America is gathering today to mark a moment in history, the inauguration of President-elect Barak Obama. It’s about 10 a.m., and already tens of thousands of people have filled Pennsylvania Avenue, the National Mall, and anywhere else they can squeeze on Washington D.C.’s streets.
Amid all of the fanfare, it’s important to remember Obama and Joe Biden’s plan to empower Americans with disabilities. It calls for four tenets:
1. Provide Americans with disabilities with the educational opportunities they need to succeed.
2. End discrimination and promote equal opportunity.
3. Increase the employment rate of workers with disabilities.
4. Support independent, community-based living for Americans with disabilities.
Obama and Biden also have created a plan to support those with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). They will seek to increase federal ASD funding to $1 billion annually. This money will go to research, treatment, screenings, public awareness, and support services. The administration also plans to mandate insurance coverage of autism treatment.
We’re looking forward to supporting efforts to turn these plans into reality for our community. Working together, we hope we can enable more Americans with developmental disabilities become independent, self-sufficient citizens of our country.
January 20, 2009 at 5:41 pm
Another important promise that Obama has made to people with disabilities is to sign the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and to encourage the US Senate to ratify it. Although most of the CRPD is already consistent with US laws we have in place, implementing the CRPD would also help strengthen protection certain key human rights for people with disabilities that are currently not well addressed, such as the right to live independently in the community (instead of in institutions).