Montgomery, Alabama, Oct. 25 – With 72.5 percent of Alabama’s 421,135 working-age people with disabilities out of work, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Walter Maddox responded to a questionnaire by the disabilities advocacy group RespectAbility, outlining his views on training and hiring people with disabilities.
In his responses to 10 questions submitted by the organization, Maddox repeatedly cited Alabama’s failure to expand Medicaid as a factor in disability unemployment.
Citing a recent University of Kansas study, Maddox asserted that “states that expand Medicaid are substantially more likely to see increases in employment by people with disabilities.”
“Without expansion, many people with disabilities will continue to be caught in the disturbing trap that keeps people from finding work because the income will disqualify them from Medicaid.”
“New data from the Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire indicates that 343,488 more people with disabilities joined the workforce in 2016,” noted RespectAbility’s President, Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi. “However, in Alabama, there were 5,531 fewer persons with disabilities working than the year before.”
“Our nation was founded on the principle that anyone who works hard should be able to get ahead in life,” Mizrahi asserted. “People with disabilities deserve equal opportunity to earn an income and achieve independence just like anyone else.”
RespectAbility also reached out repeatedly to Maddox’ Republican opponent, incumbent Gov. Kay Ivey, but received no response to the questionnaire, according to the organization’s President, Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi.
The full text of RespectAbility’s questions and Maddox’ responses follows:
