Caucus for Nebraskans Experiencing Disabilities
Jul 19, 10:01 AM CST
Editors Note: The following message is from Jim Dake from Dodge County, who is working with others to form a caucus for Nebraskans experiencing disabilities.
A message for every one!
The Nebraska Democrats’ Caucus for Nebraskans Experiencing Disabilities needs your help at contacting Nebraska Democrats who fit the definition of “disability.” Within the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 a disabled person is someone who has (A) a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life activities of such individual; (B) a record of such an impairment; or© being regarded as having such an impairment. Our caucus will not stop there, voting members also include persons not disabled but who is in the first degree of relationship with such a disabled individual, including a committed partner of a disabled person in a same sex couple. Non-voting members shall include anyone else who shares our concerns as Nebraskans experiencing disabilities.
According to the U.S. Census in 2000, 1 in 5 people over the age of four has a disability. Yet those 20% has an almost muted electoral voice. Do they not speak, or are they simply unheard? After achieving great things in the twentieth century, those with life-activity-limiting health challenges are once again amongst the nation’s ignored, forgotten and shut out.
I am one of those 1 in 5. As many of you know, my name is Jim Dake, from LD 15 and in 1993, one year after I was sworn in to practice law, I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. I went on to practice law until I retired in 1999 but my hunger to remain involved, despite my M.S., led me to turn to another love, our political system. My disability gave me a new perspective and led me to realize that people like me need to become a voice for change that America needs. We have this thing started. What we need are some more members. As you meet with people, think about the following.
Ask yourself, would you rather see the top 1% income earners receive tax breaks, or like to see medicare and medicaid adequately funded?
Does illegal steroid use in professional sports have more of an impact on you and your family, than your out of pocket expense for prescription drugs?
Is ensuring that estates worth more than 7 million dollars are not taxed upon the death of the millionaire (the so-called “death tax”) so that the wealth can be passed on to the millionaire’s heirs, really that important to you? Or have any chances that your own estate might qualify for a “death tax” been wiped out by the costs of medical expenses?
Why was it so pressing to pass “Bankruptcy Reform” when the overwhelming percentage of bankruptcies were caused by medical expenses?
In 1st and 2nd C.D.’s, we are blessed with some of the best hospitals in the nation. But rural health care is in a state of crisis. We need to see that our rural areas have the health care facilities they deserve.
It is no coincidence that America’s greatest president, who was elected 4 times, led our nation and the Allies in the Second World War, who pulled America out of the Great Depression, created the new society and created Social Security, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, endured a life-activity-limiting health challenge. At the age of 39, F.D.R. was struck with poliomyetalis (Polio) and was paralyzed from the waist down. Although the paralysis resulting from polio had no cure, for the rest of his life, Roosevelt refused to believe that he was permanently paralyzed. One can only wonder what America and the world would have been like, had F.D.R. succumbed to society’s barriers against those with disabilities.
In 2004, as a delegate from Nebraska’s first congressional district, I attended the Democratic National Convention in Boston, where almost every speaker spoke about health issues. F.D.R.’s legacy with the Democratic Party continues. Social Security and it’s Disability Insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and The Family Medical Leave Act are all programs which the Democratic party created and has always supported. These are programs which Conservatives constantly seek to roll back. Too many look upon aiding those facing disabilities with the same disdain which they have when they must park farther away from their destination because of those blue parking spaces.
While holding a door open is a nice gesture; a restricted parking place with a curb cut and an accessible entrance, a convenient nicety; and giving us rights at our workplace, a benefit to both us and the workplace. But these are just the first steps, in what those of us with facing disabilities know as “reasonable accommodations.”
I am growing more and more tempted to respond to someone who wants to open a door for me “Thank-you, but no, I can get it myself. Maybe you could support legislation, programs and law which would really help me out?” The Caucus for Nebraskans Facing Disabilities will make such a passing thought, a reality.
Those of us facing disabilities live with, and know, the problems every human might one day face. We are not alone. For each of the 1 in 5 with disabilities, there are family members, lifetime partners, parents, children, and siblings, all of whom share our plight. There are the professionals, who have selflessly steered their lives so that they can give beyond their profession to assist in conquering our challenges. We all owe it to our fellow man to share our experiences, knowledge, and the wisdom, which the challenges have given to us. We must remind society that those facing disabilities are no longer to be herded away out of sight. As we are challenged, we want society to witness our conquering the challenges. Those with a disability will inspire others as we rise beyond anyone’s expectations, again and again. This has become our duty to society. Our disability is so much more than a slogan, a sound bite, or a bumper sticker. It is just that, a disability we face, which we rise above and live with, so that the description itself becomes a misnomer.
We might not get there as fast as others, but we still get there and can vote! If you would like to turn what many call a “disability” into a tool with which our country can be strengthened, join with me in contacting other Nebraska Democrats Facing Disabilities in creating this Caucus. A a list serve on Google has been created with the following address. Join up, read through our by laws, and we will energize a new voting block.
– by eric | Send this to a friend
— Peggy McCarty Jul 21, 11:37 PM CST #
— Peggy McCarty Jul 22, 12:53 AM CST #