[Accessibility_sig] Empathy for "the disabled" mocked at campaign rally

[Sharron Rush]

Forwarded from the nonpartisan National Coalition for Disability Rights:

(Washington, DC) The National Coalition for Disability Rights (NCDR)
pushed back today against the McCain-Palin campaign for ridiculing the
legal rights of people with disabilities. News reports describe
McCain-Palin campaign representative Senator Kit Bond (R-Mo), joining
Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin at a rally in Rush Limbaugh's
hometown of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, mocking Presidential candidate
Senator Barak Obama for stating that he's looking to nominate judges who
empathize with "the disabled."

"It's Halloween and it seems that Sarah Palin's mask of support for
people with "special needs" is slipping. Despite past pandering to
people with disabilities, McCain-Palin are actually opposed to vital
disability legislation like the Community Choice Act and they want to
appoint judges who will further roll back the civil rights protections
of the Americans with Disabilities Act," declared NCDR's founder and
president, Jim Ward.

NPR's Nina Totenberg has reported that McCain-Palin's and conservatives'
"most oft-mentioned prospects" for nomination to the Supreme Court
include Ohio Judge Jeffrey Sutton. Sutton was opposed by hundreds of
disability organizations when he was nominated by President Bush after
successfully weakening the ADA with states' rights arguments. As a
sitting judge, he has recently supported the execution of criminals with
developmental disabilities and has undermined the Help America Vote
Act(HAVA).

Disability rights advocates are further incensed that the McCain-Palin
campaign has reframed this civil rights struggle, one founded in
concepts of equality, dignity and self-respect, as an issue of "special
needs."

Disability rights advocate, Steve Gold states, "Yes we need support
services. Yes we need inclusive education. Yes we need integrated
employment. Yes we need equal rights. This not "special". These needs
are based on us, people with disabilities, equal members of our
communities. We are not inspirational nor are we "special". We are PROUD
PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES who should push back when anyone describes us
as anything but equal members of our communities."

The National Coalition for Disability Rights is a nonpartisan nonprofit
that does not endorse political candidates.  We are a coalition of
national, state and local disability, civil rights and social justice
organizations united to protect and promote the human rights of children
and adults with physical and mental disabilities.
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