In the 2018 Election, Disabled People have Opportunity to Speak for Themselves
I’m Matt Stafford. I have cerebral palsy and I’ll be voting in the 2018 Election. My vote will be primarily based on what the candidates will do to advance disability rights. I know almost all my able-bodied friends and family (specifically the ones that lean to the right) will accuse me of “identity politics” or say I should base my vote on anything but my disability. They’ll tell me to consider things beyond what personally affects me and imply I’m a bad American for not doing so. These people are exactly the reason why I vote, use disability rights as the deciding factor, and why I think other disabled people should do the same.
Bi-Peds never speak for us in good faith
The kinds of people who say that we shouldn’t use disability rights as the determining factor in our votes are the people who have been speaking for us all our lives. The thing with able-bodied people speaking for us is that they generally suck at it. They either have no idea what they’re doing or disregard what we have to say in order to choose the (often harmful) option that is most convenient for them. Anyone who got accused of “manipulation” by teachers, doctors, and therapists knows exactly what able-bodied people speaking for us sounds like in the everyday world. What does it sound like in the political world?
It sounds like disabled people (experts or otherwise) being called “props” or implied to be in on some plot to get sympathy when they speak at hearings on anything.
It sounds like alt-right types calling disabled people protesting Trumpcare/Medicaid cuts in Washington things like “useless eaters” or saying that they shouldn’t receive aid because they’re overweight.
It sounds like people saying businesses need “more time” to comply with the ADA despite the law being almost 30 years old and the information on how to get in compliance with the act being freely available with a simple Google search.
It sounds like our Trump-supporting relatives dismissing the concerns of disabled people as paranoid and saying that things wouldn’t be so bad even as people put their bodies on the line to protect Medicaid and other programs that the GOP has gone after with fangs bared.
Voting our disabilities will get results
This is why it is important for disabled people not only to vote but to use disability politics as our deciding factor. When you don’t vote, you’re letting other people, many of whom have downright malicious intent, speak for you. You’re letting other people decide whether or not sidewalks get repaired. You’re letting people decide whether or not the ADA and other disability-related codes get enforced get enforced. You’re letting other people decide whether or not you live in your home or a nursing rathole.
But when you do vote, you decide what the priorities are. And when you make it clear that you’re voting based on disability issues, identity politics accusations from able-bodied relatives who’d prefer we’d shut up disability rights be damned, you put both parties on notice. If disabled people voted on disability issue en masse, both parties would have to do some major house-cleaning. The words “Medicaid cut” would not be uttered. Getting teachers to follow the IEP would not be like pulling teeth. And cities would start “happening” to find money to repair sidewalks and make public transit accessible.
This election, and every election from now until the heat death of the universe, we disabled people have to vote come hell or high water, even if some of the pro-disability candidates are underwhelming. The people who have been accusing us of “manipulation” all our lives are voting. The people who think the ADA is a burden and that anyone being sued for breaking it are the real victims are voting. The people who complain that accessibility is a waste of money are voting.
We can’t keep letting these people speak for us.