Announcing the creation of: DELIVER: Disabled and ELderly Informed Voters for Equal Rights
The elderly and disabled are taking over our society. As we baby boomers age and our bodies fail, we represent the significant percentage of our country’s population. Here in Pennsylvania, there are more elderly people per capita than in any other state in the union except Florida. As I write this description of the kind of organization we need—we being elderly and disabled voters—I am sitting on a power chair in State College in a county where our numbers are growing significantly as independent living, assistive living, and nursing homes are multiplying and the businesses that depend on our patronage multiply with it. But do we get the respect we deserve? Does government care about our needs?
I am asking you to join with me in creating DELIVER: Disabled and ELderly Informed Voters for Equal Rights. I am doing so because it is time we seized the power we need to obtain the services we deserve. These services hold the promise of increasing society’s economic growth through releasing talent. Our talent is stymied by a political structure that does not understand the value of an experienced mind housed in a body that does not work well.
There are enough elderly and disabled voters in Centre County, throughout the Commonwealth and the country to use the ballot box to change our government:
1. We must vote.
2. We must vote as a block so our influence is clearly understood and our issues are clearly stated.
3. We must be informed about the issues that and the candidates who affect our lives.
4. We must endorse candidates and insist on the passage of necessary legislation.
5. We must run for political office because unless we do we will have government officials who do not know the day-to-day reality the disabled and elderly face.
6. We must become a significant part of the machinery of the Democratic and Republican parties serving as officials, delegates to conventions, and writers and implementers of party platforms.
My name is Joel Solkoff. I am 62. I am a paraplegic who gets around on a battery-powered wheel chair. For over two years I have been writing about disability- and elderly-related issues for Voices of Central Pennsylvania. I have observed as this election, much like the elections that preceded it, have neglected our needs for assistive technology—so those of us who cannot walk, see, or hear are deprived of tools we need to be independent.
We have experienced Medicare and health services that focus on short-term savings only to result in massive future expenses as our ability to take care of ourselves is reduced. Current and planned policies release us from hospitals prematurely, skimp on rehabilitative services, cut back on post-hospital home care, pay only for pain management techniques that force us to choose between medication that turns us into zombies or simply enduring the pain.
We live in communities where access to public places is denied by merchants relying on loopholes in the law, by a transportation system that limits our ability to travel, and by a variety of techniques that prevent us from obtaining meaningful employment and adequate compensation.
I am writing this because writing about problems is not enough. We must solve them. In this 2010 election for the U.S. senate seat in Pennsylvania, more than $10 million will be spent. Virtually none of the money will be spent giving voters thorough and accurate information on issues that affect disabled and elderly voters. When relevant issues are mentioned, they are mentioned in passing using rhetoric that has been repeated for generations. I asked one senatorial candidate whether he would pledge to campaign only in locations that are accessible to individuals who cannot walk, see, or hear. His answer was dismissive, as if he could not be bothered with such foolishness: Impractical, he said. Too expensive, he said. Out of the question, he said. Using modular ramps, pens that provide information to the blind, and adequate signage for the deaf, a relatively inexpensive campaign accessibility kit could be put together.
It was the nature of the contemptuous answer that convinced me that we must prepare now for the next major election in two years. We must prepare for all minor elections. We must create an organization that combines the talents of the range of disability and elderly groups. We must be clear about what we want. We must recruit disabled and elderly candidates.
I repeat myself. I will continue to write about the issues. But writing is not enough. Yes, we need help from supporters who are able-bodied, but the help we need is help that will allow us to take charge of our lives in the political arena.
We will take our inspiration from the Civil Rights Movement and the work of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. who showed us that the true path to independence is through non-violence and the ballot box. I have trouble with the phrase love your enemy. It implies that there are enemies. Sadly, there are. The phrase implies that we can love them. For that I need more spiritual strength than I currently have.
Stay tuned.
Joel Solkoff
