Disability Rights

I will work in partnership with the disability community to ensure every Texan can fully participate and thrive in the community.

Texans with disabilities of all ages deserve equal opportunity to live and age in place and to achieve economic self-sufficiency in the community.

Yet under Greg Abbott’s leadership, Texas ranks 49th in the nation when it comes to access to services for people with disabilities, employers are allowed to pay disabled Texans subminimum wages, our public education system continues to make headlines for discriminating against students with special needs, and new, discriminatory voting laws have made it even harder for Texans with disabilities to participate in our elections.

Every Texan deserves to live and age in place and thrive in their community.

As governor, I will work in partnership with the disability community to ensure every Texan can fully thrive in their schools, in their employment, in their homes, and in all aspects of community life:

Health Care: We will expand Medicaid, improve funding for Medicaid waiver programs to reduce the unacceptably long waitlists for home and community based services, and address Texas’ dire shortage of community attendants by improving their pay and benefits.
Education: We will fully fund special education, guarantee inclusive learning environments in public schools, and ensure every child receives the individualized instruction they are entitled to under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
Employment: To guarantee access to fair, integrated employment for every Texan, we will close the loopholes that allow employers to pay disabled Texans subminimum wages and expand individualized job training opportunities provided through home and community based services.
Housing & Transportation: We will expand accessible, affordable, and integrated housing and transportation options—including in rural communities—and gather input from the disability community to identify and remedy shortcomings in the implementation of laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Criminal Justice: We will expand funding for community-based mental health systems to ensure that Texans with psychiatric, intellectual, and developmental disabilities receive the care they need in the community—not through the criminal justice system.
Voting Rights: We will guarantee accessible voting methods so that every eligible Texan can participate in our democracy, including by reducing barriers to mail-in voting, repealing voting restrictions designed to intimidate personal attendants, restoring access to drive-through voting, and more.