Disability Rights

Issues

Fight for Disability Rights

We as a nation have a moral responsibility to ensure that all Americans have access to the programs and the support needed to contribute to society, live with dignity, and achieve a high quality of life.

Bernie Signature

Key Points

  • Guarantee the right to community living. Bernie will end the institutional bias that forces people with disabilities out of their communities by passing the Disability Integration Act, of which he is proud to be a sponsor, and enacting Medicare for All, guaranteeing mental health care and home-and community-based services and assistive technologies to all who need them, without waitlists or asset or income restrictions.
  • Guarantee the right to truly integrated employment in the community that pays a living wage.
  • Protect and expand the Social Security Disability Insurance program and Social Security Income Program.
  • Increase educational opportunities for persons with disabilities, including providing 50% of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and expanding career and technical education opportunities.

Details

We need a president who will champion expanding the rights of people with disabilities. One in four adults in this country has a disability. Despite the progress that has been made over the past two decades, we unfortunately still live in a world where people with disabilities have fewer work opportunities and where the civil rights of people with disabilities are not always protected and respected. People with disabilities experience much higher poverty rates than people without disabilities. As a nation, we have a moral responsibility to ensure that all Americans have the support they need to live with dignity. We must:

  • Protect and expand the Social Security Disability Insurance program.
  • Increase educational opportunities for persons with disabilities, including fully funding the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and expanding vocational education opportunities.
  • Guarantee jobs that pay living wages to all persons with disabilities who want to work through a federal job guarantee program. In addition to the job guarantee, Bernie Sanders will end the sub-minimum wage for individuals with disabilities.
  • Ratify the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
  • Enact a Medicare-for-all program that includes home-based and community-based care.
  • Work to ensure no person with a disability experiences discrimination or barriers to living a full and productive life.