A modern report from Rutgers University estimates that about 40.2 million eligible voters will be disabled in the upcoming U.S. presidential election. Adding those who live with people with disabilities amounts to nearly a third of the electorate in an election where health care is a key campaign issue.
As the U.S. population ages, the voting bloc with disabilities is growing, but voters and advocates say the hurdles that make people feel excluded from the voting process are not being addressed. That ranges from inaccessible campaign materials about former President Donald Trump and his Vice President Kamala Harris, which rarely mention how issues like COVID-19 impact the disability community, to a statement by Trump at a rally last month that advocacy groups called was viewed as discriminatory.
“They should treat us like we are their path to victory, because frankly we are,” said Dom Kelly, founder and CEO of New Disabled South, an advocacy group focused on disability rights in the South. “You win or lose because of disabled people, and not taking our community seriously will impact the outcome of your campaign.”
Lisa Schur and her husband Doug Kruse direct the Disability Studies Program at Rutgers and are co-authors of the modern report, which also shows that there are 7.1 million voters in the battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Disabilities exist in Wisconsin.
Schur said people with disabilities are less likely to receive information about politics and can face numerous difficulties when voting in person and by mail. All of this can lead to lower participation.
“It’s a bit like death by a thousand cuts,” Schur said.
Matt Mills is a former Trump supporter and avid voter. The 41-year-old from Brown County in southern Ohio suffers from lupus and polyneuropathy and has received two kidney transplants since 2017.
This year he will vote for Harris because she has a “proven record of advocating for health care policies he likes.” Still, he believes voters with disabilities are taken for granted.
“If we don’t see ourselves represented,” he said, “we will continue to become depressed, tired and discouraged.”
Jim Piet and Patricia Vincent-Piet of Concord, New Hampshire both have cerebral palsy. The couple say that over the years they have been turned away by political candidates when they have tried to talk to them – but also that the candidates have welcomed them warmly.
However, what concerns them most are policies that impact their daily lives.
“Just because I talk to people with disabilities or am kind to them doesn’t mean their policies are helpful,” said Vincent-Piet, 53.
Her 63-year-old husband receives support through the Medicaid long-term care program, which provides medical and personal care to people with disabilities and chronic illnesses. Vincent-Piet is concerned that Republicans will make cuts to Medicaid. Both plan to vote for Harris.
Trump, Harris disability work
When Trump first ran for office in 2015, he apparently waved his arms to mock a disabled journalist. At a September rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, the former president falsely claimed that Harris was “mentally impaired.” The American Association of People with Disabilities condemned Trump’s words as disability-sensitive and “harmful to people with disabilities.”
Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said Trump is “committed to ensuring that every voter, including voters with disabilities, can exercise their right to vote in the most important election of our lifetime.”
It’s more about including disabled voters, said Meighan Stone, who relies on a wheelchair due to symptoms of long-term COVID.
“The focus on disability jokes or whether or not disabled people are visible at campaign events reduces disabled people to one thing,” Stone said, adding: “…This is a level of discrimination that we live with every day. “
Stone wants both candidates to focus on figuring out how long it will take them to receive disability benefits — about six to eight months, according to the federal government — and for the Food and Drug Administration to approve a treatment for long-COVID, he says : “I think both campaigns want to act like they’ve solved a pandemic and it’s over.”
The Harris campaign recently hired Anastasia Somoza as its director of disability engagement. Somoza, who has cerebral palsy and uses a motorized wheelchair, said the Harris campaign will host an event with disabled entrepreneurs in Pittsburgh on Monday. Somoza also said she is trying to ensure there is a virtual option for all campaign events.
In 2023, the vice president met with disability industry leaders on transportation issues and proposed paying for home care with Medicare and eliminating the subminimum wage for disabled workers.
But the two presidential campaigns could do more, said Holly Latham of #MEAction, which advocates for people with chronic fatigue syndrome. She said advertisements, flyers and events must be accessible to all people with disabilities.
“Are they doing the basics? “Do they provide alternative text (a written description of an image)?” Latham said. “Do they make sure they have sign language interpreters and things like that?”
Disabled Folks for Kamala, a coalition of advocates, said a virtual Harris campaign event for disabled voters on Oct. 8 “failed to meet basic access requirements.” Marissa Ditkowsky, who has a form of muscular dystrophy, watched the event and said she was frustrated by the problems.
The Harris campaign said it “deeply regrets” the technical difficulties. No one transcribed the subtitles and a sign language interpreter was not present at the start of the event.
“We want people to think about us as they create these spaces rather than as an afterthought,” said Ditkowsky, who called Harris the “clear choice” in the presidential campaign.
Training of election workers
The U.S. Election Assistance Commission is currently working with election officials to ensure that every eligible American can do so independently, privately and without restrictions, said Commissioner Benjamin Hovland.
He acknowledged the growing need for more targeted and appropriate disability training for election officials and poll workers — particularly for things like anxiety or different ways of processing information — in hopes of making polling places more accommodating.
“No matter what it is or who someone is voting for, if someone needs help, it’s your job as a poll worker – which I believe is the customer service face of our democracy – to make sure they can get through the process privately and privately.” “I am independent and feel great about it,” Hovland said. “Give them the ‘I Voted’ sticker and thank them. Just think about how important this interaction is.”
Patti Chang, 61, is blind and lives in Chicago. She said this feeling of exclusion that she and other people with disabilities experience is not just found in politics.
“Until society has higher expectations for people with disabilities and until society itself is more inclusive,” she said, “you will see this not just in voting, but in almost everything you encounter.”
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Associated Press data journalist Kasturi Pananjady contributed to this report.
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