Advocating for Special-Needs Families

The Republican National Committee's pick for the office of Vice-President is Alaska's Governor, Sarah Palin. Personally, I don't support the Republican party but I was intrigued by McCain's choice for the office of Vice-President, so I decided to watch her deliver her acceptance speech at the party convention.

Governor Palin introduced herself and gave a bit of background about who she was and, in my opinion, represented herself as a no-nonsense type of public servant who wanted nothing more than to see this country move forward under the stellar leadership of Senator John McCain. In the process of allowing people to get to know her, she introduced her entire family including her children, her parents, and her husband. Just in case you haven't read or seen or heard about her family, GovernorPalin has five (5) children, her most recent addition being a 5 month old baby boy named Trig, who was born with Down Syndrome. Down Syndrome, or Trisomy 21, is a chromosomal disorder caused by the presence of all or part of an extra 21st chromosome. Children born with Down Syndrome tend to have a lower than average cognitive ability that ranges from mild to moderate learning disabilities and a small number of them have severe to profound levels of developmental disability.

Shortly after introducing her children, Governor Palin made a statement addressed to families of children with special needs stating, "To the families of special-needs children all across this country, I have a message: For years, you sought to make America a more welcoming place for your sons and daughters. I pledge to you that if we are elected, you will have a friend and advocate in the White House."

I have worked in the field of Developmental Disabilities for over 25 years. In these last 25 years, I have watched the lives of people with special needs change dramatically and not always for the better. I have seen parents struggle to find resources and financial aid to assist them with their special-needs children. I have been a Direct Service employee, and have seen Direct Service employees work under the most challenging conditions for little more than minimum wage. I have seen small agencies drowning in bureaucracy and losing their toe-holds in the business because of repeated budget cuts. At one point in my career, when George W. Bush was the Governor of Texas, budget cuts were proposed that were so drastic, they would have all but eliminated community living homes for people with mental retardation and developmental disabilities.

In all my time in this field, I have seen people; regular, normal people from various walks of life, fight for client rights, fight for increased state and federal funding, and fight for just plain and simple information with which to make better life choices for themselves and/or for their developmentally disabled children. And unfortunately, more often than not, I have seen our state and federal politicians turn a deaf ear to those demands.

I don't agree with Governor Palin's stand on a woman's right to choose. I don't agree with her stand on the environment. I don't believe she represents my political beliefs or my personal views. However, I hope that the statement she made to the families of special-needs children, on the evening of September 5, 2008 at the Republican National Convention referencing herself, if elected, as a "friend and advocate in the White House" stands fast irregardless of who is elected into office, because that support is long, long overdue in this country and it is a shame that the only reason it has been thrust into the limelight is because a political party is attempting to garner votes for a presidential election.