Sarah Palin Doesn't Speak for Me

When I heard that the Republican vice presidential nominee would be delivering a policy address on “special needs” children (because this was part of her “portfolio”) I thought, really? Sarah Palin, mother of a “special needs” child since April, considers herself already qualified to step confidently to the microphone and speak to, or on behalf of, us—parents of children with disabilities—nationwide?

It’s true that parents raising children with disabilities—along with adults with disabilities, of course, and those who care for, and fight for the rights of people with disabilities of all ages—belong to an unofficial alliance comprised of people who ‘get it.’ Even without a secret handshake, members of our organization recognize each other more or less instantly in public, just as we can easily identify people who think they understand, and talk as if they do, but really don’t. Governor Palin, by virtue of her Down syndrome son, already has a provisional membership in our club (the club hardly anybody wants to be a member of), but she hasn’t, in my book, earned the right, as she suggested in her speech on Friday, to be our “friend and advocate in the White House.” Sarah Palin doesn’t speak for me.

For weeks I’ve been watching uneasily as she stepped before crowds with her bewildered and somewhat stiff-looking baby in her arms, the rest of her large family parading silently behind. The roar of crowds was a good thing for Trig? Or was it possible Governor Palin, or someone in the McCain-Palin campaign, hoped to win votes with this heart-warming display of family values and inclusion? I came away from her speech on Friday, as I do from many of her public addresses, scratching my head.

But wait, let’s back up and try to be fair. Sarah Palin does have nice teeth. Her Japanese eyewear is outstanding, and really, she looks great in her new clothes. Simply put, the woman is nicely put together and shockingly photogenic. Unlike many of us, she has mastered the art of walking in very high heels, and, I mean, who has that many good hair days in a row? And with such variation! There.

Back to the real issue: I’m a mother of a child with disabilities; the Republican Party is offering me what, exactly? School vouchers, it sounded like, and generalities like, “giving these families better information” and the “reform and refocus” of dollars already in the budget.

It’s good news that both campaigns appear to consider the disability community an actual constituency worth winning over. Yay. But it’s abundantly clear that Barack Obama and Joe Biden have given their “Plan to Empower Americans with Disabilities” a great deal more thought than John McCain and Sarah Palin have given theirs.

Barack Obama and Joe Biden, for example:
· Believe all states should have newborn screening programs, and they support a national goal to provide re-screening for all two-year-olds (the age at which some conditions, including autism spectrum disorders, begin to appear) because disabilities identified early enough will help children and families get the supports and resources they need.
· Want to invest $10 billion per year in early intervention educational and developmental programs for children between zero and five.
· Support a measure, cosponsored by Obama, that would expand federal funding for life-long services for people with autism spectrum disorders, authorizing approximately $350 million in new federal funding for key programs related to treatments, interventions and services for both children and adults with ASD.
· Support vocational rehabilitation programs and will assure there is sufficient funding to empower Americans with disabilities to succeed in college and beyond.
· Will appoint judges and justices who exhibit empathy with what it means to be an American with a disability.
(I could go on and on but instead I’ll simply urge you to visit the links provided below.)

I’m clear that Obama is the “friend and advocate” I want in the White House.

But here’s what’s really worrying me this morning: some parents of children with disabilities—because they feel tired and worried so many of their waking hours, and because they so need someone in the White House who ‘gets it’, and because they might not have the time or energy between suctioning their kids’ lungs, or whatever, to compare the two campaign positions closely—some of these parents might have listened to Governor Palin’s speech on Friday with feelings of weepy, overpowering hope, and concluded that this perky woman—with her nice clothes, cool spectacles, interesting up-do’s, down-home soccer mom delivery, and Down syndrome baby—is in the better position to help them.

That would be a mistake.

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