The United States Congress and People with Disabilities

The congress – meaning the Democrats because not one single Republican voted for the bill – have finally passed a sweeping bill for health care, climate control, green energy and taxing corporations more fairly. That’s good news for all people, but especially for those of us with disabilities. So what will it exactly do for people with disabilities/differences? Called the Inflation Reduction Act, the act means that people with disabilities will have an easier time getting the help that they need, especially in a time when we live in a pandemic and a world of weather extremes.

When there is an epidemic, or another pandemic, life will always be a little bit more challenging for people with disabilities/differences. The big thing that will help people with any kind of special needs is medicine, because if some people who can’t afford their medicine don’t get it, especially people who have psychotic tendencies, the consequences could be severe – like a mass shooting, which would not be 100% their fault. In fact, that would be partly the government’s fault for not providing them with proper medication for a known condition. However, most people don’t think about those kinds of things. At least that is what it seems like sometimes. While it’s great that congress sometimes does pass a bill to help everybody, I think they should share the “plan” that they have with the public and put it on a website where “We The People” can see it in plain English.

Passing a bill dealing with climate change is big step forward. For one, it means that people with disabilities won’t have to worry as much. For example, if there is a flood, like from more rain than usual or a hurricane, how are people who are in a wheelchair or on crutches going to get around? It would be extremely difficult for them if not impossible depending on the extremity of the flooding. There are 61 million adults in the U.S. with some kind of physical or learning disability, which means the ratio is 1 in 4 adults. I’ve never comprehended why elected officials whose job is to make the country a better place don’t vote for bills to combat climate change.

This is just a guess, lol, but something tells me that most of the time the answer is because of money or power – meaning their campaigns won’t receive contributions from climate change deniers and therefore they will be voted out. This is why I sometimes think that if we had just one party, which would be an independent party, our government would be so much better off. Idealistic? Yes. But we would have a freer and fairer country for everyone where our government would be focused on people, rather than a polarized system where little gets done. We would be more of an equal country, and therefore all people, including those with disabilities, would be much better off.