Disability Rights Archives - Page 4 of 4 - Colleen Angela Van Etten

Are you registered to vote? National Voter Registration Day on September 22, 2020 is a good day to check. If you’re thinking why bother, read on to find out why voting matters for both constituents and election workers.

Constituent Voters

V ─ VOTE because federal laws—the Americans with Disabilities Act and Help America Vote Act—protect the voting rights of people with disabilities.

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O ─ ONE vote can make the difference between winning and losing an election. Google it and you’ll see. Tie votes have been broken by pulling a name out of a hat, a coin toss, or drawing the highest card. Don’t surrender your vote to chance! Did you know that, in the 2018 midterm election, 20% of voters either had a disability or lived with someone who had a disability? i.e. more than Hispanic/Latino voters. Vote and be sure that our powerful voting bloc is heard.

T ─ TOUGH choices in troubled times is no excuse for not voting. Tear through the trial of long lines or people not wearing masks, and vote early or by mail.

E ─ EDUCATE yourself on candidate platforms, referendums, and proposed amendments.

R ─ REGISTER to vote prior to rolls closing for the November general election. If you don’t know the registration cut-off date, find the date in your State by clicking on this link, https://www.vote.org/voter-registration-deadlines/

S ─ SERVE as an election worker. If you need an accommodation, ask for it. I served as an Inspector giving voter passes at eight primary or general elections with two accommodations—my adjustable height Ergo Chair for Little People and a block of wood. Yes, you read that right, a block of wood! The block was placed under the back of my assigned Electronic Voter IDentification (EVID) machine tilting it forward so I could read the screen.

Election Workers

V ─ VALUE differences in each unique voter.

O ─ OFFER help, but allow voters to choose their own helper—a friend, family member, or an election worker. If help is accepted, ask how you can help and wait for instructions. Don’t insist on helping if the offer is refused.

T ─ TRAINING is mandated to promote access and participation of individuals with disabilities. Local disability advocates are ideally suited to conduct this training. For ten years, I provided disability sensitivity training to election workers on terminology, communication, respect, and access issues.

E ─ EQUAL access to facilities and equipment is required. This includes the opportunity for private and independent voting. Accessible voting machines—equipped with earphones and other modifications—must not only be in the precinct, but must also be ready to use.

R ─ RESPECT a voter’s pace and space.For example, don’t pat or reach over a voter’s head.Allow a voter to move and speak at their own pace.

S ─ SPEAK with a typical voice volume, tone and subject matter. People who are blind are not deaf. People with dwarfism are not children. People with intellectual disabilities understand what workers say about them.

Almost time to order your copy of Angela Muir Van Etten’s book—PASS ME YOUR SHOES: A Couple with Dwarfism Navigates Life’s Detours with Love and Faith—which releases during Dwarfism Awareness Month in October 2020.

ADA 30-year milestone

Thirty is a great age—young enough to meet the world head on and old enough to be taken seriously. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) reached this milestone on July 26, 2020—the day when disability rights were finally recognized as civil rights.

At 30, the ADA is old enough to be taken seriously by people who ignore the right of people with disabilities to be fully included at school, in the work-force, or on public transportation, to name a few protected rights.

It is against the law for school districts and colleges to deny equal access to programs or facilities. The photo of a student with a disability can’t be left out of the year book, students must be included on field trips, reasonable accommodations must be provided. Yet the ADA is young enough that people with disabilities are still twice as likely as those without a disability not to finish high school. Disability advocates must fight for student inclusion and accommodations.

The ADA is violated when employers refuse to hire someone because they are perceived as being too short, looking different, talking funny, making customers uncomfortable, or otherwise not fitting in. Yet the ADA is young enough that many people with disabilities ready and able to work are still denied this opportunity. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2019, only 19.3% of people with a disability were employed compared to a 66.3% employment rate for people without a disability. The 7.3% unemployment rate for people with disabilities was double the 3.5% rate for those without a disability.

Federal law is broken when local governments deny people with disabilities access to public transportation. Buses without lifts should not be bought, roads without curb cuts should not be built, door-to-door service should not be denied to those unable to get to a bus stop, taxi companies should not be operating without a sufficient number of accessible vehicles to service customers unable to board regular taxis. Yet the ADA is young enough that people with disabilities are denied access to public transportation all across the country on a daily basis.

At age 30, the ADA can meet the world head on as a powerful tool people with disabilities, families and advocates can use to achieve justice and equality for all. We can’t sit around waiting for somebody else to enforce the rights protected by the ADA. Nothing will change until somebody becomes the someone who cares enough to do something. And that somebody needs to be me! Not me alone, but me and many others working together as a coalition. Not only is the world too big for one person to conquer, the task is so huge that one person will buckle under the weight. Tapping into our collective power is essential.

“So, let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.” Galatians 6:9 (New Living Translation)

Look for the Fall release of my book—PASS ME YOUR SHOES: A Couple with Dwarfism Navigates Life’s Detours with Love and Faith—which discusses what happens when God intervenes in a marriage complicated by dishonesty, dwarfism, discord, and discrimination.