Washington, Oct 12 – As voters get ready to head to the polls in Wisconsin, RespectAbility has released its Wisconsin Disability Voter Guide for the upcoming senate and presidential races. Democrat Russ Feingold and Republican Ron Johnson are seeking the open senate seat. So far only Feingold, as well as presidential…
Washington, Oct. 12 – As voters get ready to head to the polls in South Dakota, RespectAbility has released its South Dakota Disability Voter Guide for the upcoming senate and presidential races. Democrat Jay Williams, who is challenging incumbent Republican Sen. John Thune, as well as presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, has…
Please see the updated Montana voter guide, as incumbent Democrat Gov. Steve Bullock completed the survey after this original guide was published. Washington, Oct. 12 – As voters get ready to head to the polls in Montana, RespectAbility is releasing its Montana Disability Voter Guide. Republican Greg Gianforte is challenging incumbent…
Washington, Oct. 12 – As Missourians prepare for the upcoming presidential, senate and gubernatorial elections, RespectAbility is releasing its Missouri Disability Voter Guide. Missouri has an open gubernatorial seat in addition to a Senate race this year. Republican Lt. Comm. Eric Greitens is facing Democrat Atty. Gen. Chis Koster for…
Washington, Oct. 12 – As Louisiana gets ready to hold the election for the open Senate seat, RespectAbility has released its Louisiana Disability Voter Guide. Louisiana’s race has a large number of contenders, several of whom have responded to the disability questionnaire. Democrats Foster Campbell and Caroline Fayard and Republican Abhay…
Updated Oct. 17 to include additional candidate responses Washington, Oct. 11 – While the presidential election has taken up much of the news cycle, attention also is shifting to who will control the Senate. As such, RespectAbility has reached out to candidates running for Senate as well as Governor in the…
Washington, Oct. 11 – In addition to the upcoming presidential election, voters in Vermont also will be voting for candidates running for Senate and Governor. To help Vermonters prepare, Respectability is releasing its Vermont Disability Voter Guide. Democrat candidate Sue Minter and Republican Phil Scott, who are seeking the governorship,…
Washington, Oct. 11 – As voters get ready to head to the polls in California, RespectAbility has released its California Disability Voter Guide. Democratic candidates Loretta Sanchez and Kamala Harris are seeking California’s open senate seat, and both of them, as well as presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, have completed the…
Washington, Oct. 11 – Following responses from Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto and Republican Joe Heck, who are both seeking the open Senate seat in Nevada, RespectAbility is releasing its Nevada Disability Voter guide for the upcoming presidential and senate elections. Both Heck and Masto, as well as presidential candidate Hillary…
Rockville, Md., Oct 11 – As voters get ready to head to the polls in Maryland, RespectAbility has released its Maryland Disability Voter Guide for the upcoming senate and presidential races. Both Republican Del. Kathy Szeliga and Democratic Rep. Chris Van Hollen, who are seeking the state’s open U.S. Senate seat,…
Gubernatorial Candidates Have Yet to Complete #PwDsVote Disability Questionnaire Washington, Oct. 11 – Citizens of New Hampshire will soon be heading out to vote for not only the upcoming presidential election, but also the statewide senate and gubernatorial elections. In turn, RespectAbility is releasing its New Hampshire Disability Voter Guide.…
Washington, Oct. 10 – For last night night’s town hall style debate, ABC and CNN welcomed questions submitted via the Open Debate Coalition’s portal. All of the top 30 questions that moderators promised to consider received more than 20,000 votes, and an important disability rights question had nearly 12,000 votes. Yet none…
Washington, Oct. 6 – Earlier this week, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said that “strong” veterans do not have mental health problems like post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), implying that those who do are “weak” and “can’t handle it.”
“When you talk about the mental health problems, when people come back from war and combat, they see things that maybe a lot of the folks in the room have seen many times over. And you’re strong and you can handle it, but a lot of people can’t handle it,” Trump said to a room full of military veterans during an event in Northern Virginia on Monday morning. “And they see horror stories, they see events that you couldn’t see in a movie — nobody would believe it.”
People with mental health disabilities, especially in the military, often do not seek help because of stigma surrounding mental health issues and the idea that asking for help is seen as being weak. When a major party presidential candidate perpetuates the idea that PTSD is a sign of weakness, that is dangerous for veterans and other people with PTSD who may not disclose their symptoms for fear that they are a sign of weakness. If you prefer the convenience of shopping from home, you can explore the variety of products offered by an online weed store to find the right cannabis products for your needs.
Washington, Oct. 5 – During this presidential campaign, the disability community has seen its issues discussed like never before – in policy proposals, party platforms, conventions and in the media.
But we haven’t yet witnessed presidential candidates answering a debate question about disability rights. People with disabilities – and those who care about them – can make a huge difference in changing that.
The “town hall” debate on Sunday, Oct. 9, will feature questions from the Internet. ABC and CNN moderators agreed to consider the top 30 questions voted up on the Open Debate Coalition site.
This gives us an incredible opportunity to demonstrate the size and strength of our whole community by voting in support of a disability debate question.
The question, “How would you value disability rights in your presidency?” is currently in the top 80 out of almost 10,000 questions that have been submitted!
If you want a question on disability rights to be asked during the next presidential debate, VOTE on this question for Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump to answer. Also, please share it widely with your networks.
Washington, Oct. 5 – During 2016’s only vice presidential debate, neither Sen. Tim Kaine nor Gov. Mike Pence addressed the rights of people with disabilities – the nation’s largest minority comprising one-in-five Americans.
