At least Clinton has plan for the disabled

One issue that wasn’t discussed at last Monday’s presidential debate was the place of people with disabilities in our society and economy. What rights do they have and how far should government and businesses be forced to go in enforcing and respecting these rights?

To be fair to moderator Lester Holt, these issues have never been raised on any debate. That includes when George H.W. Bush, who signed the the Americans with Disabilities Act, ran for re-election in 1992 and when former Kansas Sen. Bob Dole, who was a chief sponsor of the law, tried to unseat Bill Clinton four years later.

Hillary Clinton has taken a different approach to people with disabilities and the issues they care about. She has mad them a key selling point in her campaign.

A cynic might say she is only exploiting one of Donald Trump’s worst gaffes: his mocking of New York Times reporter Serge Kovaleski, who has arthrogryposis, which limits the functioning of his joints. Trump mimicked his body motions in speech earlier this year.

Two points about that: Every candidate ought to criticize their rival when they err, and Trump’s error was major.

Mocking a man with a disability is beyond non-presidential; it’s childish.

If that sounds like an endorsement of Clinton, it isn’t. On other issues, I strongly disagree with her. But her stance on disability issues is solid.

At the Democratic convention, she signaled her interest in these issues by giving a prime-time speaking spot to Anastasia Somoza, a young woman with cerebral palsy.

That speech, as good as it was, should not be reason enough to applaud Clinton’s outreach to the disabled. But she gave a major speech focusing on lifting the disabled out of poverty and boosting the pay of professional care-givers, which is sorely needed..

However, another plank in her economic platform, ending the sub-minimum wage for sheltered workshops. That could harm local service providers such as KETCH and Starkey.

Another glaring flaw in her plan is the lack of a transportation component. That is the biggest problem for most with disabilities.

Still, Clinton does have a plan for the disabled; Trump doesn’t. In a year of bad choices, this platform helps some.

This story was originally published October 2, 2016 at 5:01 AM with the headline "At least Clinton has plan for the disabled."