Drake Political Review | Let's Talk Politics

Author: Grace Long

<h1>Closing the Disability Representation Gap</h1><h6><i>Candidates and elected officials with disabilities are underrepresented in all levels of government due to the accessibility barriers and systemic biases they face.</i></h6>
National, People

Closing the Disability Representation Gap

Candidates and elected officials with disabilities are underrepresented in all levels of government due to the accessibility barriers and systemic biases they face.

The 118th United States Congress has been heralded as the most diverse national legislature in the history of our country. Its membership includes the first ever Generation Z representative, and the number of women in its ranks is at an all-time high. Recent data from Pew Research Center shows that this is the most racially and ethnically diverse Congress in history. That same study shows that, at 13, the number of openly LGBTQ+ members has never been higher. Yet even with all these headline-making, record-setting gains in diversity, Congress continues to lag far behind the actual demographics of the U.S. population. Unsurprisingly, minorities are consistently underrepresented.  Perhaps no minority group feels that underrepresentation more acutely than the disability community. Rut...
<h1>Rethinking Disabilities in the Workplace</h1><h6><i>Pandemic-Inspired Accomodations Benefit the Disability Community</i></h6>
National, National Policy

Rethinking Disabilities in the Workplace

Pandemic-Inspired Accomodations Benefit the Disability Community

art by Lila Johnson It’s no secret COVID-19 has disrupted labor markets around the world. Here in the United States, by early May 2020, over 36 million Americans had filed for unemployment benefits, a figure comparable to unemployment during the Great Depression of the 1930s, according to the London School of Policy and Economics’ United States Centre. It is evident that most individuals in the workforce have been affected by the pandemic, with those in the disability community being particularly impacted. For example, as reported in a Syracuse University article, employment rates between March and April 2020 decreased by 18% among the general population, but by 24% among workers with disabilities. In times of crisis, marginalized and vulnerable populations are often the most advers...
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