I read an interesting New York Times Article http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/07/us/politics/07needs.html?pagewanted=1&ref=todayspaper that analyzes one aspect of Sarah Palin’s speech to the Republican National Convention where she promised that children with special needs “would have a friend and advocate in the White House’ in a McCain-Palin administration.” I think it is interesting that twenty years ago, when George Bush, Sr. reached out to people with disabilities at the Republican National Convention by endorsing the Americans With Disabilities Act, he got a ten point lead in the polls among persons who identified themselves as being persons with disabilities.

People with disabilities are a group that is rarely talked about in the political process at the national level. No one generally seems to appeal to them. I think hearing about George Bush, Sr.’s 1988 speech and Sarah Palin’s recent one reaching out to people with disabilities says something about a failure in the Democratic Party to adequately and publicly address this issue. An advocate for the group the American Association of People with Disabilities mentioned in the article getting an e-mail from Barack Obama’s campaign talking about disabilities issues the day after Palin’s speech.  It also says something that only after Palin has spoken and interjected the issue of children with disabilities into the public consciousness during the Republican Party’s national convention, did the Obama camp see fit to send an email. But Palin talking about this issue from the perspective of a mother who has a child with Down’s Syndrome and who chose not to terminate her pregnancy even after learning that she was going to have a child with Down’s syndrome, gives people hope that for Palin this isn’t just a political slogan but a personal mission.

One thing that I wonder is why politicians do not advocate to people with disabilities more? Well, I believe that one reason may be that besides the disabilities community not being as well organized as some other groups, the disability community has many members within it who may identify with something else first rather than disability, such as gender or race. Also providing services to people with disabilities is generally not a quick fix that can be effectively addressed in a soundbite in the glare of a video camera’s spotlight. Improving a special education program which may allow someone to live more independently in ten years is not like authorizing and building a bridge where you can see concrete results in six months or so. I think it is a shame that when interest groups in elections are discussed, rarely do the rights of people with disabilities come up in the debate or discussion.

I often wonder why the media picks up on one disability in particular and doesn’t seem to cover others with the same level of interest. For example it seems that the media has covered issues related to autism in somewhat greater detail over the last couple of years than it has covered most other disabilities. Why autism versus other disabilities? Why does one get more attention and the others not as much? I also think that having Sarah Palin in the White House will help not just with legislation but will also bring the issue of children with disabilities to the forefront of the media and public opinion. When Palin goes out in public with her son with Down’s syndrome, hopefully the media will cover it the same way that the issue of McCain’s adopted daughter brings increased awareness to adoption of children from other nations.