The Common Good Party — Policy Document Series — Issue 37
Disability Rights
Full Participation, Not Just Protection
Twenty-seven percent of American adults — more than 70 million people — have a disability. The ADA was a civil rights revolution. Thirty-four years later, the unemployment rate for disabled Americans is still double the national average. The SSI asset limit has not changed since 1989. IDEA is funded at 15% of the 40% Congress promised. Protection was the floor. Participation is the goal.
22.5%
Labor force participation for people with disabilities — vs. 65.8% for non-disabled adults, a 43-point gap
$2,000
SSI asset limit — unchanged since 1989. Would be $5,300+ adjusted for inflation. Disabled Americans forced to stay poor.
15%
Of the 40% IDEA federal funding share Congress promised in 1975 — a $28B+ annual shortfall pushed to local districts
2.5×
Poverty rate multiplier for people with disabilities — the benefits trap punishes saving, working, and marriage
Disability policy in America is built on the assumption that protection is enough. It is not. Twenty-seven percent of the population deserves a system designed for full participation — in the economy, in the community, in democracy itself.
The Americans with Disabilities Act, signed in 1990, was landmark legislation — one of the most important civil rights laws in American history. But 34 years later, protection on paper has not translated to participation in practice. The employment gap is 43 percentage points: 65.8% labor participation for non-disabled adults versus 22.5% for disabled adults. The SSI asset limit — $2,000 for an individual, $3,000 for a couple — has not been updated since 1989, trapping disabled Americans in poverty as a condition of receiving benefits. Congress passed IDEA in 1975 with a promise to fund 40% of the excess cost of educating children with disabilities; federal funding has never exceeded 15% of that commitment. Seventy-one percent of websites fail basic accessibility standards. People with disabilities are 2.5 times more likely to live in poverty. The three largest mental health facilities in the United States are the Cook County Jail, the LA County Jail, and Rikers Island.
Eight pillars of the Disability Rights agenda: (1) ADA Modernization Act — extend coverage to digital services, adopt WCAG 2.2 AA as the federal standard; (2) SSI Reform — eliminate the $2,000 asset limit and the marriage penalty; (3) Full IDEA Funding — deliver the 40% Congress promised in 1975; (4) Close the Employment Gap — abolish the Section 14(c) subminimum wage, expand supported employment; (5) Community-Based Care Guarantee — eliminate HCBS waiting lists, fulfill Olmstead; (6) Accessible Housing — visitability standards, home modification funding; (7) Voting Accessibility — accessible machines, curbside voting, ADA compliance; (8) Criminal Justice and Disability — crisis intervention, diversion, end to solitary confinement.
The Common Good Party believes disability rights means full participation. Not gratitude for the minimum. Not survival at the cost of poverty. Not protection that exists on paper but not in practice. Full participation — in the workforce, in schools, in communities, in democracy itself. Every peer democracy has more modern, more comprehensive, and more effective disability policy than the United States. Germany mandates employment quotas. Sweden guarantees personal assistance by right. The UK provides disability benefits with no asset test. The EU’s European Accessibility Act makes digital accessibility mandatory effective June 2025. The country that pioneered disability rights law has stopped updating it. See Issue #1 (Healthcare), Issue #3 (Housing), Issue #4 (Education), Issue #13 (Labor), Issue #15 (Social Safety Net), and Issue #18 (Voting Rights).
Five interlocking failures: an employment gap that has barely moved in 34 years, a benefits system that punishes work and marriage, an education funding promise Congress broke, a digital world built without disabled people in mind, and a criminal justice system that has become the de facto mental healthcare system.
The Employment Gap
Twenty-seven percent of US adults — more than 70 million people — have a disability, making disabled Americans the largest minority group in the country. The employment gap has barely budged in 34 years: 22.5% labor force participation for disabled workers versus 65.8% for non-disabled workers. Germany has a 27-point gap. The gap is not about capability — it is about infrastructure, accommodation, and a benefits system that punishes work. Roughly 120,000 disabled workers are legally paid below the minimum wage under Section 14(c) sheltered workshop certificates — some earning pennies per hour.
