GOP Should Take Lead in Championing Disability Rights

In the 2008 elections, both parties released disability policy statements but the issues that concern the disability community have never been fully addressed.

Let the shameful wall of exclusion finally come tumbling down.

–George H. W. Bush on the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

The above quote might be the last time I can remember a president seriously considering the disability community that contains over 50 million Americans.  In the 2008 elections, both parties released disability policy statements but the issues that concern the disability community have never been fully addressed.  It seems that the Democrats use public welfare as one way to show their support of the community.  Ironically, many members of the community desire self-sufficiency and economic independence, ideals much more in line with conservative thought. There is a great piece in The New Atlantis that discusses “Disability Politics: Liberals, Conservatives and the Disability Rights Movement”.  The Republicans' silence on these types of issues often drives an otherwise conservative voter into voting for the Democrats.  If the GOP wants to win in 2012, this is one group of voters that can help.

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Rep. George Miller (D-CA) are co-sponsoring The Preventing Harmful Restraint and Seclusion in the Schools Act. Last spring, a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report detailed hundreds of cases of school children being abused as a result of inappropriate uses of restraint and seclusion, often involving untrained staff.  While many of these testimonies demonstrated procedures that resulted in injuries and trauma to students and their families there were also testimonies heard from families whose children died tragically due to these wrongful practices.  The Children’s Health Act of 2000 only addresses hospitals and other medical and community-based facilities; schools are exempt.  As the mother of an autistic child, I praise McMorris Rodgers for taking the Republican lead on this issue and introducing an act that will withhold federal funds from those who would harm our children.

Being the mother of a child with Downs Syndrome, McMorris Rodgers knows that there are a disproportionate number of disabled children that are subject to this abuse.  McMorris Rodgers is a promising Republican leader in championing disability rights issues.