Yang Talks About Autism

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the issue's role in presidential campaigns.

Juana Summers at NPR:

JUANA SUMMERS, BYLINE: Dozens of people crowded into a coffee shop in Salem, N.H., to hear about Andrew Yang's plans for disabled people. He told the group what it was like when his son Christopher, who was 3 at the time, received his autism diagnosis.

YANG: So we were first-time parents, and Christopher had struggles. But as a first-time parent, you don't know if that's just the norm. You're like, maybe 2-year-olds act like this; maybe 3-year-olds act like this. And when we got the diagnosis, it was actually a relief for me and my wife because we were like, OK, this is something that we now understand and we can bring resources to bear.

SUMMERS: But Yang said he recognizes that not everyone has those resources. Autism can be a costly and complex diagnosis that can vary widely. In an interview, Yang explained why he's decided to make his son's story part of his campaign.

YANG: Well, I would have no idea how not to talk about it in the sense that it's part of our family and part of our lives. And the last thing that would ever occur to me would be to somehow obscure the reality of Christopher and his autism from our story.

From Summers:

Ari Ne'eman, a senior research associate at Harvard Law School's Project on Disability and a co-founder of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, said he welcomed some parts of Yang's plan, including his commitment to ending seclusion as a punishment in schools. He also praised Yang's call for increased funding for the federal law called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which gives every child the right to services and accommodations that will allow them to learn.

\But he also had some concerns, including the fact that Yang's proposals focuses only on children, rather than also including policy directed toward disabled adults.

"That's a sore spot in the disability community. Often you will see the public very quick to talk about cute, disabled children, but when those children grow up, being very reluctant to provide supports and services in order to be able to have a life with dignity and independence," he said.

Yang Ad

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the issue's role in presidential campaigns.

Jonathan Easley at The Hill:

Tech entrepreneur and Democratic presidential hopeful Andrew Yang will feature his wife, Evelyn, and their young child, who has autism, in a new campaign ad, which will focus on Yang’s health care plan and his universal basic income proposal.

The ad, which is called “Caregiver,” will highlight Yang’s proposal to give everyone $1,000 a month, which he has cast as the most ambitious proposed expansion of Social Security by any of the Democrats running for the party’s presidential nomination.

“The work of so many caregivers goes unseen, whether it’s caring for parents, or staying home with young boys, one of whom has special needs,” Evelyn Yang says in the ad. “If my husband Andrew Yang is president, he’ll fight for 'Medicare for All' with mental health coverage and for $1,000 a month for every American, including caregivers, because Andrew values what we do, not just for our families, but for our nation.”

The term "special needs" is controversial in the disability community:

Pleased specifically to hear Senator Warren #SayTheWord. The community doesn’t like being called “special needs” and I’m excited to see that she’s adjusted her language accordingly. Other candidates need to learn. #CripTheVote https://t.co/eQA6BeWJR3

— Rebecca Cokley (@RebeccaCokley) December 20, 2019

Disability in the Democratic Debate

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the issue's role in presidential campaigns.

Abigail Adams at Time:

Health care largely took a back seat on Thursday night, but the moderators asked about a related topic not often discussed on the debate stage: people with disabilities. One in four Americans has a disability, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but politicians have historically not paid much attention to disabled voters and no other Democratic debate has featured a question explicitly about disability issues. However, voter turnout surged among people with disabilities in 2018 and this time around, many of the Democratic presidential hopefuls have started to talk about the topic, with many publishing disability policy plans and hiring disabled campaign staffers.
...

Entrepreneur Andrew Yang was up next, and he gave a personal answer that referenced his autistic son, who he has often mentioned before.

However, the way Yang talks about people with disabilities is controversial. “How many of you all have a family member or a friend or a neighbor with special needs or autism?” he asked. Many disability advocates see “special needs” as outdated phrasing and would prefer politicians not use euphemisms to refer to their disabilities. Advocates have also stressed that they would like to see politicians treat them as people who matter on their own, not just as family members or neighbors or friends of voters.

The most detailed person to answer the question was Warren, who spoke about fully funding the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), as well as helping people with disabilities secure housing, jobs and equal pay. But even Warren ended her answer by calling disabled people the “least of thy brethren,” a reference that many on social media saw as pitying, even if well intentioned. For Democrats’ first time answering a disability question on stage, their responses showed that they are paying attention, but still have more learning to do.