The SSI Benefits Trap
The SSI individual asset limit is $2,000. The couple limit is $3,000. These numbers have not been updated since 1989. Adjusted for inflation, the individual limit would be over $5,300 today. If a disabled person on SSI saves $2,001 — or marries another SSI recipient and their combined assets exceed $3,000 — they lose benefits. The system forces people to choose between financial stability and survival. The SSI marriage penalty means disabled couples literally cannot afford to marry. The UK provides disability benefits with no asset test. See Issue #15 — Social Safety Net.
The IDEA Funding Betrayal
Congress passed IDEA in 1975 with a promise to fund 40% of the excess cost of educating children with disabilities. Federal funding has never exceeded 15% of that commitment. The gap — approximately $28–40 billion per year — is pushed onto state and local budgets, which means children with disabilities in poor districts get fewer services than children in wealthy districts. Special education teacher shortages are acute: 45 states report significant shortages. See Issue #34 — Education Reform and Issue #4 — Education.
The Digital Exclusion
Seventy-one percent of websites fail basic WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) standards. Federal courts are split on whether the ADA even applies to websites. The DOJ issued web accessibility guidance in 2022 but no enforceable rule. Blind users, deaf users, and users with motor disabilities encounter barriers on the majority of websites they visit — including government services. The ADA was written before the internet existed. The EU’s European Accessibility Act mandates digital accessibility for all products and services effective June 2025. The US has no equivalent.
The incarceration crisis: People with psychiatric disabilities are dramatically overrepresented in jails and prisons. The three largest mental health facilities in the United States are the Cook County Jail, the LA County Jail, and Rikers Island. That is not a healthcare system. That is a moral failure with an address. Accessible housing stock is critically short — only 6% of US housing units have accessibility features. Medicaid waiting lists for home and community-based services average 39 months in some states, with 850,000+ people waiting nationally. Polling places remain physically inaccessible in many jurisdictions. See Issue #12 — Criminal Justice, Issue #3 — Housing, Issue #1 — Healthcare, and Issue #18 — Voting Rights.
The ADA was revolutionary. What followed was three decades of underenforcement, underfunding, and the assumption that protection alone would produce participation. It did not.
1973
Section 504 — The First Federal Disability Rights Law
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act prohibited discrimination against people with disabilities in any program receiving federal funding. It took four years of protest — including the 1977 San Francisco sit-in, the longest federal building occupation in US history — before the implementing regulations were signed. The principle was established: disability discrimination is a civil rights issue, not a charity issue. But Section 504 applied only to federally funded programs, leaving the private sector untouched.
1975
IDEA — The Promise That Was Never Kept
The Education for All Handicapped Children Act (later IDEA) guaranteed free appropriate public education for children with disabilities and promised that the federal government would fund 40% of the excess cost. That promise was broken immediately and has never been fulfilled. Federal funding peaked at roughly 15% of the commitment. The remaining 25% — approximately $28–40 billion per year — was pushed to state and local budgets, creating a two-tier system where special education quality depends on property tax revenue.
1989
SSI Asset Limits Frozen — And Never Updated
The $2,000 individual and $3,000 couple SSI asset limits were set in 1989. They have not been adjusted for inflation, cost of living, or any other measure in 37 years. Every other major federal benefit has been indexed or periodically updated. SSI was simply forgotten — or, more accurately, the population it serves was forgotten. The marriage penalty was not an oversight; it was a deliberate policy choice that no subsequent Congress has corrected. Disabled Americans have been forced to choose between financial stability and survival for nearly four decades.
1990
The ADA — A Revolution That Stopped Evolving
The Americans with Disabilities Act was signed on July 26, 1990 — arguably the most significant civil rights legislation since the Civil Rights Act of 1964. It prohibited discrimination in employment, public accommodations, transportation, and government services. But the ADA was written before the internet, before smartphones, before AI. Federal courts have narrowed its scope through decades of litigation. The Supreme Court’s Sutton v. United Airlines (1999) decision restricted ADA coverage until Congress partially reversed it with the ADA Amendments Act of 2008. The law stopped evolving as the world changed around it.
