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Republican Dwight Young Gets Personal in Response to #PwDsVote Senate Campaign Questionnaire

Headshot of Dwight Young with American flag in background
Dwight Young

Washington, Aug. 29 – As voters in Florida head to the polls for their state’s primary day for U.S. Senate tomorrow, RespectAbility, a nonprofit organization working to empower people with disabilities to achieve the American dream, asked all candidates for Florida’s senate seat on both sides of the aisle to complete questionnaire on disability issues. While none of the primary candidates submitted answers to the questions, Republican hopeful Dwight Young shared a letter about his personal experience in connection to disability.

RespectAbility is nonpartisan and does not endorse candidates. The questionnaire is purely for educational purposes.

Following the conclusion of the primaries, RespectAbility will continue to seek responses from the victorious candidates and publish those responses when they are received.

We are presenting Young’s response in full below.

“I am sorry that I was not able to answer all of your questions due to my busy and hectic schedule. I have been on the road since last week and it has been really time consuming. Anyway, I will just give you a synopsis of how I feel about people with disabilities. If you research my website, it does state that I am interested in integrating people with disabilities in the workforce.

I was a father of a disabled child who suffered from cerebral palsy, so I know firsthand the care and worries of a parent with such a heavy undertaking. My daughter died at 15 years old but the yearning to do something for the disabled has never left me. Since my daughter’s death, I have contributed to St. Jude’s hospital with my financial contributions up to this date. As a Society, we should do more. During my child’s life, we received medicare that helped out a lot due to our inability as parents to afford the high cost of medical bills. Medicare is very important to poor parents and it must not be tampered with.

I am also interested in finding jobs for some of these disabled youths that are willing to work and can work. It makes no sense keeping them at home or in a hospital. They need to feel important and worthy. We need to encourage their participation and vibrant attitude.

As the next Senator of Florida, I will take on the responsibility of making this a priority.”


RespectAbility has asked all the candidates for Senator on both sides of the aisle to complete the same questionnaire. We will share responses from additional campaigns as we receive them.

The RespectAbility Report is a nonpartisan political commentary on the 2016 U.S. elections with a focus on disability issues. The RespectAbility Report has covered all of the Democratic and Republican candidates for president and has begun coverage of down ballot candidates. Coverage can be found at http://therespectabilityreport.org/. The RespectAbility Report is nonpartisan and does not endorse candidates.

Published in2016 Candidate QuestionnaireSenate

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