Kerry
Response to AAPD Questionnaire
The following response to AAPD's questionnaire is provided by the
Kerry-Edwards campaign.
DISABILITY ISSUE QUESTIONS FROM THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF PEOPLE
WITH DISABILITIES
What are your top three accomplishments on behalf of people with
disabilities in your career to date as an elected official?
One of my things that I am most proud of is having cosponsored the
Americans with Disabilities Act, the most comprehensive nondiscrimination
legislation enacted since the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
In 1987, I drafted the Technology to Educate Children with Handicaps
(TECH) Act, which created assistive device centers across the country
to ensure all children with special needs have access to the assistive
devices necessary to get an education. These centers train specialists,
teachers, and therapists to identify students who could benefit from
such technologies. These centers also inform parents, educators and
therapists on how to support and incorporate these devices into children's
educational experiences. I fought hard to enact this legislation
so that children with disabilities could gain independence in the
classroom and throughout their lives. The goals of my legislative
proposal were later incorporated into the Technology Related Assistance
for Individuals with Disabilities Act of 1988.
I have had a long-time commitment to protecting the rights of individuals
disabled by mental illness. I was an original cosponsor of the landmark
Mental Health Parity Act passed by Congress in 1996, which requires
parity for annual and lifetime dollar limit coverage for mental health
treatment. While its enactment marked an important step in the fight
for providing greater mental health treatment benefits, it is time
now to take another step toward the goal of mental health parity.
Consequently, I strongly support the Senator Paul Wellstone Mental
Health Equitable Treatment Act of 2003. This legislation will provide
for
equal coverage of mental health benefits with respect to health insurance
coverage unless comparable limitations are imposed on medical and
surgical benefits.
In my work on the Small Business Committee, I was involved in achieving
the landmark goal of assuring that veterans with disabilities have
an opportunity to receive a three percent share of Federal Contracts.
With federal contracts today worth $250 billion, small businesses
owned by veterans with disabilities have access to $7.5 billion in
business opportunities.
If you are elected/re-elected what will be your top three priorities
during your first 100 days in office to improve the quality of life
for people with disabilities living in the U.S.?
I will offer Americans with disabilities freedom, independence,
and choices. I will appoint a national bipartisan Community First
Commission made up of distinguished Americans, including people with
disabilities who will identify short and long term policy reforms
that could and should be pursued to:
* Guarantee that all Americans with disabilities who can live in
their community with affordable supports have equal opportunity to
do so regardless of age, disability, state of residence, employment
status, or necessary form of assistance.
* Create a greater federal role in equitably financing and enhancing
the quality and appropriateness of long-term services.
* Eliminate the institutional bias in Medicaid and Medicare that
robs millions of Americans of their most basic freedoms, dignity,
and daily independence.
To make our system work
and to offer real choices, we must ensure equal access to quality
home and community services throughout our nation. I will work
with the Community First Commission to determine how we can move
MiCASSA forward. And I will work with states to fully implement
the Olmstead Decision, as well as push Congress to finally pass
the Family Opportunity Act.
I believe we need full mental health parity once and for all - not
just mental health parity for certain benefits or certain mental
health conditions or with unnecessary loopholes that allow insurers
to skirt their responsibility. I will fight to pass full mental health
parity legislation
I will utilize the skills and wisdom of the disability community
in shaping policy and programs that will benefit the entire country,
and I will seek out qualified people with disabilities to serve throughout
my administration.
Americans with disabilities deserve independence and the opportunity
to be economically self-sufficient. I will reinstate the executive
order by President Bill Clinton to hire 100,000 qualified individuals
with disabilities as federal employees over five years. I will crack
down on employment discrimination and nominate an Attorney General
for the U.S. Department of Justice and a Chair to the EEOC who will
make enforcement of the ADA a top priority. And I will promote creative
solutions to address the transportation, technology, and housing
needs for individuals with disabilities.
To ensure that children
with disabilities get the free, high quality education they deserve,
I am committed to fully funding IDEA and working for strong enforcement
and real compliance with the law. And to expand access to higher
education, I will improve transitional planning, promote access
and awareness in disability services, provide work-study alternatives,
and collect data on students with disabilities to provide a true
scientific understanding of the realities on the ground.
What ideas do you have for bringing our four largest federal programs
(Medicaid, Medicare, Supplemental Security Income, and Social Security
Disability Insurance) in line with the goals of the Americans with
Disabilities Act (equality of opportunity, full participation, independent
living, and economic self-sufficiency)?
We must strengthen and protect Medicaid, not tear it apart. I am
firmly opposed to the Bush administration's proposal to turn Medicaid
into a block grant program. By investing in Medicaid, we can improve
the health and independence of more than 10 million children, adults,
and older Americans with disabilities throughout our country. No
one should be forced to be in a nursing home or have their most basic
needs go unmet because they live in a state that chooses not to offer
necessary community living services. That is why I believe that we
need to relieve pressures on state budgets; I have proposed spending
$25 billion to help states struggling to bridge their deficits.