1999–Present
Olmstead — The Right Without the Funding
In Olmstead v. L.C. (1999), the Supreme Court ruled that unnecessary institutionalization of people with disabilities violates the ADA — establishing community integration as a civil right. Twenty-seven years later, 850,000+ people remain on Medicaid HCBS waiting lists, with average wait times exceeding 39 months in some states. The right exists. The funding does not. The Money Follows the Person program demonstrated that community-based care is both more humane and cheaper than institutional care. Congress has repeatedly let it expire and then temporarily reauthorized it. An intermittent funding commitment to a civil right is not a commitment.
2020–Present
COVID and the Digital Divide
The pandemic moved government services, healthcare, employment, education, and social participation online — and most of it was inaccessible. Telehealth platforms lacked screen-reader compatibility. Remote work interfaces excluded users with motor disabilities. Government stimulus application portals failed WCAG standards. COVID proved that digital accessibility is not optional — it is the difference between participation and exclusion. Many services never came back to in-person delivery. The digital divide became permanent.
The United States pioneered disability rights law with the ADA. Every peer democracy that followed has surpassed it — with employment quotas, guaranteed personal assistance, no-asset-test benefits, and mandatory digital accessibility. America wrote the first chapter and stopped reading.
| Country / Framework |
Policy Area |
What They Do |
Result vs. U.S. |
| GermanySocial Code Book IX |
Employment |
Mandatory employment quota: 5% of workforce for companies with 20+ employees. Non-compliant companies pay an equalization levy that funds disability services and accommodations directly. |
27-point employment gap vs. US 43-point gap. The levy creates both a stick and a funding mechanism. |
| SwedenLSS Framework |
Community-Based Care |
LSS (Act Concerning Support and Service) provides legally guaranteed personal assistance, community-based living, and employment support. No institutional waiting lists. Care is a right, not a budget line item. |
Guaranteed personal assistance vs. US 850,000+ on HCBS waiting lists. No one waits 39 months for community care in Sweden. |
| United KingdomPersonal Independence Payment |
Benefits |
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) has no asset test. Disability benefits are separate from means-tested benefits. Disability Confident employer scheme and Access to Work program provide employment support. |
No asset test vs. US $2,000 limit. Disabled Britons can save, marry, and build assets without losing benefits. |
| European UnionEuropean Accessibility Act |
Digital Accessibility |
European Accessibility Act effective June 2025 mandates digital accessibility for all products and services sold in the EU. Enforceable standards. Companies must comply or face penalties. |
Mandatory digital accessibility vs. US courts still debating whether the ADA covers websites at all. |
| FinlandInclusive education |
Education |
Fully nationally funded special education. No local funding disparities. Every child receives individualized support as a function of the national education system, not the wealth of their school district. |
Fully funded vs. US 15% of 40% promised. Finnish special education quality does not depend on property tax revenue. |
The common lesson: The United States wrote the most important disability rights law in history — and then stopped. Every peer democracy that followed has built on the ADA’s foundation with stronger employment mandates, more comprehensive benefits, guaranteed community care, and digital accessibility requirements. The US approach — strong rights on paper, weak enforcement and funding in practice — produces the worst disability employment gap in the developed world and a benefits system that forces disabled Americans to stay poor as a condition of receiving help.
Eight pillars addressing eight systemic failures, each grounded in evidence and modeled on international best practice. Together they move disability policy from protection to participation — from surviving to living.
The ADA was written before the internet existed. It has never been comprehensively updated for the digital world. Seventy-one percent of websites fail basic accessibility standards. Federal courts are split on whether the ADA even applies to websites. The EU’s European Accessibility Act mandates digital accessibility for all products and services effective June 2025. The US must catch up to the standard it inspired.
- Extend ADA coverage explicitly to websites, apps, and digital services. End the circuit split. Digital accessibility is a civil right, not a voluntary best practice. All websites, apps, and digital services with more than 50,000 monthly users must meet WCAG 2.2 AA standards.
- Establish a dedicated ADA Digital Enforcement Office with authority to investigate complaints, issue fines, and mandate remediation. The current complaint-driven enforcement model cannot keep pace with the scale of digital inaccessibility.
- Restore the broad ADA scope narrowed by post-1990 court decisions. Congress intended the ADA to cover the broadest possible range of disabilities. Subsequent judicial narrowing has excluded people Congress intended to protect.
- Strengthen enforcement with private right of action and real penalties. ADA enforcement penalties must be proportionate to the scale of the violation and the size of the violator. A Fortune 500 company that systematically excludes disabled users cannot be deterred by a $5,000 fine.
