Hillary’s Record - A Champion For Those w/ Special Needs
Fri Aug 17, 2007 at 09:15:18 AM PDT
Some of you may have seen my diary yesterday, in which I shared Hillary’s amazing record as an advocate for our kids over the past 35+ years. I touched on today’s topic a bit – but I’d like to expand on her work on behalf of those with special needs in today’s discussion. As the mother of a 4 year old with special needs, I can’t begin to express my gratitude for her work in making sure that kids like my son get an education. I’d hate to think of what his life would be like – even now – if it hadn’t been for her dogged determination to account for the discrepancies between school aged kids, and those enrolled in the public schools in that Massachusetts town over 30 years ago.
So make the jump with me to learn more...
WORKING ON BEHALF OF INDIVIDUALS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS
Early in her career, Hillary spearheaded a project for the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF), walking door to door in New Bedford, MA to reconcile the discrepancies between the number of school-aged children listed in the Census and the local school enrollment figures. She found that children with special needs – those with physical disabilities like blindness and those in wheelchairs – we being denied schooling. She submitted the results of the survey to Congress and two years later, at the strong urging of the CDF, Congress passed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, which mandated that all children with physical, emotional and learning disabilities be educated in the public school system. Since then, Senator Clinton has been a longstanding champion for expanding opportunities for individuals with disabilities.
Hillary’s Record
Preserving FAPE and Strengthening our Schools for Students with Special Needs – Hillary helped improved the education of children with special needs by working to reauthorize the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act. Hillary has repeatedly called for full funding of IDEA. In 2005, she sponsored an amendment to increase funding by $4 billion. She also cosponsored the Personal Excellence for Children with Disabilities Act, a bill that promised to help schools recruit and retain new special education teachers, and better prepare general education teachers and staff to work with children with special needs.
(emphasis mine)
This last bit is huge in my book. My son is getting some wonderful help from his special ed teachers, but the school systems are now moving fast to get kids like him in to the general education population (ie mainstreaming them). An Individual Education Plan (IEP) is no use unless those general ed teachers have a full understanding of what our kids need – and are ENTITLED TO when it comes to their special needs. Without those special ed teachers and the extra training for the general ed teachers, the children would never get the quality education mandated by the laws on the books. It would all be just hot air and words.
Fighting to Protect and Increase Funding for Vocational Rehabilitation – Hillary helped fight off the Bush Administration’s "WIA-Plus" proposal, which would have undermined the Vocational Rehabilitation program by allowing states to spend the money on a wide range of activities, including those that would not help individuals with disabilities address barriers to employment.
Efficient Access to Instructional Materials – Senator Clinton co-sponsored the Instructional Materials Accessibility Act, which would significantly improve access to instructional materials for students who are blind or have other print disabilities by creating an efficient system for acquiring and distributing these materials in specialized formats, which include Braille, synthesized speech, digital text, digital audio, and large print.
Those materials would not only help children like my son, but would go a long way to helping those with dyslexia (which hubby has) etc.
Access to Medical Care – Senator Clinton co-sponsored the Medicaid Community-Based Attendant Services and Supports Act, which provides individuals with disabilities and older Americans with equal access to community-based attendant services and supports. Senator Clinton also introduced the Lifespan Respite Care Act, which authorized almost $300 million over five years for grants to increase the availability of respite care services for family caregivers of individuals with special needs regardless of age.
Access to Medicare – Senator Clinton co-sponsored the Ending the Medicare Disability Waiting Period Act of 2005, a bill that sought to phase out the waiting period for disabled individuals to become eligible for Medicare benefits.
Supporting Mental Health Services – Senator Clinton co-sponsored the Mental Health Parity Act of 2007, a bill that would prohibit employers and health plans from imposing durational treatment limits and financial limitations on coverage for mental illness that do not apply to all other medical conditions.
Voting Rights – Hillary authored legislation to require that at least one voting machine per precinct allow voters with disabilities and language minority voters to cast a vote in a private and independent manner.
Adoption Incentives – Hillary co-sponsored the Adoption Promotion Act, which created incentives to adopt children with special needs. This bill was enacted into law in 2003.
Embracing the ADA – Senator Clinton co-sponsored a Senate resolution that recognized and honored the 15th anniversary of the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Protecting Disabled Veterans – Senator Clinton has proposed an independent review of denied claims to help veterans get the benefits they deserve. She also introduced the Restoring Disability Benefits for Injured and Wounded Warriors Act of 2007 and the Protecting Military Family Financial Benefits Act of 2007, two bills which would ensure that wounded soldiers receive the disability benefits they need and deserve and to further protect military family financial benefits.
Like I’ve said before – the more I read about Hillary’s record of advocacy and hard work over the past 35 years, the more impressed I am. And by doing these diaries, I’m learning a lot of new things about her record. Her work with children – especially on behalf of kids with special needs – has been amazing. And she’ll only get better once she makes it to the Oval Office.
I heard something at a state-wide organizational meeting earlier this week that really opened my eyes to her vast amount of experience. A woman who’s worked with Hillary for years spoke to us, and mentioned a debate briefing book someone handed her. That binder was 312 pages long – single-spaced in 10 point font. She was / is in awe of the fact that she’s working for someone with a resume that’s 312 pages long!
I just can’t get my head around that one. My resume is maybe 3 pages and that’s after 23 years of working in the DC area.
Anyway, for more information on Hillary and her incredible experience and record, you can check out the following web-sites and resources...
HILLARYCLINTON.COM
HILLARYHUB.COM
CLINTON.SENATE.GOV
Research tool - THOMAS or you can search bills / votes from a previous congress by going to the advanced search page HERE.
FLOOR SPEECH PRIOR TO IRAQ VOTE
HILLARY’S VOTING RECORD.
HILLARY / OBAMAS VOTES
HILLARY / EDWARDS VOTES
Hillary / Obama / Lieberman Votes
Media Matters Smacks Down Permanent Bases BS
Liberal rankings sites...
National Journal
Drum Major Institute
GovTrack Political Spectrum
Progressive Punch
Rankings in the 110th Congress
On The Issues – Hillary’s Record For voting record and quotes on various issues.
GlobalTradeWatch’s Diary – Rankings on Trade Issues Hillary voted no on CAFTA twice.
DNC LTE TOOL
Hillary’s Ad in Iowa – Not Invisable
BloggersForHillary Group on Campaign's Site
BloggersForHillary Yahoo Users Group
The more you know, the more impressed you’re gonna be. Count on it!
UPDATE
For some reason the site gremlins seem to have lost this so I'll repost...
Two or three people have turned up with (what seems to me to be) the intent of derailing our discussion here.
Let me clarify something here. The topic of this diary (as defined by me - the diarist) is Hillary's work on behalf of those with special needs.
NOT Bill's record.
NOT universal health care.
But people with special needs. Their education. Their vocational training.
Please have a bit of respect for what I'm trying to do here - these issues get so little coverage here and in government. Can't you just accept the fact that I'm impressed with the way Hillary's broken through so many barriers for special needs kids and their families, and stay on topic?
From the mom of a special needs child and progressive activist - Thanks.
