Questions for the Candidates
POLITICAL LEADERSHIP
- Do you support creating a permanent Assistant to the President for Disability Policy at the White House?
- How will you ensure that qualified people with disabilities will be a part of your administration?
- What steps would you take to improve employment access and working conditions for Americans with disabilities?
- How would you reform federal income support programs (Supplemental Security Income and Social Security Disability Insurance) to give beneficiaries a greater standard of living and fuller participation in the labor market?
- According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, between 1993 and 2004, federal workers with significant disabilities left the workforce at more than seven times the general reduction in the federal workforce. How would you ensure that qualified workers with disabilities are given meaningful opportunities to participate in the federal workforce at all levels?
- How would you ensure that people with disabilities have access to quality, affordable healthcare that is responsive to their needs?
- Will you use managed care principles to deliver healthcare services? If so, how?
- How would you improve the quality of health and rehabilitation services provided to veterans with disabilities?
- How would you improve the quality of health and rehabilitation services provided to Native Americans with disabilities? Do you support the reauthorization of the Indian Healthcare Act?
- How will you assure people with disabilities have fair access to Medicare Part D prescriptions?
- How will you correct the inequities caused by the Medicare “homebound” rule?
- Do you support Congressional efforts to ensure mental health parity in health insurance, such as S. 558 and H.R. 1367?
- How would you address America’s increasing need for home and community-based long-term services, such as personal assistance services, respite care, and other supports?
- Do you support the Community Choice Act of 2007 (S. 799, H.R. 1621) and the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act of 2007 (CLASS Act of 2007)?
- What other steps would you take to help states implement the Olmstead v. L.C. Supreme Court decision and address the institutional bias in the current Medicaid system?
- Will you propose integrating acute and long term services by using integrated managed care principles?
- How will you address the shortage of community direct care attendants?
- How will you address the lack of coordination between Medicare and Medicaid policies?
- What would you do to increase the availability of affordable, accessible, integrated housing opportunities for low and moderate income people with disabilities and their families?
- How will you assure the vigorous implementation of all Fair Housing laws?
- How will you assure that HUD implements programs that will assist states in complying with the Olmstead decision?
- How would you expand access to affordable, accessible transportation for people with disabilities, especially those in rural areas?
- How would you ensure that students with disabilities are included and accommodated as part of the accountability measures of No Child Left Behind?
- Do you support full federal funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)?
- What ideas do you have for strengthening federal enforcement of IDEA?
- What ideas do you have for increasing the high school graduation rate of students served by IDEA?
- How would you improve services for students transitioning from school to employment, or from high school to higher education?
- Do you support legislation requiring that Internet technologies be made accessible to and usable by people with disabilities?
- What measures would you propose to ensure that consumer electronic and telecommunications devices are accessible to and usable by persons with disabilities?
- How would you ensure enforcement of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act?
- Would you support restoration of full funding for the Assistive Technology Act of 2004 programs?
- How would you ensure that voters with disabilities are able to vote privately and independently, consistent with the requirements of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA)?
- Would you require the Census Bureau’s surveys of people with disabilities to ask whether respondents are registered to vote and whether they voted in the last election?
- Which current Supreme Court justices do you consider models for the kinds of federal judges you would appoint if elected president?
- Do you support an ADA Amendments Act, such as the bill introduced in the last Congress?
- What steps will you take to end the diminishment of the civil rights protections under the ADA?
- Do you support U.S. ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol?
