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If you're like me, you can get overwhelmed by the badness of our politicians. All of them. It's easy to feel like we're in trouble no matter who wins on Tuesday.
Maybe that's still true, but there are a few ways that a GOP ticket is concretely more dangerous for deaf and disabled kids, especially those intersectionally marginalized. Maybe it'll help to see them laid out? Here's six ways:
1. DeVos: DeVos has made no secret of her desure to limit or even dismantle the Department of Ed and redirect public school funding to charter/ private schools. This hurts disabled kids because charter and private schools don't have to accommodate, or even accept these students.
Meaning that in the name of "school choice," disabled kids are then left in severely underfunded public schools with even fewer resources, and no "choices" at all.
2. DeVos also rescinded 72 documents that detail protections for disabled students, calling them "outdated and unnecessary." Some of them were, but some of them, like an examination of disproportionate placement of BIPOC kids into special ed, were not.
In general this makes it harder for parents of disabled kids to find info about their rights and advocate on their behalf.
3. The Republican-led house spent the better part of 2017 trying to dismantle the Americans with Disabilities Act. Their "supplement" didn't pass the Senate, but that doesn't mean they've lost the desire to kill it. More on that here: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcnews.com/think/amp/ncna850261
4. The school-to-prison pipeline and police brutality both disproportionately harm disabled kids, especially disabled BIPOC kids. We need a party who believes systemic racism exists in order to even begin to dismantle it.
5. No surprise here, COVID is harming disabled people at much higher rates, physically, economically and with respect to education resources. Still no plan in sight from those in power besides "pretend this isn't happening." https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2020/09/08/covid-19-disproportionately-impacting-developmental-disabilities/28909/
6. When the President mocks disabled people on television, (a reporter's arm, an immigrant's "low IQ"), when he has to be sued to include an interpreter at his emergency briefings, he's telling the world that it's acceptable to treat disabled people this way. Kids watch and learn
Bonus thought @JoeBiden has given us space on the page, and a promise to engage with the disability community to understand what we need. It sounds small or insignificant, but it is *rare* for politicians to mention us at all, especially as humans. https://joebiden.com/disabilities/
Oh wait, one more thing! The other day in Texas, Republicans tried to pass a law saying a social worker could turn down a client on the basis of sexuality or disability. They had to back down from it because of an outcry. They may not next time, with a conservative Supreme Court.
