We have some things to be excited about, nationally and locally and we have some things that continue to be cause for concern.
Nationally, we elected Barack Obama to be our next President. During his victory speech, President-Elect Obama mentioned us, “disabled,” as one of the groups in this nation to come together to work for a better future. It was brief, not at all elaborate or belabored and he didn’t use quite the right language (I would have said “people with and without disabilities.) But still, it was a mention of people with disabilities in a Presidential acceptance speech! This is unheard of and it is a sign that President-Elect Obama and his people are listening.

During the campaign, there was much disappointment from people with disabilities when both Barack Obama and Joe Biden failed to make even a passing mention of us in the Democratic Convention. Disappointment quickly became anger when Sarah Palin was allowed to position herself as the leading advocate for “families with special needs.” People could feel the “pat on the head” and the quick wink from a patronizing Governor Palin.
But in a quick mention of us in his acceptance speech, Barack Obama has reached out to bring us back to him.

Mr. Obama is a cosponsor of the Community Choice Act and the Obama/Biden platform on disability commits to passage and enactment of this legislation. The real test is ahead, but this is a good sign.

CONGRESS

In our area, I think we can be excited that Dan Maffei was elected for the 25th Congressional district. His opponent, Dale Sweetland, seemed like a good enough guy, but Mr. Maffei was stronger on disability related issues. When Mr. Maffei attended a Congressional forum on Deaf/Hard of Hearing issues held in conjunction with WXXI news, he came prepared. He was the only candidate that night that was already familiar with a variety of specific issues and legislation.

Mr. Maffei also attended CDR/RCIL’s Candidate Forum on Disability Issues. Again, Mr. Maffei was prepared and spoke well to our issues. I spoke with one of his staff at the Deaf congressional forum who was the parent of a young woman with cerebral palsy, so I imagine that this has helped sensitize and prepare Mr. Maffei. Also, he was the only congressional candidate that responded to CDR’s survey of candidates – another plus for him.

I am excited by the opportunity to work with Mr. Maffei.

In other Congressional races, Louise Slaughter easily retained her seat. Congresswoman Slaughter sent a representative to our forum, but did not respond to our survey. She became a cosponsor of the Community Choice Act (CCA) earlier this year.

Chris Lee won comfortably over Alice Kryzan. Ms. Kryzan personally attended our forum while Mr. Lee did not even send representation. Neither candidate responded to our candidate survey. Mr. Lee will now replace Congressman Tom Reynolds. Mr. Reynolds never cosponsored the CCA. We hope that we’ll be able to work more productively with Mr. Lee.

And in the 29th Congressional District, it appears that Eric Massa has narrowly defeated incumbent Congressman Randy Kuhl. Mr. Kuhl and I once had a pretty intense “disagreement” in front of several of his staff (including him yelling and pointing his finger in my face) – I won’t miss him. However, Mr. Kuhl was a cosponsor of the CCA. Mr. Massa did not respond to the candidate survey and did not attend the candidate forum. We have some significant work to do to ensure that Mr. Massa understands and will work for disability rights issues.

STATE LEGISLATORS

The amazing thing for me is that no matter how many people say that Albany is corrupt and needs to be fixed, we send the same people back to Albany. Every time. In the Greater Rochester Area, every incumbent State Legislator was re-elected. Many ran unopposed. It’s not my place to say that any one of the Legislators is bad or unworthy; however, this State is in need of a change in order to better serve people with disabilities, but I guess the change will not be coming from this region.

There are some good signs though.

Senator Jim Alesi attended our candidate forum. To the best of my recollection, this is the first CDR event that he has attended, although he has definitely been supportive in other ways. Also, Assemblyman Bill Reilich attended the forum and responded to the candidate survey. Mr. Reilich’s wife has multiple sclerosis and CDR/RCIL staff has met with Mr. Reilich many times to further educate him on the issues facing people with disabilities. This may be particularly important because Mr. Reilich became chair of the Monroe County Republican Party a few months ago. Hopefully, this will help lead to a closer relationship between the disability community and the Republican Party.

On the Democratic Party side, Assemblyman David Koon won re-election in a race that I thought would be closer. Mr. Koon has significant hearing loss himself and is currently working closely with CDR on several initiatives. Democratic County chair, Joe Morelle, won re-election unopposed. Mr. Morelle did attend our candidate forum even though he had no opposition. The same cannot be said for Assemblyman David Gantt, who was unopposed and neither attended nor responded to the survey.

WRAP IT UP

All in all, I’d say the elections created more opportunities for advancement of disability rights issues. We had some clear wins and some lesser losses, but ultimately, the challenge falls on us to work with whoever is in office in Washington, Albany or Monroe County, to create the changes that are needed by individuals with disabilities to lead better lives, actively, in the community.