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It's perhaps America's most-watched U.S. Senate race -- and that goes for the disabled, too. In New York, Republican Congressman Rick Lazio and Democratic First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton are courting an electorate that includes 1.9 million disabled individuals.
The two candidates have divergent approaches when it comes to the role of government and the disabled. Lazio emphasizes less government interaction and more private-sector incentives to encourage assistive-technology development and employment of the disabled. Clinton advocates a broader, more interventionist role for government.
Last week, I spoke with both Lazio and Clinton and attended several of their campaign events. I liked much of what both of them had to say and found them both generally attuned to disability issues. Lazio even has first-hand experience with the disabled: His father used a wheelchair for more than a year after suffering a stroke.
But in my opinion, Lazio's free-market emphasis doesn't go far enough. I doubt that the private sector would pick up the slack for technology development and employment of the disabled without prodding from the government. Clinton's long-time advocacy for social issues makes it more likely she will push harder for disabled rights in the Senate. Furthermore, I believe that Clinton is more likely to support possible Supreme Court appointees who would fight for the Americans with Disabilities Act. True, Republican President George Bush signed the landmark law in 1990. But the issue still concerns me.
BIG STICK. What's significant in this Empire State slugfest is that both candidates are aggressively courting the disabled vote. I was surprised to hear constant mentions of disability issues at rallies. But the differences in rhetoric was marked.
Clinton paints herself as an activist politician ready to wield the big-government stick. "As New York's senator, I will work to toughen the enforcement of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and the Fair Housing Act. I will oppose congressional attempts to weaken disability laws," she proclaimed at one rally.
Lazio's calls to action were less strident. "I want better housing for New York's disabled population.... I want more jobs for the disabled," he said at several rallies.
In fairness, Lazio's claims have real credibility. He was a chief sponsor of the 1999 Work Incentives Improvement Act, a bill signed into law last November aimed at augmenting health-insurance availability for disabled Americans. And his staff takes delight in reminding people with disabilities that Lazio was present at the signing ceremony for the WIIA, while the First Lady wasn't.
UNREALISTIC RICK? Furthermore, Clinton has no track record for passing legislation, other than her disastrous foray into health-care reform early in her husband's first term. She could also serve as a lightning rod for a Republican backlash in the Senate. That's not good, if you want to build the type of bipartisan coalitions that have enacted disability legislation in the past.
But Lazio does not support several initiatives important to the disability community -- proposals that Clinton strongly backs. For example, she supports issuance of an Executive Order to create a Youth-to-Work Initiative to help young adults with disabilities gain employment skills. Lazio believes this would be another unfounded federal mandate and opposes it.
Clinton says the federal government should employ more people with disabilities. Lazio believes the government is already too big and wants the private sector to do more hiring of disabled people. As far as I can tell, the majority of private-sector businesses have made little effort to hire the disabled. And I have no reason to believe they'll do so in the future. So I'm not sure that Lazio is being realistic.
To be sure, the two candidates do agree on many aspects of disability policy. Both support reauthorization of the Developmental Disabilities Act and extending the amount of income that students on Supplemental Security Income can earn. They both back increased funding for independent living centers and expanding home and community-based services.
CONSENSUS CANDIDATE. At the same time, neither campaign is totally sensitive to the needs of the disabled. To their credit, both produce literature in large print and on tape. But I did not see a sign-language interpreter at any of the events I covered for both candidates. And although New York has more than 100,000 deaf and hard-of-hearing residents, neither candidate has a Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD) in his or her campaign headquarters. Nor are TDD numbers listed on their Web sites.
Lazio has angered some disabled New Yorkers with a TV ad stating that, thanks to his law (the WIIA), New Yorkers with disabilities are now able to get jobs and not lose their Medicaid health benefits. Disabled advocates note that the Republican-controlled New York State Senate never enacted the necessary state funding to pay for New York's portion of the WIIA and that Lazio's claims are false. Lazio's campaign stands by the ad.
On disability issues, New Yorkers have supporters in both candidates. But in the consensus of the disability community, Hillary Clinton seems to be stauncher.
Williams offers his views every week for BW Online. Got a comment or question? Write to him at JMMAW@aol.com Edited by Alex Salkever
Copyright 2000, by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.
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