Evidence: 71% of websites fail WCAG standards (WebAIM Million 2024). EU European Accessibility Act mandates compliance by June 2025.
The SSI benefits trap is one of the cruelest policy designs in American government. A $2,000 asset limit unchanged since 1989. A marriage penalty that denies disabled couples the right to marry. A system that forces people to choose between financial stability and survival. The UK provides disability benefits with no asset test. There is no policy justification for this. There is only inertia and indifference.
- Eliminate the $2,000/$3,000 SSI asset limit entirely. No asset test for disability benefits. Disabled Americans should be able to save money, own a car, build a modest financial cushion, and still receive the benefits that keep them alive. The UK figured this out. We can too.
- End the SSI marriage penalty. Two disabled people who love each other should be able to marry without losing their healthcare and income support. This is not a complex policy question. It is a basic dignity that current policy denies.
- Index SSI benefits to actual cost of living automatically. Benefits adjusted annually based on real cost-of-living indexes, not political negotiation.
- Create a graduated return-to-work program that does not immediately terminate benefits. End the benefits cliff that traps disabled workers: if you earn $1 above the threshold, you lose everything. A gradual phase-out encourages work rather than punishing it.
- Streamline the SSDI application process. Current average wait time exceeds two years. People die waiting for disability benefits. Hire more administrative law judges. Fund the Social Security Administration. Reduce the backlog.
Cross-reference: Issue #15 (Social Safety Net) for the broader benefits reform framework and anti-poverty provisions
Congress passed IDEA in 1975 with a promise to fund 40% of the excess cost of educating children with disabilities. Fifty-one years later, federal funding has never exceeded 15%. The gap — $28–40 billion per year — is pushed onto state and local budgets. Children with disabilities in poor districts get fewer services than children in wealthy districts. This is a broken promise with 7.5 million children on the receiving end.
- Phase to full 40% federal IDEA funding share over 5 years. No district loses existing funding; the federal share rises. First-year increase closes the gap by 20%. Full funding reached by Year 5.
- Close the special education teacher shortage with loan forgiveness for special education teachers who commit to 5+ years of service and competitive compensation that reflects the specialized skills the role requires. Forty-five states report significant shortages — this is a national workforce crisis.
- Ensure IEP quality is not dependent on district wealth. Federal funding eliminates the gap between what children are promised in their Individualized Education Programs and what their districts can actually afford to provide.
- Expand transition services for students aging out of the special education system. The cliff between school-based support and adult services is one of the most dangerous gaps in disability policy.
Cross-reference: Issue #34 (Education Reform) for the broader K-12 framework and Issue #4 (Education) for higher education accessibility
The disability employment gap — 43 percentage points — is the widest in the developed world. Germany’s is 27 points. Roughly 120,000 disabled workers are legally paid below the minimum wage under Section 14(c) sheltered workshop certificates. The gap is not about capability. It is about a labor market designed without disabled workers in mind and a benefits system that penalizes them for participating in it.
- Abolish the Section 14(c) subminimum wage certificate. No more paying disabled workers pennies per hour. Competitive integrated employment becomes the federal standard. The minimum wage is the minimum wage — for everyone.
- Expand federal supported employment programs. Competitive integrated employment as the default — not sheltered workshops that segregate disabled workers from the mainstream economy and pay them below subsistence.
- Tax credits for employers providing genuine accommodations. Not a box-checking exercise. Meaningful credits that cover the real cost of workplace modifications, assistive technology, and schedule flexibility.
- Strengthen federal contractor disability hiring goals with real enforcement and reporting requirements. Utilization goals increased. Compliance monitored. Consequences for non-compliance enforced.
- Strengthen enforcement of employment discrimination protections. The EEOC must have the funding and staffing to investigate disability discrimination complaints in a reasonable timeframe, not years after the harm occurred.
Cross-reference: Issue #13 (Labor) for the broader worker protection framework; Germany’s 5% employment quota as international benchmark
The Supreme Court ruled in Olmstead v. L.C. (1999) that unnecessary institutionalization violates the ADA. Twenty-seven years later, 850,000+ people remain on Medicaid HCBS waiting lists, with average waits exceeding 39 months in some states. Sweden guarantees personal assistance by right under the LSS framework. The United States has a 25-year-old Supreme Court ruling and no funding to implement it.