I support strengthening and improving Medicaid in several key ways.
First, I believe that we must pass the Family Opportunity Act. Currently,
low-income families with severely disabled children receive federal
disability benefits under Supplemental Security Income. However,
if parents seek a better job or earn higher wages, their disabled
children lose Medicaid coverage, which is essential to providing
comprehensive coverage for children who require complex and often
costly care. No parent should have to turn down a job or give up
custody of a child to ensure that he or she gets health care.
We need to fully implement the Olmstead decision. People with disabilities
and older Americans must receive the support they need to live in
their own homes and communities. States must be given increased resources
and tools to carry out the Olmstead decision and must be held accountable
for doing so. Americans with disabilities must be assured equal access
to quality home and community living services. I will work with the
Community First Commission to determine how we can best implement
MiCASSA and the Money Follows the Person Act. We need to end the
institutional bias that makes it impossible for millions of Americans
to exercise the most basic of human liberties: freedom, choice, and
independence.
I will work toward eliminating the two-year waiting period to become
eligible for Medicare. The federal government has a critical role
to play to assure that workers with disabilities have the insurance
coverage they need to be as independent and productive as possible.
And I will direct HHS to fund a series of demonstrations aimed at
identifying cost effective ways that best promote the health, independence
and productivity of people with disabilities and to promote better
health care.
I will also work to provide real prescription drug relief through
the Medicare program. My health care plan will lower prescription
drug costs, and ensure that seniors and people with disabilities
on Medicare can choose their doctors instead of forcing them to join
an HMO.
Another important program to millions of Americans with disabilities
is the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act (TWWIIA).
TWWIIA seeks to guarantee continued access to vital Medicare and
Medicaid coverage to enable individuals with significant disabilities
to become competitively employed under certain conditions.
As a result of this law, about half of the states today allow employed
individuals with disabilities to buy into Medicaid if their incomes
and assets do not exceed certain limits and meet other criteria set
by each state. These Medicaid buy-in programs vary widely from one
state to another, however, both in regard to the eligibility requirements
they set and the benefits and services they make available. Moreover,
if the current economic downturn continues, states that currently
have these plans in place may have to cut back or eliminate them
all together. In addition, few other states will be in a position
to create new buy-in programs.
The federal government must play a far greater role in ensuring
that workers with disabilities have the insurance coverage they need
to be as independent and productive as possible. Regardless of where
these individuals live or how much they are able to earn, they should
be able to buy in to a uniform, national set of benefits designed
to do just this. To help achieve these ends, the Medicare program
should provide for enhanced coverage for employed individuals with
disabilities.
What do you see as the most appropriate role for the federal government
to play in the lives of people with disabilities and their families
and what is your reaction to recent trends limiting the federal role
in disability policy?
Now more than ever people with disabilities of all ages can live
fuller, more productive lives if afforded the right opportunities
and supports. The federal government has a strong obligation and
role to play in ensuring that these Americans have the same chance
to succeed in life as all other citizens. The government must meet
its commitment to enforce laws that protect the disability community.
The moral imperative is clear.
The federal government must help provide high quality, accessible
and affordable health care and community living services to people
with disabilities. That's why my Administration will modernize Medicaid
and Medicare and work with states to implement home and community
based services.
My administration also will play a role in enforcing civil rights
laws for people with disabilities. The Department of Justice and
the EEOC will make enforcement of the Americans with Disabilities
Act and Rehabilitation Act a top priority. And I will ensure that
the Offices of Civil Rights at the Department of Education and the
Department of Health and Human Services provide people with disabilities
the protections they deserve.
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. The federal government
has massive spending powers that can and should be used to promote
the employment of individuals with disabilities. I will promote increasing
the goal for small business contracting and ensuring that business
owners with disabilities have equal status to other minority business
owners.
The federal government must meet its obligation to provide a high
quality education to all children with disabilities. My administration
will put us on a path to fully fund IDEA. But funding must be accompanied
by effective enforcement. As president, I will fight for strong enforcement
that includes measurement and protecting procedural safeguards.
The federal government can also improve the lives of people with
disabilities in the areas of transportation and technology. Many
of the technological advances made through the work of the Defense
Department and NASA are transferable to people with disabilities,
and could enhance their capacity to work. This technology should
be made available when appropriate for use by people with disabilities.
And the federal government should use its considerable economic power
to encourage and lead private enterprise in building a more accessible
society through technology. My administration will also ensure that
transportation options are accessible to people with disabilities.
What concrete steps will you take to ensure your administration
and your appointments to the federal bench and other entities include
a representative group of qualified people with disabilities?
People with disabilities will always have a seat front and center
in my administration. When I am president, Americans with disabilities
will play active roles not only in policy-making which impacts the
disability community, but also in other areas of domestic policy.
I will seek out the best and brightest to serve in multiple capacities
throughout the government, including in the White House and on my
Community First Commission.
