CA Democratic Platform on Disability
PREAMBLE
The United States Government, especially the President, has two major responsibilities - the economy and national security.The Republicans have mishandled both and Democrats are committed to making this country stronger in both areas.In 2004, Californians must make crucial choices about the path our state and country will take in the 21st Century. Californians have a shared vision for the future.We believe that quality public education for all children, from pre-school to college, is a fundamental right.We want to maintain laws to keep assault weapons off our streets and out of our schools.We want affordable health care for working families.We will continue to fight for seniors to have the decent quality of life that they deserve. California's"Greatest Generation" deserves to enjoy their lives without worrying that Social Security and Medicare are going to be cut.We will build smarter, sustainable communities.And Californians will never, ever accept leaders who threaten to take away a woman's right to choose.
We, Members of the California Democratic Party, unequivocally support the United States' efforts to bring to justice, the terrorists responsible for the destruction and loss of lives at the Pentagon and World Trade Center, September 11, 2001.To win the war against terrorism, Democrats will bear all reasonable burdens to effectively marshal our financial and human resources to achieve this goal.We must safeguard the constitutional rights of all Americans while fighting terrorism.We will defend our American beliefs, values, and traditions.We will preserve our inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
While our lives have been forever altered by that horror- filled day, we remember that the Democratic Party put America and California on a new course of peace and prosperity.As we enter the new millennium, Democrats will reinvigorate the economy.We will fight for real tax relief for families and individuals.We will work to reduce unemployment and create new jobs.We will fight for the enactment, continuance and enforcement of civil rights, equal justice, equal opportunity, and voting rights legislation.We are committed to policies to stabilize energy costs and maximize availability and conservation.We will strengthen existing Patients Bills of Rights.We will preserve the environment for future generations.
The Democratic Party is the ONLY political party that represents these core principles.The working families of California deserve a government that shares their vision for the future. Democrats strive to make California's schools the best in the nation, expand Medicare benefits to working Americans, shield every Californian against the terrible forces of discrimination and hate, and vigorously support full access for people with disabilities. Democrats will protect family leave and health care benefits.We will protect the well being of our families.We will help children say,"Yes" to a college education and,"No" to drugs and tobacco.And Democrats will always stand for the American right for working people to organize and unionize.We will stand by these principals and we expect our affiliates to live by all of them in the course of their business and political activities.
This is the blueprint for the Golden State in the 21st Century.This platform represents the Democratic vision for our State, embracing and implementing the dreams of California's working families. Every plank in this platform touches the lives of each Californian, thus reflecting the Democratic Party's aim of including each Californian in the American Dream.
DISABILITIES (New Plank for 2004)
Individuals with disabilities are valuable members of our society. The goals of the disabled community and such laws and regulations impacting them are to foster and support the ability of people with disabilities to be self- sufficient members of our society.The California Democratic Party advocates the strict enforcement of all Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Federal Disability laws and regulations as well as state regulations and access laws. Enforcement and implementation funding is prerequisite to ensuring access to every person in need.We strongly oppose any reduction in Social Security Disability Income, Supplemental Security Income/State Supplementary Programs or Federal Social Security Disability Income.As such, we express continuing support for the following:
Accessibility- Enforce all Federal and State laws, building and access codes pertaining to persons with disabilities. Promote legislation for programs guaranteeing full participation in academia. Require and support full enforcement of reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities.
Children- Support early diagnosis and access to treatment, and adequate homecare support for children with disabilities.
Communication/Outreach- To ensure greater participation of persons with disabilities, fund and improve existing means of communications by increasing the use of audio and video teleconferences, Braille and multi-accessible formats, including meetings in accessible buildings and facilities. Participate in and enforce the Help America Vote Act. Support and promote the development of Young Democrats with disabilities within clubs and on college campuses.