- Eliminate Medicaid HCBS waiting lists within 5 years. Federal matching rates increased. Dedicated funding stream for community-based services. The right to community integration is meaningless if people wait three years to access it.
- Make the Money Follows the Person program permanent. Stop the cycle of expiration and temporary reauthorization. Community-based care is cheaper than institutional care and produces better outcomes. Make the commitment permanent.
- Strengthen Olmstead enforcement. Community integration is a civil right, not a budget line item. DOJ enforcement with real consequences for states maintaining unnecessary institutional placements.
- Raise direct care worker wages to a living wage. Direct care workers earn a median of $15.40/hour. Annual turnover exceeds 40%. You cannot build a stable care system on poverty wages. Living wages for direct care workers are a prerequisite for functional community-based care.
Cross-reference: Issue #1 (Healthcare) for the broader Medicaid reform; Sweden LSS framework as international benchmark
Only 6% of US housing units have accessibility features. The accessible housing stock is critically short — and new construction is not closing the gap. Disabled Americans face a housing market that was not built for them and a retrofit market that is not funded.
- Expand visitability standards for all federally funded housing. Every unit built with federal funding must meet basic visitability standards: zero-step entry, 32-inch doorways on the main floor, and a main-floor bathroom accessible to a wheelchair user. Not every unit needs to be fully accessible — but every unit must be visitable.
- Increase accessible unit requirements in new construction. Strengthen the percentage of fully accessible units required in new multifamily construction. The current standards produce buildings that technically comply while creating a permanent shortage of units people can actually live in.
- Dedicated federal funding stream for home modifications. Ramps, grab bars, doorway widening, bathroom modifications — the basic adaptations that allow people to age in place and live independently. Current programs are fragmented and underfunded.
- Enforce Fair Housing Act disability protections. Disability discrimination in housing is illegal. Enforcement is anemic. Fund HUD enforcement. Strengthen penalties. Create real consequences for landlords who discriminate.
Cross-reference: Issue #3 (Housing) for the broader housing framework and National Housing Corporation accessible unit requirements
The right to vote is the foundation of democratic participation. Polling places remain physically inaccessible in many jurisdictions. Absentee ballot systems fail accessibility standards. Election websites exclude disabled voters. A democracy that makes it harder for 70 million citizens to vote is not functioning as a democracy.
- Mandatory accessible voting machines at every polling place. Not some polling places. Every polling place. A disabled voter should not have to travel to a different precinct to cast a ballot independently.
- Accessible absentee ballot systems. Ballot marking devices, screen-reader-compatible online systems, and alternative format options that allow disabled voters to vote privately and independently by mail.
- Polling place ADA compliance audits with enforcement. Regular audits. Published results. Real consequences for non-compliance. Parking, ramps, signage, interior layout, and voting booth accessibility all assessed.
- Curbside voting guaranteed in every jurisdiction. No disabled voter should be unable to vote because they cannot physically enter the polling place. Curbside voting is a floor, not a ceiling.
- All election websites and voter registration systems must meet WCAG standards. If you cannot navigate the voter registration website, you cannot register to vote. Digital voting infrastructure is voting infrastructure.
Cross-reference: Issue #18 (Voting Rights) for the broader voting access framework and election infrastructure provisions
The three largest mental health facilities in the United States are jails. People with psychiatric disabilities, intellectual disabilities, and traumatic brain injuries are dramatically overrepresented in the criminal justice system — not because they are more dangerous, but because the mental health infrastructure that should serve them does not exist. The criminal justice system has become the default mental healthcare system by neglect.
- Crisis Intervention Teams (CIT) in every jurisdiction. When someone is experiencing a mental health crisis, the response should be a trained mental health professional, not an armed officer. CIT programs reduce use-of-force incidents by 28–36% and produce better outcomes for everyone involved.
- Diversion programs for people with mental health and intellectual disabilities. Arrest and incarceration are the most expensive and least effective interventions for people whose behavior is driven by disability, not criminality. Diversion to treatment is both more humane and cheaper.
