In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the role of this issue, along with broader concerns about disability, in presidential campaigns. A recent post noted that the thing that bothers people most about Trump is his mockery of a disabled reporter. One reason for this concern is that so many Americans either have a disability or know someone who does.
At Rutgers, Lisa Schur and Douglas Kruse have a paper titled "Projecting the Number of Eligible Voters with Disabilities in the November 2016 Elections." Major findings:
- A projected 35.4 million people with disabilities will be eligible to vote in the November 2016 elections, representing close to one-sixth of the total electorate.
- The number of eligible voters with disabilities has increased 10.8% since 2008, compared to an increase of 8.5% among eligible voters without disabilities.
- There will be 62.7 million eligible voters who either have a disability or have a household member with a disability, more than one-fourth of the total electorate.
