I am voting for Hillary

When Hillary Clinton answered the AAPD questions I got off the fence and decided she would have my vote. Today I know that was the right decision. She announced specific plans to increase employment opportunities for people with disabilities. http://hillaryclinton.com/feature/ada/ Two things I am most impressed with:

• Providing More Technical Assistance for Employers. Many employers are hesitant to hire people with disabilities because they are unsure about the accommodations necessary to enable successful work. President Bush has not kept his promises to fund programs that remove employment barriers that keep people with disabilities from work. He has cut funding for the Office of Disability Employment Policy by 41%, and his current budget proposes to cut the Office by an additional 34%. As President, Hillary Clinton will restore funding to the Office of Disability Employment Policy, with an emphasis on giving employers the tools to effectively employ people with disabilities. She will establish a new technical assistance resource center to provide real-time support for employers and help them link with local resources to implement workplace accommodations.

Workers with disabilities face extra costs for accessible technologies, transportation, and support service workers. These additional expenses amount to a regressive tax for workers with disabilities, so the federal government must work to offset these costs. Hillary Clinton proposes a $1,000 refundable tax credit to help offset additional expenses for workers with serious disabilities and moderate incomes.

Both of these items demonstrate to me that Hillary understands what people face when they are prepared to be employed and yet aren't because employers anticipate the accommodations they need to be too difficult to provide and that once employed their income is diminished by the extra cost to be employed.

This last one for me is important. I am not on SSI or SSDI and my income is far from substantial. But to work I must have a scooter. Each year it seems to need a repair of some sort, and a new set of batteries. It rarely adds up to $1,000, but is it enough that it sure puts a dent in my pocketbook. Most of the things related to my inability to hear well are paid for by work, but there have been things I use at home to work that they haven't. And I use my son as an unpaid PA, which could be rectified.

So Hillary, at least for the moment, you have my vote!