Also, I will reinstate the Executive Order by President Clinton
to hire 100,000 qualified individuals with
disabilities as federal employees over five years. And in a Kerry
administration, the Office of Federal Contracts and Compliance Programs
at the Department of Labor will be held accountable in ensuring that
federal contractors are not just reaching out to people with disabilities,
but hiring them as well. Goals will be set for the hiring of people
with disabilities similar to the ones set for women and veterans.
The federal government will leverage its considerable economic power
to ensure that private industry provides employment opportunities
to people with disabilities.
What will you do as
President to dramatically increase the percentage of children with
disabilities who graduate from high school and go on to post-secondary
education?
If the goal of the disability-rights movement is to create opportunities
for Americans with disabilities equal to those of their peers without
disabilities, then education is the key that opens those doors. Empowering
Americans with disabilities to be productive, job-holding, tax-paying
citizens is both a moral obligation and an economic win.
First of all, we need mandatory full funding of IDEA. In 1975, Congress
made a deal with our state and local school boards: give children
with special learning needs the education they deserve, and the federal
government would pay 40 percent of the additional cost, no matter
what it takes. Nearly thirty years later, the federal government
has broken that promise. Because of that broken promise, schools
across the country have had to pit special education programs against
one another. Class sizes increase, after-school activities are cut,
and kids with special learning needs still aren't getting the services
they need.
Regardless of funding, a law will only be as good as its enforcement.
Across the country - in school districts large and small - this law
is not being followed. In many cases, the good intentions of teachers
and principals are undermined by a lack of understanding of the law.
The same is true for many parents, who often do not know the rights
to which they are entitled. In some cases, school officials need
to be taught that IDEA isn't just a guideline, it's the law. Exhausted
parents cannot and should not bear that burden. That is why strengthening
IDEA enforcement will be a priority in my administration.
A college education is now a near-universal requirement for professional
employment. Unfortunately, that level of independence is still but
a dream for many of our youth with disabilities who continue to face
significant barriers to higher education. I am committed to equipping
the next generation of students with disabilities with the tools
to succeed.
First, I will improve transitional planning. As with other at-risk
youth, early outreach programs can be enormously successful in affecting
positive change. Yet despite the mandate for such services under
IDEA, transitional-planning programs seem to be an early casualty
of non-compliance. I will further leverage Department of Education
resources to create and advertise a single national resource for
transitional planning assistance.
Making sense of the web of college financial assistance programs
is a difficult task. When disability-assistance services are added
to the mix, the task becomes overwhelming. We must better coordinate
vocational rehabilitation, SSI, and federal student aid services
in a way that is meaningful for students, not bureaucrats.
We need to provide work-study alternatives. Lacking neither in work
ethic nor financial need, many students with disabilities are physically
incapable of utilizing work-study programs. Such assistance can mean
the difference between attending college and staying home. It is
in all of our best interests to ensure fair alternatives.
Finally, even today, we rely primarily on anecdotal information
when discussing disability issues in higher education. We lack a
true scientific understanding of the realities on the ground. That
must change if we are to adequately plan for the future. Policies
can only be effective so long as they are practical. As president,
I
will direct the Secretary of Education to solicit disability status
and accommodation-cost data so we can arm ourselves with the tools
to take meaningful action.
What will your administration do to improve the accessibility of
mainstream technologies and access to assistive technologies for
people with disabilities?
Technology must be harnessed effectively to empower people, particularly
those who are often the least empowered in our society. I will work
to make electronic information and technology truly accessible.
Many of the technological advances made through the work of the
Defense Department and NASA are transferable to people with disabilities,
and could enhance their capacity to work. This technology should
and will be made available when appropriate for use by people with
disabilities.
New technology is often costly, as the first people to use the technology
are underwriting a large proportion of the development costs. The
problem is that the persons most in need of the liberation that technology
provides are often the least able to afford it. I will direct federal
agencies to assess how their resources have been allocated to assist
people with disabilities, and work on promoting a goal to increase
targets across the board. I want our government to help cultivate
new, cutting-edge technology.
People who need assistive technology are often confronted with a
bewildering array of potential funding sources that are difficult
to sort out. I will assemble an intergovernmental team to review
current programs which pay for assistive technology and direct them
to develop a plan of cooperation. The plan would investigate the
potential of pooling various federal funds to create a single funding
mechanism.
How will you work with disability advocates and Congress to draft
and promote legislation to restore civil rights protections for qualified
disabled individuals who have been left out by U.S. Supreme Court
decisions interpreting the ADA, especially in the area of employment?
The Americans with Disabilities Act is the most important civil rights
law for persons with disabilities. It is vital that we enforce the
law and that we fight recent judicial and legislative actions to
weaken it. First of all, I will nominate judges whom I believe will
enforce and uphold our civil rights laws to ensure the protections
promised under its enactment. I will work with Congress and the disability
community to pass legislation that restores civil rights protections
to individuals with disabilities who have been harmed by court decisions
restricting the scope of the protected class under ADA. I will also
nominate an attorney general and an EEOC chair who will make enforcement
of the ADA a top priority.