Education/Training- Restore funding for interpreters, note-takers, adaptive technology, and other classroom aids assisting persons with disabilities. Support enforcement guaranteeing adequate funding to assure ADA compliant access to all adaptive equipment and accessible infrastructure, services and programs within all schools and colleges. Promote specialized training, including education in communications skills, for vocational rehabilitation counselors providing services to individuals with disabilities.Fully restore the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
Employment- Enact economic reforms for persons with disabilities including work incentives to improve employment opportunities. Support programs that will increase employment of disabled persons to a rate explicitly comparable to the employment ratio of the broader adult population. Eliminate work disincentives that penalize beneficiaries of Supplemental Security Income and Social Security Disability Insurance who return to work. Promote alternative forms of employment for persons with disabilities who cannot work standard 8-hour workdays or 5-day workweeks due to health limitations or insufficient transportation. Affirm the rights of persons with disabilities to develop independent entrepreneurial, professional and related employment goals without fear of loss or reprisal. Ensure security for employed persons with disabilities against penalties by state-funded/county- administered programs when striving toward gainful employment.
Equality of Opportunity- Guarantee that persons with disabilities have full access to all aspects of public and private sectors by aggressively implementing the Americans with Disabilities Act and related Federal and State laws. Contest all challenges, legislative and judicial, to State and Federal disability rights laws. Enact a California Sovereign Immunity Waiver and a California ADA. Challenge all 90-day notification laws. Champion certification legislation supporting programs for ADA experts and enforcement authorities. Promote alternative processes of participation within community committees, legislative and government boards. Include participative opportunities on committees for persons with disabilities, regardless of access and transportation limitations. Eliminate marriage penalties imposed upon SSI and SSDI recipients, including discrimination based over and upon marriage/income parameters. Promote programs providing financial aide or loans for accessible housing and durable medical equipment and accessible vehicle purchases. Vigorously oppose the confirmation of Federal judicial appointees whose records show they are philosophically committed to the effective dismantling of the ADA and other civil rights laws.
Healthcare- End discriminatory policies and practices in the health care field, including those for socio-economic reasons. Discrimination prevents equality of opportunity for disabled persons. Allow individuals with disabilities to continue to receive SSI/SSDI-based medical benefits when their employers do not provide health insurance. Eliminate limitations or denial of medical insurance coverage contingent upon pre-existing conditions. Change the current standards to provide durable medical equipment, improving the integration of disabled persons into wider society. Eliminate reliance on low bidder approach to guarantee equipment meeting the needs of the person. Abolish"Homebound" Medicaid rules. Enhance access to new medical equipment and technology.End denial of physical therapy to those with disabilities by lifting the maintenance restrictions. Provide full disclosure of the care a person with disabilities may or may not receive. Guarantee palliative care notwithstanding cost of insurance or lack thereof. Provide prescription drug Medicare benefits. Support and promote legislation to impart medical and prescription drug coverage to all Americans. Expand medical and mental health services to meet the needs of rural communities. Guarantee continuity of care through affordable, permanent, quality-based transferable health care benefits. Include choice of providers, dental care, full reproductive health services, long-term care (such as palliative care) for the chronically ill, preventive services, prescription drugs, and mental health counseling and treatment. Amplify and enforce the principle of informed choice.
Housing / Independent Living- Eliminate housing discrimination that penalizes or denies persons with disabilities the right to interdependence through shared housing with a spouse or significant other. Support legislation that ensures cost of living increases are adjusted matching HUD increases and void of stricture. Fully implement requirements for low income and accessible housing required by law and develop penalties for non- compliant municipalities.
In-Home Support Services- Expand and strengthen services including provisions for respite care and for in-home support services. Increase state funding to provide adequate reimbursement to health care providers at a living wage level that is appropriate to a specific region served. Provide for adequate background checks of in-home support service providers of care prior to licensure. Support federal legislation for development of a national in-home support services system.
Transportation- Persons with disabilities work non standard times, holidays and weekends, attend night school, civic and government meetings and participate in society.We endorse equality of opportunity legislation to assure transportation availability providing for the full integration of individuals with disabilities independent of the restriction of matching public transit schedules. Enhancement of mobility and full integration by enforcement of transit laws and regulations that expand access, including adequate public funding to support effective and efficient para-transit services, encourage the design and development of added user-friendly vehicles for the disabled. Enforce laws and regulations pertaining to para- transit, public transit, and taxis. Promote legislation to require para-transit to provide services that cross county lines. Penalize companies that deny services to persons using mobility devices.
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