Republican hopeful Pence was the only candidate to even mention the word, while answering a question about abortion.
“A society can be judged by how it deals with its most vulnerable: the aged, the infirm, the disabled and the unborn,” Pence said. While he did include people with disabilities, many people with disabilities are criticizing him for how he did so.
Highly displeased Pence used disabled ppl as a prop for “vulnerable populations” to make his anti #abortion argument #VPDebate #cripthevote — Alia Roth (@ANRoth23) October 5, 2016
I’m #DisabledNotVulnerable , Mike Pence. Don’t use me as a tool for your anti-choice rhetoric. #CripTheVote#VPDebate — GrandioseMoffSnarkin (@MoffSnarkin) October 5, 2016
Washington, Oct. 4 – RespectAbility, a nonprofit organization working to empower people with disabilities to achieve the American dream, has asked Senate candidates on both sides of the aisle to fill out a questionnaire on disability issues. Mark Callahan, a Republican challenging incumbent Sen. Ron Wyden to be the next U.S. Senator representing Oregon, responded to the #PwDsVote Disability Campaign Questionnaire for Senate and Gubernatorial Candidates for people with disabilities.
RespectAbility is nonpartisan and does not endorse candidates. The questionnaire is purely for educational purposes.
There are 571,982 people with a disability in Oregon, 274,900 of whom are of working age (between the ages of 21 and 64). There are an additional 14,000 people ages 16-20 with disabilities, many of whom are hoping to enter the workforce. Oregon’s voters are looking to know where the candidates stand on important disability issues in order to increase opportunities for competitive, integrated employment for people with disabilities.
Oregon currently holds a 36.4 percent labor force participation rate for people with disabilities and ranks 24th out of all fifty states. Other states, such as the Dakotas, have reached rates around fifty percent, showing that improving outcomes for people with disabilities is certainly possible when best practices are implemented. View the rankings of all 50 states and compare.
Washington, Sept. 30 – With just 38 days until Election Day, RespectAbility is calling on all candidates for governor or Senate to complete the #PwDsVote Senate & Gubernatorial Disability Questionnaire. “PwDs” stands for “people with disabilities.” So far, Hillary Clinton and 30 candidates for Senate or Governor from both parties have done so. Now we’re calling on you to help to encourage the remainder. A number of candidates, including Donald Trump, have yet to fill out a nonpartisan candidate questionnaire on issues vital to America’s 56 million citizens with disabilities!
The down-ballot responses received so far are from candidates on both sides of the aisle – with 18 from Democrats and 12 from Republicans, demonstrating how disability rights is a nonpartisan issue. The responses also are geographically-diverse, coming from states all around the country.
Call and tweet candidates and demand that they respond to the questionnaire. Tell them why it’s important to you!
This is the first time down-ballot candidates have been asked to complete a questionnaire about disability-related issues on such a wide scale. The answers to these questionnaires are being posted on The RespectAbility Report and will be used for individualized state voter guides.
Washington, Sept. 29 – RespectAbility, a nonprofit organization working to empower people with disabilities to achieve the American dream, has asked Senate candidates on both sides of the aisle to fill out a questionnaire on disability issues. Patrick Wiesner, a Democrat challenging incumbent Sen. Jerry Moran to be the next U.S. Senator representing Kansas, responded to the #PwDsVote Disability Campaign Questionnaire for Senate and Gubernatorial Candidates for people with disabilities.
RespectAbility is nonpartisan and does not endorse candidates. The questionnaire is purely for educational purposes.
RespectAbility also has sent the questionnaire to the campaign of incumbent Republican Sen. Jerry Moran, who is running for re-election. We will post his responses when we receive them.
30 Senate and Gubernatorial Candidates, as well as Hillary Clinton, Respond to #PwDsVote Campaign Questionnaire
Washington, Sept. 29 – As more candidates begin to understand the importance of including people with disabilities within their campaigns, they start thinking about issues of critical importance to the disability community.
A recently released Pew poll shows that voters with disabilities span the political and demographic spectrum and can determine who wins the elections.
Political campaigns know that this is a swing vote and Sec. Hillary Clinton has made this a new centerpiece of her campaign. Likewise, Republican Sen. Richard Burr in North Carolina has made it central to his re-election effort.
To date, 30 down ballot candidates have responded to the #PwDsVote 2016 Senate & Gubernatorial Disability Questionnaire, devoting time and energy to addressing disability issues. Since the first release earlier this month, 15 additional politicians have submitted their responses – making a total of 30 candidates for Senate or Governor to have provided detailed answers about their views on these issues for people with disabilities.
This is the first time down-ballot candidates have been asked to complete a questionnaire about disability-related issues on such a wide scale.
Washington, Sept. 28 – RespectAbility, a nonprofit organization working to empower people with disabilities to achieve the American dream, has asked Senate candidates on both sides of the aisle to fill out a questionnaire on disability issues. Incumbent Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte, along with her challenger current Gov. Maggie Hassan, completed the #PwDsVote Disability Campaign Questionnaire for Senate and Gubernatorial Candidates for people with disabilities.
RespectAbility is nonpartisan and does not endorse candidates. The questionnaire is purely for educational purposes.
166,258 people in New Hampshire have a disability, 77,800 of whom are of are working age (between the ages of 21 and 64). Only 41.8 percent are employed compared with 80.3 percent of people without disabilities in New Hampshire. There are an additional 5,900 people ages 16-20 with disabilities, many of whom are hoping to enter the workforce. New Hampshire’s voters are looking to know where the candidates stand on important disability issues in order to increase opportunities for competitive, integrated employment for people with disabilities.
