From
The AP:
AUSTIN, Texas -- A broken elevator
almost canceled part of the first photo-op of 2015 for new Texas Gov.
Greg Abbott, the first U.S. governor in nearly 30 years to use a
wheelchair.
Without the elevator, Abbott and a teenager with
cerebral palsy would have been unable to get to the third floor of an
Austin high school, where they were to unveil new automatic doors at a
ribbon-cutting event.
Thanks to a fingers-crossed fix, the
elevator was repaired in time. But the snag demonstrated the
complications involved when the state’s highest-ranking public official
is paralyzed from the waist down.
Abbott’s physical limitations
provide more exposure to the difficulties faced by disabled Americans,
and the new governor could be an asset to organizations pressing for
changes to ease the public lives of the disabled in Texas and elsewhere.
But
while advocates take some pride in having a governor with visible
disabilities, their optimism is muted by Abbott’s record. And the
Republican is making clear that his agenda doesn’t include some major
reforms sought by agencies representing the disabled, including a
proposal to get Texas to stop fighting lawsuits brought under the
Americans with Disabilities Act. Efforts to close state centers for
people with intellectual disabilities - another priority for disability
groups - could also fail in the first legislative session under Abbott,
who has ordered lawmakers to prioritize tax cuts and border security.
“He
talks about the economic environment, job creation. He talks about
universities getting to top tiers. But very little about health care,”
said Dennis Borel, executive director of Coalition with Texans for
Disabilities. “To me, that tells me there is ground to be made.”
The
governor says the visibility of his position alone is an asset to the
disabled, and he believes they will benefit from his economic agenda,
along with the rest of the state.
“One of the things that people
with disabilities want as much as anything else is economic
opportunity,” Abbott said. “Having the chief executive of the state be a
person with a disability sends a message to employers across the state
that they can hire people with disabilities.”
The disabled in the U.S. are unemployed at a rate that is roughly double the rest of the population.
The
57-year-old Abbott has used a wheelchair since he was hit by a falling
tree while taking a jog as a young law student in 1984. The story is a
major part of his public persona. As an icebreaker, he often makes quips
about his injury: “Christopher Reeve was faster than a speeding bullet.
I was slower than a falling tree.” His “spine of steel” is a well-worn
line in screeds against Washington.
Abbott says he will make a
bigger impact on disability issues than any of his predecessors and won
early praise for recommending an extra $105 million to ease the backlog
of disabled Texans needing personal assistants. But that amount would
still keep pay for those workers near fast-food wages in a job plagued
by high turnover.
Disabled people are also disappointed that
Abbott - who sued the Obama administration 30 times as attorney general -
is bent on keeping Texas among a handful of states that use a legal
doctrine known as sovereign immunity to try to avoid being sued under
the Americans with Disabilities Act, which was adopted 25 years ago.
Abbott
has cited a duty to protect taxpayers from court costs, and he has
signaled that he will not support a bill that would let the lawsuits go
forward. He promises to leave a mark in other ways, but there is visible
tension: The teenager with cerebral palsy at the Austin high school,
who had an Abbott bumper sticker on his wheelchair, discovered that
someone surreptitiously slapped an “ADA civil rights” logo over his
Abbott sticker while attending an Americans with Disabilities Act
anniversary celebration.
The group United Cerebral Palsy, which
conducts a state-by-state ranking of disability access across the
nation, puts Texas next to last in how well its Medicaid programs serve
residents with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Even the
building where Abbott goes to work each day has notable shortcomings:
There is no wheelchair access at the Capitol’s main entrance, where most
rallies and events are held.
Abbott is the first Texas governor
to use a wheelchair and the first in the U.S. since Alabama’s George
Wallace left office in 1987. A collapsible metal ramp the state
purchased for Abbott to ascend the dais in the House and Senate is among
the few modifications made to accommodate a governor in a wheelchair.
Rhode Island congressman Jim Langevin, a Democrat who is the first quadriplegic elected to the U.S. House
,
received a customized lectern and forced the chamber to finally make
the speaker’s rostrum wheelchair accessible. He said he feels a
responsibility to bring down barriers for others with disabilities and
says he can relate to Abbott in some ways.
“I don’t think we should depend on
Gov. Abbott simply because he uses a wheelchair to be a leader,” said
Lex Frieden, a quadriplegic in Houston and one of the architects of the
Americans with Disabilities Act. “This should not be an area that any
leader ignores.”
