Disability Voter Guide
Compiled by Detroit Disability Power
This guide was created to offer voters a snapshot of where our presidential contenders stand with regard to disability policy.
Methodology: we searched for disability specific plans on each of the candidates' websites and populated our issue areas with their stance. If we couldn't locate a candidate's disability plan(s), we reached out to their campaign for more information. Blank columns indicate that we could not locate a candidates' disability plan(s), and had not yet heard back from their campaign, at the time of print.
Note: all stances were cut and paste from candidates' websites.
Disclaimer: this voter guide is for educational purposes only. Detroit Disability Power does not endorse candidates or parties. We compiled this information so that voters can see the remaining candidates' positions on disability rights issues.
Former Vice President Joe Biden
For more information,see: https://joebiden.com/disabilities/
BIDEN'S POLICIES
Government
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Biden will prioritize enacting and implementing policies that break down the barriers to access for people with disabilities living and succeeding in their chosen communities, which means good jobs in competitive, integrated employment; affordable, accessible, and integrated housing; accessible and affordable transportation; inclusive voting processes; and any needed long-term services and supports.
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Ensure full inclusion of people with disabilities in policy development and aggressively enforce the civil rights of people with disabilities.”
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Advance global disability rights.
Education
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Invest in our children at birth.
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Make sure children and parents with disabilities have access to affordable, quality child care.
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Expand access to high-quality early childhood supports and education.
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Fulfill IDEA’s promise of free appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment for students with disabilities.
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Ensure educators and schools have the resources to educate students with disabilities.
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Address the disparities in school discipline, including suspension, expulsion, and segregation.
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Ensure that students of color are not inappropriately identified as having disabilities, while also ensuring that students of color with disabilities have the support to succeed.
Employment
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Safeguard workers with disabilities’ rights to workplace accommodations and equal employment opportunity.
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Phase out the subminimum wage based on disability and work with Congress to ensure that there is funding for impacted employees with disabilities to receive support in competitive and integrated work settings.
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Providing technical assistance and funding for jobs that allow people with disabilities to put their skills, talents, and abilities to work with reasonable accommodations in settings that include workers who do not have disabilities.
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Restoring the Department of Justice’s guidance on the application of the Supreme Court’s Olmstead decision to state and local employment services, which the Trump Administration revoked.
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Provide small business resources for people with disabilities.
Criminal Justice
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Ensure our criminal justice system treats people with disabilities fairly.
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Biden will fund initiatives to partner mental health, disability, and substance use disorder experts and social workers with police departments and first responders. These service providers will train police officers and other frontline responders to better de-escalate interactions with people in severe emotional distress and to respectfully and appropriately interact with individuals with disabilities. The training will vary and be specific to the needs of each impacted community, differentiating strategies for the mental health community and the disability community.
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Biden will also appoint Justice Department leadership that will prioritize the role of using pattern-or-practice investigations to strengthen our justice system, under authority in legislation spearheaded by Biden as Senator. And, Biden will ensure greater enforcement of the ADA across the justice system so that people with disabilities are not denied accommodations whether they are victims, defendants, or witnesses. In addition, he will get people who should be supported with social services—instead of in our prisons—connected to the help they need.
Health Care
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Expand access to high-quality, affordable health care.
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Stand up to abuse of power by prescription drug corporations.
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Lower health care costs for people with disabilities and their families.
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Ensure non-discrimination in access to health care.
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Expand the definition of Medically Underserved Population (MUP) to include people with disabilities, which will drive investments through the Health Resources and Services Administration for expanding access to primary health service providers.
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Ensure access to quality mental and behavioral health treatment.
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Enforce parity laws.
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Integrate mental health and substance use disorder treatment into primary care and expand community-based programs.
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Increase the number of mental health professionals and paraprofessionals.
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Guarantee high-quality mental health care to our veterans and military dependents.
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Invest in research.
Housing
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Fully enforce protections in housing for people with disabilities. Biden will fully enforce the Fair Housing Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, the ADA prohibition on discrimination based on disability, and the Architectural Barriers Act requirement that “buildings or facilities that were designed, built, or altered with federal dollars or leased by federal agencies after August 12, 1968 be accessible.
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Expand access to supportive housing and services for individuals with disabilities and aging Americans. A Biden Administration will increase the availability of supportive and accessible housing for seniors and individuals with disabilities, including through the Supportive Housing for the Elderly (“Section 202”) and Supportive Housing for Individuals with Disabilities (“Section 811”) programs.
Access to Information
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Provide assistive technologies to people with disabilities at home, at school, and at work.
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Increase access to the internet. According to a Pew Research Center survey, “[d]isabled Americans are about three times as likely as those without a disability to say they never go online.” And, adults with disabilities younger than 65 are less likely to have broadband at home than adults without a disability. Biden will fully implement and enforce the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA), which President Obama signed into law in 2010, to expand accessibility for people with disabilities in telecommunications and video programming.
Transportation and Mobility
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Promote universal design and affordable, accessible public and private transportation. People with disabilities, including people with mobility, developmental, and sensory disabilities, must have accessible transportation in order to live, attend school, work, or shop; access health care; and participate in the community.
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Implement policies to address barriers to accessible transportation.
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Ensure new modes of transportation use universal design and incorporate the needs of people with disabilities.
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Ensure that air travel is accessible to people with disabilities.
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Improve paratransit services.
