Hi everyone,

For those who don't know, I am publicly supporting Barack Obama.

It was not an easy decision for me to publicly support a candidate so early, or to appear partisan in my professional life, and I have to acknowledge that there are several wonderful candidates running for president who could easily win my support.

My decision to support Barack Obama was first and foremost because I share his optimism for our future and his commitment to the needs of people who are disenfranchised.

I also chose to support Barack Obama for a second key reason. I have been outspoken in insuring that my efforts to support a candidate are taken seriously. I can't afford to publicly support a candidate who isn't committed to real change in the lives of 54 million Americans and I won't ask others to support a candidate who doesn't demonstrate true commitment to walk the talk. Too much is at stake and people with disabilities have more to gain or lose than just about anyone else in the next administration, so I am working as hard as I can to make sure our next president makes our issues a priority.

I can tell you that I have been encouraged to provide substantive and meaningful input into the issues that are Barack Obama's priorities in his campaign and as president. Not just disability issues. I am being taken seriously when I bring ideas about integrating the needs of people with disabilities into all of his issues.

I am confident that you will begin to see this more clearly on his website and more importantly in his words and actions as he speaks to people across the country. I want to respond to recent discussion on this list with some clarification and updates on the Obama website and Barack Obama's leadership on disability issues.

The Obama campaign wanted to be sure they could say that they were 508 compliant for their disability fact sheet, so they asked a 508 compliance expert to verify this. This expert is used by other key websites for disability access and this indicates to me that access is important to the campaign and to Barack Obama. There are pages on MyBO (My Barack Obama) that are created by groups of supporters like:

an Americans with disabilities MyBO group
http://my.barackobama.com/page/group/
AmericanswDisabilitiesforObama;
 
a People with Disabilities of MA page
http://my.barackobama.com/page/group/
PeoplewithDisabilitiesofMassachusettsfor;
 
a Deaf Americans for Obama group
http://my.barackobama.com/page/group/DeafAmericans;
 
an Autism group
http://my.barackobama.com/page/group/Autism;
 
a Mentally Ill for Obama group;
 
a mental health workers group;
 
and so on (these were all found just doing a few quick searches on MyBO - I bet there are others.

The disability issues page will be up and running soon, as feedback from Senator Obama's recent disability issues roll out is integrated into the documents. As for the recent wish list posted on this listserve:

1. The Obama campaign has a great disability policy working group and we are all working on outreach. As a person with a disability and as the parent of two kids with disabilities, I am committed to insuring that the campaign practices our mantra, "nothing about us, without us". The Obama campaign doesn't utilize an outreach coordinator structure, but, better yet, at least two very senior members of the campaign are parents of kids with disabilities and I am confident that the campaign is entirely committed to hiring qualified candidates for vacancies, including people with disabilities.

   
   

2. See # 1 and let me know if you want to serve on the disability policy committee and I'll put you in touch with the co-chairs. You will recognize many of the members of this committee as strong community leaders and issue experts.

   
   

3. I am confident that disability issues will be prominently included both topically and integrated throughout the website so people will see them when they look at other issues and other communities.

   
   

4. Ensuring access to events is something I am providing input on and since I am being consistently taken seriously, I am confident that the campaign is committed to making sure all events are accessible. I will suggest a policy statement. This might make it easier to clearly articulate to event planners not only the importance but providing technical guidance in getting it done!

   
   

5. I will find out more about delegates with disabilities.

   
   

6. I am confident that the disability vote is important to the Obama campaign and that this will become clearer and clearer as the campaign moves forward. I am proud to be able to support Barack Obama and excited that our community is finally beginning to have a strong impact on several of the campaigns! As Justin Dart always said, "get into politics as if your life depends on it, BECAUSE IT DOES."

   
   

Happy Holidays,
Marcie