Obama's Plan:
Sen. Obama's campaign outlines a four-part plan for helping people with disabilities. The first part of the plan focuses on providing people with disabilities greater access to educational opportunities. As part of this plan, Obama supports fully funding the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and creating a study of ways to improve transition to work programs. The second part of Obama's plan addresses discrimination against people with disabilities, and includes, among other proposals, support of legislation to overturn recent court cases limiting the scope of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and increased funding for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
The Obama plan's third part seeks to increase the employment rate for people with disabilities. Obama sets the goal of 100,000 federal employees with disabilities, and calls for the creation of educational and incentive programs for employers who hire people with disabilities and a national Commission on People with Disabilities, Employment, and Social Security. The fourth and final part of the Obama plan supports independent community living for people with disabilities. Obama proposes enforcement of court decisions granting greater access to community living, and also supports an increase in funding for the Social Security Administration to process applications for benefits in a timely manner.
McCain's Plan:
Sen. McCain's campaign materials highlight his support and co-sponsorship of the Combating Autism Act that funds autism research, education and outreach. He also calls for increased federal research on the causes of autism, as well as autism detection and treatment. McCain's campaign highlights his plan to provide disabled veterans with the same health coverage as members of Congress and access to federal disability and retirement benefits at the same time (currently disabled veterans must give up their disability benefits in order to receive their pensions).
McCain co-sponsored the original Americans With Disabilities Act and, according to his remarks at July's National Forum on Disability Issues in Columbus, Ohio, he also supports amendments to the act designed to make it easier for people with disabilities to access community care. At that same forum, McCain discussed how spending on programs for people with disabilities would have to be cut or streamlined unless the government could provide adequate funds to properly pay for the services.
People With Special Needs Feel Left Out of Political Discussion
Even though both candidates have addressed the issues facing people with special needs during the campaign, a recent survey finds that 91% of people with a disability feel that they receive less attention from the candidates than other minorities. The same survey also points out that 44% of the people with special needs surveyed think that healthcare is the most important issue they face.
For Sen. Obama's plan to help people with disabilities, click here.
For a transcript of Sen. McCain's discussion at the National Forum on Disability Issues, click here.
Press Release
September 3, 2008 Contact: Michael Burks (ICDRI): 919-349-6661
Raleigh, N.C. September 3, 2008 – The International Center for Disability Resources on the Internet (ICDRI) is disappointed that Presidential candidates Bob Barr, Alan Keyes, John McCain, Ralph Nader, and Barack Obama, have not made their web sites accessible to and usable by all Americans with disabilities.
“It’s a big disappointment that neither John McCain’s campaign manager, nor Barack Obama’s campaign manager, took action in response to the information we provided in support of making their web sites more accessible to persons with disabilities,” says Michael Burks, President of ICDRI.
A free electronic review of John McCain’s and Barack Obama’s websites were sent to their campaign managers. The other three campaigns were notified of the inaccessibility of their web sites as well. The accessibility assessments evaluate how easy it is for persons with disabilities to make contributions, access information about the candidates’ positions, and engage as volunteers in the national campaigns. In the ICDRI review, numerous accessibility issues were discovered that can be easily fixed.
Below are examples of accessibility issues from each campaign web site:
- Obama Web Site - Form Fields are missing labels. This can confuse users of Assistive Technology and prevent persons from disabilities from knowing what to type into the input fields.
- McCain Web Site - Alt Attribute Tags are missing. This means that users of Assistive Technology will not be able to tell what message the image or object is trying to convey.
- Barr Web Site – Multimedia presentations are missing captions or transcripts. This means that persons with hearing loss do not know what is being said.
- Keyes Web Site - Linked Images are missing Alt Tags or have inappropriate Alt Tags. This means that users of Assistive Technology will not be able to determine the destination of the linked image.
- Nader Web Site - Image Map Areas Missing Alt Text. This means that users of Assistive Technology will not be able to determine the destination of the linked image
“How are persons with disabilities supposed to participate equally in national election activities?” asks ICDRI Advisory Board member, Jenifer Simpson, a leader in the accessible technology policy field. “For example, a person with a vision disability or a person with an intellectual disability must be able to get the information they need to make an informed vote in November. Our colleagues in the communities of persons with hearing disabilities tell us also that no campaign routinely captions the video clips of its candidates either!”
“Web sites are increasingly becoming interactive and some of the Presidential campaign web sites are pushing out information to the prospective voter as supporters sign up to receive the latest campaign news, “ says Cynthia D. Waddell, Executive Director of ICDRI. “Imagine receiving an email telling you to watch the exciting videoclip about the presidential candidate, but then to only find out that you cannot “watch” it because it is not captioned and you are deaf or hard of hearing. This is only one example. Designers of web marketing and outreach can address the needs of voters with disabilities by implementing the World Wide Web Consortium Web Content Accessibility Guidelines or even the federal Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Standards for the web. We hope the candidates take up our recommendation to make their web sites more accessible for voters with disabilities.”
Links to the reports are below:
Report on Obama Website Accessibility Barriers
Report on McCain Website Accessibility Barriers
Report on Barr Website Accessibility Barriers
View Videoview promotional poster (PDF)
“Hidden in Plain Sight”© was developed by the Montana Advocacy Program (Montana P&A) to train poll workers and other individuals on disability awareness.The video is copyrighted by the Montana Advocacy Program and is available for purchase in DVD or VHS format for $20. For information about purchasing, please contact Raylynn Lauderdale at Raylynn@mtadv.org.
What to bring with you when you go vote
- Find your polling place and other voting information
- Have a voting problem? Call the P&A in your state or 1-866-OUR-VOTE for help
- Resources for voters with mental disabilities and their advocates
- Bill of Voting Rights for individuals with Mental Disabilities [PDF / HTML]
- Providing Help to Voters with Disabilities: What You Should Know [PDF / HTML]
- Analyzing a Challenge Based on Lack of Mental Competence to Vote
- State laws that affect voting by individuals with mental disabilities
- Visit our regular voting page for more information on voting
Register to Vote
Election 2008
Guides and Resources
- Election Protection
- State-by-State Requirements for Voter Identification
- It’s Not too Late for 2008: A Voter Registration and Participation Guide (PDF)
- Election Division Contact Information
- State Registration Deadlines
- Voter Registration Toolkit
- Navigating Election Day: What Every Voter Needs to Know. [PDF]
- Guide to the Voting rights of People with Mental Disabilities – Bazelon Mental Health and NDRN
- Restoring the Right to Vote – Brennan Center
- State Laws Affecting Voting Rights of People with Mental Disabilities;
- Press Release for the Voting Guide;
- People with Mental Disability Right to Vote Flyer; and
- Providing Assistance to Voters with Disability Flyer.
Voter Information Center -EAC
- Register to Vote
- Voter Registration Deadlines by State - NEW
- National Voter Registration Act
- State Election Office Contact Information - NEW
- State Polling Hours
- Poll Worker Requirements by State
- Voter's Guide to Election Day
- Contact Your State Election Office or Find Your Election Official
- The League of Women Voters' Vote 411
- Glossary of Election Terms in Six Languages
- U.S. Federal Election System
- Voting System Reports Clearinghouse
- Voter’s Guide to Federal Elections - NEW
