Friend,

When LBJ signed Medicare and Medicaid into law 59 years ago today, it established a standard for healthcare access for our most vulnerable citizens.

These are still two of our most important federal programs. But the original legislation left a LOT of gaps for people living with disabilities – the population most likely to be using Medicare or Medicaid.

25 years later, the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed to address those gaps (and countless more).

It’s difficult to imagine a time before the ADA now, but as a doctor of internal medicine who practiced for over two decades, I can tell you that the reforms brought about by this landmark civil rights legislation have changed the world.

Many features of public life that we take for granted today, like wheelchair accessible buildings and sidewalks, closed captioning on TV and video streaming services, even automatic doors on public buildings – none of that was standard in the pre-ADA world.

The ADA introduced new standards that spread around the world – transforming the lives of billions and allowing people living with disabilities to participate more fully in every aspect of our society.

But the ADA is now 34 years old, and it’s long overdue for an upgrade.

Our campaign is the only one in this race with a comprehensive platform recognizing disability rights as human rights – not an afterthought.

My administration will guarantee as a human right that every person living with disabilities – whether visible or invisible – is free from ableist policies that harm and isolate them.

We will end disparities in pay, benefits, housing, healthcare, and education, and commit to disability inclusion and representation at all levels of public life.

All people, including those with disabilities, have the right to contribute their talents and participate fully in a diverse and thriving society.

As your president I commit to:

• Providing economic security for people with disabilities by ending discrimination in wage laws and enforcing workplace protections – and expanding Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Social Income (SSI)
  
  
• Imposing standards to make all new technology accessible and supportive of the diverse lives of people with disabilities
  
  
• Provide children with disabilities with life-changing early interventions
  
  
• Defend the civil liberties of people with disabilities in areas like criminal justice, voting, physical and mental health, parental rights, and marriage equality
  
  
• Upgrade all existing public housing and public schools to ADA accessibility standards
  
  
• Eliminate small business exemptions to the ADA; Appropriate federal funds to support small businesses who hire people with disabilities in meeting their accommodation needs
  
  
• Recognize long COVID as a major contributor to the rapidly expanding population of disabled Americans, and implement federal systems of support to study the effects of long COVID and recommend policy changes to ensure those affected have the appropriate protections in their workplace, housing, healthcare, and other needs.

...and much more.

Too often, people living with disabilities are treated like an afterthought, slipping through the cracks of legislation that was never crafted with their needs in mind.

Together, we will change that.

You can read my full platform on Disability Rights here.

Finally, I need your help to make this vision a reality. While corporate PACs and mega-donors are rushing to fill the coffers of the twin parties of war and Wall Street, our success depends on you – the ONLY campaign on the ballot for the majority of voters that can’t be bought by special interests. Can you donate $34 to celebrate 34 years of the ADA today?

For too long, people living with disabilities have been forced into the shadows, coping with a world that isn’t built for their needs, and rarely invited into the conversation where decisions that affect their lives are made.

The ADA was a major leap forward and one of the most significant pieces of civil rights legislation in our nation’s history.

Now it’s time for the next leap.

In solidarity and gratitude,

Jill