Disabled voters say the 2024 presidential candidates are ignoring them

Sarah Massengale, a 36-year-old undecided voter in rural South Carolina, felt empowered when she first contacted the vice president Kamala Harriscampaign to tell her story.

“Their website was accessible,” said Massengale, who is blind due to a congenital condition. ‘It was easy for me to find a place to write to her. And I felt really powerful, and I shed a few tears about it.

She said she waited and waited, and when she didn’t get a response from an employee, she attributed it to society’s aversion to people with disabilities. But she said the experience was painful because she had a high opinion of Harris, whom she calls “very powerful” and “very tough.”

However, disability advocates say candidates often ignore their communities the Census Bureau says more than 13% of people in the United States have a disability, and a 2021 study from Rutgers University found that 17.7 million people with disabilities voted in the 2020 election. (Another 11 million disabled adults did not vote that year.)

Two major national disability advocacy groups – the American Association of People with Disabilities and Disability Belongs – say they have failed to get the campaigns for Harris, Donald Trumpand previously, for Joe Biden to complete questionnaires detailing their positions on disability issues.

A third group, the National Disability Rights Network, said it was asking primary candidates to conduct interviews with presidential candidates ahead of the presidential primaries in New Hampshire, South Carolina or Washington, DC. When no candidates participated, they turned around and did a video interview. voters.

“It’s very difficult to get candidates for public office to share their answers and tell us what they think about certain issues,” said Ariel Simms, president and CEO of Disability Belongs, an advocacy group whose majority staff is disabled. is.

Problems with disabilities are much the same as everyone else’s problems, Simms said. “In the disability world we have this saying that every problem is a disability problem, or every policy problem is a disability policy problem, because no matter what we look at, there will always be a unique impact on the disability community. she said.

She pointed to the ongoing conversation about the cost of living. People with disabilities spend more on healthcare, mobility aids and home services. “It’s just built into our daily lives, on top of paying for food and absolutely essential health care,” she said.

The Harris campaign did not comment for this story.

Harris told a voter on a town hall in October: “All people, regardless of disability, should have equal access to housing, to employment opportunities, to education, and again, to dignity.”

The Trump campaign challenged the idea that Trump ignores people with disabilities.

“President Trump will be a president for ALL Americans, including Americans with disabilities,” Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to USA TODAY.

LaQuanda Clark, a 41-year-old who lives in Lexington, South Carolina, criticized Trump for this mock a reporter with a disability at a campaign event in 2015. The reporter had a chronic condition that affected arm movements, and Trump waved his arms while criticizing the reporter’s article.

“That was a big ‘no’ for us,” said Clark, a burn survivor who had both of her hands amputated.

Clark said Harris does a good job on inclusion at her events, but she would like to see the vice president tackle disability issues head-on. Clark wants more funding for independent living agencies that help people with disabilities learn life skills and find jobs like the one where she works.

“As a person with a disability and also as a black woman, I am part of many minority groups, and when it comes to who enters the workforce now, it is a difficult decision because disabilities are not brought to the forefront,” says Clark. said.

Matt Bellina, a 41-year-old from Holland, Pennsylvania, said he was a Gary Johnson libertarian before supporting Trump in his first bid for president. Bellina lives with the fatal neurodegenerative disease ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, after the famous New York Yankee who died from the condition.

Trump signed a bill Bellina has personally asked him to support making it easier for terminal patients to participate in clinical trials for experimental drug treatments.

“I don’t like or hate political figures,” Bellina said. “They are merely instruments that citizens use to shape policy. Trump is a more useful tool than Harris.”

Harris has proposed making Medicare pay for home health care, a move widely seen as benefiting people in the disability community, who often need institutional care through nursing homes before insurance can pay for it. Others rely on Medicaid, which has an asset limit for eligibility, requiring people with disabilities to spend their savings.

“The problem with home health care is a shortage of quality candidates,” Bellina says. “Medicare coverage does not address the root cause.”

Massengale called Harris’ home care proposal “a good start,” but also said it wouldn’t benefit her. As a prediabetic, she wants a law that would make certain medical devices more accessible to people who are blind.

Speaking to USA TODAY just days before the election, she remained undecided on who to support. She said she expects to go to the polls with a plan to vote for one presidential candidate and choose another when she gets to the polling booth.

“I don’t feel seen,” she said. “I feel seen as a woman. I feel seen as a member of the LGBTQ community. But I don’t feel seen as a blind person.”