It’s pretty rare for presidents to talk about disability issues in these addresses, but not unheard of. Here is an admittedly idealistic list of things I would like the President to mention tonight … though I won’t be too surprised or disappointed if he doesn’t:
- If he talks about citizens killed by police … a hot-button issue he may well ignore altogether … I hope he mentions the risks to disabled people like Ethan Saylor, too.
- I really do hope he voices strong support for fully funding Social Security Disability, with a strong repudiation of panicky myths about SSDI being “out of control”.
- He should shame the Senate for still failing to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
- If he cites the ABLE Act as a rare example of bipartisan cooperation, it would be great if he would refer to it as a starting point, not a problem completely solved.
- It is always a good year to broach the subject of long term care, and double down on support for programs that enable the elderly and the disabled to live independently in their own homes.
- It would be an interesting moment right now … while he addresses income inequality and middle class stagnation ... to advocate a final end to paying sub-minimum wage to workers with disabilities.
I will be following the #SOTU4PWD hashtag during the speech. If there’s anything interesting in it, I will do a blog post about it tomorrow.
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