A Letter to Palin from a Special Needs Mom

[Guest guest]

A Letter to Palin from a Special Needs Mom. Perhaps someone would

like to compose a similar letter to Sen. Biden.

Dear Friends:

I wrote this letter to the NY Times. Since it is not terribly likely they

will publish it because I'm not some polical expert, or pillar of some

community, I am asking you to forward the letter to people in your address

book. I

want this letter to reach far and wide across the Internet so that reporters

will start asking these questions. I would ask you to simply cut and paste

the letter into an email so that my email address isn't in your forwards to

help prevent hate mail that could come my way.

Thanks,

GOV. PALIN, WHAT'S YOUR PLAN?

I am an expert at raising a child with special needs. My son is an adult

over 25 years of age.

Governor Palin, you have said repeatedly that you will be an advocate for

parents of special needs children. It is now time for you to tell us what you

mean by that statement. It is not enough that you chose to have a baby with

special needs. There are thousands of us who made the same choice - and

others like me who did not know until our children were born (or later even)

that

they had special needs. There are also hundreds of thousands of people with

developmental disabilities on decades-long waiting lists for services across

the country - and others who are completely unable to access services for

their children because they don't fit some arbitrary criteria.

Specifically, I want to know the following:

1. Do you support increased funding to and the expansion of Medicaid Waiver

programs to ensure that people with special needs can live and work in the

community?

2. Do you support making certain that all services are portable, across the

states and counties - that people don't have to get at the " end of the line "

when they move to another state?

3. Will you increase funding to special education, and improve special

education programs so that less parents have to " opt out " of sending their

special needs children to public school because " homeschooling " is better than

" no

schooling? "

4. If McCain were President, and he were to propose drastic cuts in

Medicaid, what kind of advocacy would you do for special needs parents to

prevent funding cuts that would put us back to the 1960's?

5. What did you do in Alaska to improve the lives of people with special

needs? Did you increase services? Did you increase funding to special

education? Did you end waiting lists? Have you served on nonprofit boards

that

serve children with special needs? How often did the local papers in Alaska

write about your advocacy for the families of Alaska who have special needs

children? Do all families in Alaska have access to local, community-based

programs and treatment regardless of their income because of your advocacy

efforts?

6. Are you in favor of spending more time, money and attention on the

horrific status of mental health treatment and services across the nation?

7. Would you be in favor of ensuring that services are provided to people

with disabilities who need them, in spite of their IQ's not being in the right

" range " ? Specifically, how would you address this problem?

8. If Roe v. Wade were overturned, what special programs might you

institute to support the high influx new parents of special needs children who

might

not have otherwise given birth to those children because they felt they could

not manage for whatever reason?

Governor Palin, the media has had the opportunity to ask you these questions

but have not done so. You have seized that opportunity with photo ops and

heartstrings to simply say that you will be an advocate for us, without being

questioned. You complain that the media is against you and yet you have not

taken the time to explain to the hundreds of thousands of we special needs

parents who need a champion for our cause so much, exactly what your record is

on special needs advocacy and what we can expect in the future if you were

Vice President. It's time now to answer the question: What is your plan?

A special needs mom.

Vote YES on CO Amendment 51

Help People Who Need it MOST

End the Wait LIst for Individuals with Developmental Disabilities

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