- End solitary confinement for people with psychiatric disabilities. Solitary confinement causes psychiatric harm in people without psychiatric conditions. For people with existing mental health disabilities, it is torture. Full stop.
- Correctional healthcare standards enforceable by right. Incarcerated people with disabilities have a constitutional right to adequate healthcare under Estelle v. Gamble (1976). Enforcement is nearly nonexistent. Create enforceable standards with real remedies for violations.
Cross-reference: Issue #12 (Criminal Justice) for the broader reform framework; Issue #1 (Healthcare) for community mental health investment
Disability policy investment is not charity — it is economic infrastructure. Every dollar spent on supported employment, community-based care, and accessible housing produces measurable returns in workforce participation, reduced emergency costs, and tax revenue from workers who were previously excluded from the economy.
| Investment |
Mechanism |
Cost |
Return |
| Full IDEA Funding |
Phase to 40% federal share over 5 years; close the $28–40B annual gap between promise and practice |
$28–40B/year at full phase-in |
Equalized special education quality; reduced state/local fiscal pressure; better outcomes for 7.5M children |
| SSI Reform |
Eliminate asset limit; end marriage penalty; index to cost of living; graduated return-to-work |
$5–10B/year additional (CBO-type estimate) |
Reduced poverty; increased workforce participation from benefit cliff elimination; administrative savings from simplified eligibility |
| HCBS Waiting List Elimination |
Increased federal Medicaid matching; permanent Money Follows the Person; direct care worker wages |
$15–25B/year additional federal matching |
Community care costs 30–50% less than institutional care; each person transitioned saves $15,000–52,000/yr in emergency costs (Finland data) |
| Supported Employment Expansion |
Federal program expansion; employer accommodation credits; 14(c) abolition transition support |
$3–5B/year |
Each disabled worker entering competitive employment generates $20,000–40,000/yr in wages, payroll taxes, and reduced benefit costs |
| Revenue Sources |
Funded through Issue #2 (Taxation) progressive tax restoration; employer equalization assessments (Germany model); Medicaid savings from institutional-to-community transition |
Net positive within 10 years |
Community-based care is cheaper than institutions. Employed disabled workers pay taxes. Preventing incarceration saves corrections costs. The math works. |
Net fiscal picture: The largest single cost — full IDEA funding — is the fulfillment of a 51-year-old promise Congress already made. The cost of SSI reform is modest relative to the federal budget and eliminates an administrative complexity that costs more to enforce than the savings it produces. Community-based care costs 30–50% less than institutional care. Supported employment generates tax revenue and reduces benefit dependency. Disability policy investment is not a cost center — it is an economic participation engine that has been deliberately underfunded for decades.
Implementation is phased to deliver immediate relief on the most urgent needs — SSI reform and Section 14(c) abolition — while building the infrastructure for full IDEA funding, HCBS waiting list elimination, and ADA modernization over five years.
- Congressional action initiated to eliminate SSI asset limit and marriage penalty
- Section 14(c) subminimum wage certificates revoked by executive order
- DOJ web accessibility rule published — WCAG 2.2 AA adopted as federal standard
- IDEA full-funding legislation introduced — first-year increase closes gap by 20%
- Medicaid HCBS matching rate increase — Money Follows the Person made permanent
- Federal contractor disability hiring goals strengthened
- DOJ accessible voting directive issued
Milestone: SSI reform initiated; subminimum wage abolished; digital accessibility standard set; IDEA funding ramp begins; HCBS expansion launched
- SSI asset limit elimination enacted — marriage penalty ended
- ADA Digital Enforcement Office operational
- IDEA funding at Year 2 level — 40% gap narrowed by 40%
- Special education teacher loan forgiveness program launched
- Supported employment program expansion underway
- Direct care worker wage increase phased in
- Accessible housing visitability standards for federal projects
Milestone: Disabled Americans can save, marry, and build assets; digital accessibility enforced; teacher shortage beginning to reverse; care worker retention improving
- IDEA funding at 80%+ of full commitment
- HCBS waiting lists reduced by 50%+
- CIT programs deployed in majority of jurisdictions
- Competitive integrated employment as measurable standard
- Accessible housing stock measurably increasing
- Polling place accessibility audit program national
- Diversion programs reducing disability incarceration rates
Milestone: Employment gap narrowing measurably; HCBS waiting lists shrinking; IDEA funding approaching promise; digital accessibility compliance rising above 50%
- IDEA at full 40% federal funding commitment
- HCBS waiting lists eliminated
- Employment gap narrowing toward international benchmarks
- Website accessibility compliance above 75%
- Independent evaluation of all eight pillars
- Poverty rate multiplier declining from 2.5x baseline
Milestone: 51-year-old IDEA promise fulfilled; community-based care a reality, not a waiting list; employment participation closing on Germany’s benchmark; digital world accessible; disability poverty declining
“Full IDEA funding is too expensive — the federal government can’t afford $28–40 billion per year.”
