THE PRESCRIPTION FOR POSITIVE CHANGE IN WASHINGTON

MIKE CASSARO’S PRESCRIPTION FOR POSITIVE CHANGE IN WASHINGTON:

PROVIDING REAL ASSISTANCE TO DISABLED AMERICANS

 

(Prospect, KY).  April marks a very important month in the civil rights movement.    In April of 1977, the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, Joseph Califano, Jr. had signed meaningful regulations for Section 504, a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities.  Secretary Califano only signed this regulation after a group of disabled people took over the offices of his Department.

“As the father of a wheel-chair bound teenager, I appreciate the importance of Secretary Califano’s actions,” notes Mike Cassaro. 

     “Without meaningful regulations for Section 504, disabled children, including my son, would not have had equal access to education.”

     This regulation has NOT enabled Americans with disabilities (who represent this country’s largest minority group) to receive economic justice.  Only 24.3 percent of the approximately 13.5 million non-institutionalized disabled Americans are in the labor force.

     According to experts on the disabled, this alarming unemployment rate is primarily a consequence of Social Security regulations, which penalize disabled Americans for working. These Americans are at-risk of losing money for taking a job.  In addition, employment puts Americans with disabilities at-risk of losing their guaranteed government healthcare coverage.

     Mike Cassaro wants to reform the social security disability system so that Americans with disabilities would be financially able to obtain meaningful employment.  He also does not want the disabled to rely on the “token jobs” that the Bush administration has created with its “ticket-to-work” program.

     The Association of Protection and Advocacy Systems has found that one out of three people with disabilities has encountered job discrimination. Furthermore, recent decisions of the federal court systems have weakened or stripped protections from disabled Americans.

     Mike Cassaro, as your U.S. Senator, would only support federal judges who value laws that protect Americans with disabilities.  “Protecting these American citizens is not a Democratic or Republican issue. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) received widespread bi-partisan support,” notes Mike Cassaro. “In spite of such support, Mitch McConnell has continuously voted for federal judges who did not respect the ADA. Mitch McConnell is manifesting an utter lack of appreciation for American citizens with disabilities.”

--Cassaro for U.S. Senator; courtesy of Frank Leidermann, Acting Editor