your administration and appointments to the federal
bench and other entities include a representative group
of qualified people with disabilities?
Bush: “I have worked to appoint
qualified individuals of minority populations to the
federal bench and will continue to appoint the most
capable people of all backgrounds and abilities to top
positions within my administration. ... I believe that
the best way to ensure that qualified people with disabilities
receive federal appointments is to ensure that individuals
with disabilities have the opportunity to compete on
a level playing field and fully demonstrate their abilities
without the fear of being discriminated against or overlooked.
My administration will continue to fight to ensure that
all opportunities remain open to persons with disabilities
by vigorously enforcing the ADA, aggressively resolving
disability-related complaints and continuing to implement
my New Freedom Initiative.”
Kerry: “We need to have a more
focused effort on recruiting and employing people with
disabilities in America. One place we can start is with
a targeted effort in the federal government.”
He notes that he “is proud to be working with
an expert group of national advisors I assembled on
disability policy issues.” Kerry guarantees that
qualified individuals with disabilities will play a
pivotal role in his transition team and administration
and that he will utilize the skills and wisdom of the
disability community in shaping
policy and programs that benefit the entire country.
What will you do to increase
the percentage of children with disabilities who graduate
from high school and go on to post-secondary education?
Bush: Believes that the first step
to increasing graduation rates is providing equal opportunities
for success at every stage of the education system.
He notes that he has proposed an increase in funding
of $1 billion for IDEA in 2005, completing a 75 percent
increase since 2001. He points out too that the Department
of Education recently funded a number of grants to determine
what strategies help students with disabilities access
the general education curriculum and what kinds of early
interventions promote the best results for students
with disabilities. Bush points to his No Child Left
Behind Act, stating that under this law, schools are
being held accountable for the education results of
subgroups of students, including students with disabilities.
Kerry: Believes that we need predictable,
full funding for IDEA and that a great deal can be accomplished
with his IDEA enforcement plan to ensure that the law
is followed. He plans to further leverage the Department
of Education’s resources to create and advertise
a single national resource for transitional planning
assistance, as recommended by the Youth Advisory Committee
of the National Council on Disability. Kerry also believes
that gains can be made by promoting access and awareness
in disability services and improving service coordination
within vocational rehabilitation, Social Security Insurance
and federal student aid services in a way that is meaningful
for students, not bureaucrats. He notes that he would
tackle this problem with the help of an advisory council
with strong student representation.
What will your administration
do to improve accessibility of mainstream and assistive
technologies for people with disabilities?
Bush: “Since technology has the
potential to aid everyone in our society, especially
Americans with disabilities, increasing access to technology
is a main priority of my administration. I have secured
$20 million for a fund to help individuals with disabilities
purchase the technology they need to work from home.
I promoted full implementation of Section 508 of the
Rehabilitation Act, requiring that electronic and information
technology purchased, maintained and used by the federal
government is readily accessible to and usable by individuals
with disabilities.”
Kerry: Will “direct federal
agencies to assess their research and development programs
to identify how much money, and what percentage of their
budgets, has historically been devoted to developing
technology designed to assist people with disabilities
… and work on promoting the goal to increase targets
across the board.” He also plans to assemble a
governmental team to review current programs which pay
for assistive technology and require them to develop
a comprehensive plan of cooperation and “investigate
the potential of pooling the various federal funds to
create a single funding mechanism.”
Kerry pledges to “promote legislation to clarify
that the ADA is applicable to e-commerce and web-based
places of public accommodation.” In terms of telecommunications,
he vows to appoint FCC commissioners who would vigorously
enforce the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and consider
expanding it to allow people who have been negatively
affected by lack of accessibility to file suit against
the manufacturer or service provider. He also supports
a $1,000 tax credit for companies that provide telecommuting
opportunities to employees with disabilities.
To read complete responses to the entire AAPD questionnaire,
visit the AAPD website, www.aapd-dc.org.
You can view Kerry’s disability policy platform
at www.johnkerry.com.
The information is in a subsection of “more issues.”
Bush’s platform does not appear on his campaign
site, www.georgewbush.com,
but the administration’s complete disability policy
can be viewed at www.whitehouse.gov
under “New Freedom Initiative Progress Report.”
Andrew J. Imparato, president and
CEO of AAPD, was formerly general counsel and director
of policy for the National Council on Disability, attorney
advisor at U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
and counsel to the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Disability
Policy. He frequently writes, speaks or provides testimony
about disability issues and his perspective is informed
by his own experience with bipolar disorder.
Michele Halstenrud is a legal intern at AAPD and a student
at New York Law School. She would eventually like to
join a law firm where she can focus on legal issues
in healthcare, labor and public policy.
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