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I've been wondering about this ever since I heard about Palin's acceptance speech at the RNC
Parents of special-needs children divided over Palin's promise to help
When I first heard that Palin promised to be an advocate in the White House for the disabled, my curiosity was definitely piqued. Not that it would be enough to get me to vote Republican (I could do a very long, ranty post about my decision on who to vote for this year), but as the sister of an autistic man (almost wrote boy, but at 21 Dan is old enough, chronologically, to be a man, and I know I'd hate it if anyone referred to me as a "girl" after the age of 21) I'm keenly interested in those who say they would help the disabled, and how they would do it.
Emphasis on the "how," since Palin has yet to say how she intends to help. From the NYT article, it seems clear that in her time as Governor, she hasn't been explicitly disability-friendly, but I could definitely see this being a relatively new interest of hers. There are a lot of people who aren't aware of how having a disable family member affects the family until it hits close to home. So if Palin's awareness about disabilities didn't arise until her son's diagnosis, I can definitely understand that.
I can't understand not laying out at least general plans for how she intends to be an advocate. Well, aside from her and the McCain campaign's desire to play ostrich and pretend that if they hide her head in the sand no one will notice that she hasn't spoken to the press yet and the campaign has seemed prepared to keep it that way as long as possible (I'm debating whether I'll actually watch the interview on ABC or just wait to see the highlights later on the blogs).
Parents of special-needs children divided over Palin's promise to help
When I first heard that Palin promised to be an advocate in the White House for the disabled, my curiosity was definitely piqued. Not that it would be enough to get me to vote Republican (I could do a very long, ranty post about my decision on who to vote for this year), but as the sister of an autistic man (almost wrote boy, but at 21 Dan is old enough, chronologically, to be a man, and I know I'd hate it if anyone referred to me as a "girl" after the age of 21) I'm keenly interested in those who say they would help the disabled, and how they would do it.
Emphasis on the "how," since Palin has yet to say how she intends to help. From the NYT article, it seems clear that in her time as Governor, she hasn't been explicitly disability-friendly, but I could definitely see this being a relatively new interest of hers. There are a lot of people who aren't aware of how having a disable family member affects the family until it hits close to home. So if Palin's awareness about disabilities didn't arise until her son's diagnosis, I can definitely understand that.
I can't understand not laying out at least general plans for how she intends to be an advocate. Well, aside from her and the McCain campaign's desire to play ostrich and pretend that if they hide her head in the sand no one will notice that she hasn't spoken to the press yet and the campaign has seemed prepared to keep it that way as long as possible (I'm debating whether I'll actually watch the interview on ABC or just wait to see the highlights later on the blogs).