Congress made the promise in 1975. The question is not whether we can afford to keep it — it is whether we can afford to keep breaking it. The $28–40 billion gap is not new spending; it is the difference between what Congress promised and what it delivered. The cost is currently being borne by state and local governments, which means children with disabilities in poor districts receive inferior services. Full IDEA funding does not create a new obligation; it fulfills a 51-year-old one. Finland fully funds special education nationally. The United States is the wealthiest country in human history. The question is priorities, not capacity.
“Eliminating the SSI asset limit will create dependency.”
The current SSI asset limit creates dependency. A system that strips benefits the moment a disabled person saves $2,001 — or marries — does not encourage independence. It enforces poverty. The United Kingdom provides disability benefits with no asset test. British disabled people have not become “dependent” — they have been able to build modest financial stability while receiving the support they need. Eliminating the asset limit removes a poverty trap; it does not create one. The graduated return-to-work provisions actively incentivize employment by ending the benefits cliff that currently punishes work.
“Abolishing the subminimum wage will cost disabled workers their jobs.”
Multiple states have already abolished the Section 14(c) subminimum wage. Employment outcomes for disabled workers in those states have not declined. The argument that disabled workers must accept pennies per hour or face unemployment is a false choice manufactured by sheltered workshop operators who profit from the arrangement. Competitive integrated employment programs demonstrate that disabled workers can be productive at minimum wage and above when employers receive accommodation support. Germany mandates a 5% disability employment quota for companies with 20+ employees — with an equalization levy that funds accommodations. The result is a 27-point employment gap compared to America’s 43. The subminimum wage does not protect jobs. It perpetuates exploitation.
“Digital accessibility mandates will burden small businesses.”
The WCAG 2.2 AA mandate applies to websites with more than 50,000 monthly users — this is not a small business provision. For smaller businesses, phased compliance timelines and technical assistance programs ensure that accessibility is achievable without undue burden. The EU’s European Accessibility Act applies to all products and services sold in the EU — American businesses serving global markets will need to comply regardless of US law. Building accessible digital products from the start costs 1–3% more than building inaccessible ones. Retrofitting costs 10–30% more. The economic argument favors mandatory accessibility, not against it.
“Community-based care cannot replace institutional care for everyone.”
This framework does not eliminate institutional care for individuals who genuinely require it. It eliminates the waiting list that forces people into institutions who could live in communities with appropriate support. The Olmstead decision established that unnecessary institutionalization violates the ADA. The word “unnecessary” is doing the work: people who need institutional levels of care receive it. People who could thrive in communities with support should not be warehoused because community services are not funded. Sweden guarantees personal assistance by right under the LSS framework. No one waits 39 months for community care in Sweden. The issue is funding and political will, not the viability of community-based care.
“Crisis intervention teams are not a substitute for law enforcement.”
Crisis intervention is not a substitute for law enforcement. It is appropriate deployment. When someone is experiencing a psychotic episode, a diabetic crisis, or a suicidal ideation — that is a medical situation, not a law enforcement situation. CIT programs reduce use-of-force incidents by 28–36%, reduce injuries to both officers and subjects, and produce better outcomes measured by every metric. The current system — where armed officers respond to mental health crises — produces the worst outcomes for everyone involved, including officers who are not trained for clinical intervention. CIT programs are supported by law enforcement leadership because they work better, not because they are soft.
“The three largest mental health facilities in the United States are the Cook County Jail, the LA County Jail, and Rikers Island. That is not a healthcare system. That is a moral failure with an address.”
— The Common Good Party
Paid for by The Common Good Party (thecommongoodparty.com) and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.