Regarding “Candidates for NJ governor, please make people with disabilities a priority,” NorthJersey.com, Jan. 3:
I am the candidate in this race who has made people with disabilities a priority for over 30 years. From the day my daughter Lauren was born with Down syndrome, I was thrust into a life with unique challenges — or, better said, a blessed life with many gifts ahead. I want to thank Paul Aronsohn for his op-ed that emphasizes the importance of ensuring that all candidates for governor will prioritize people with disabilities. This issue underscores that only one candidate running in either party is truly ready to address the wide variety issues facing the people of New Jersey.
Over that several years, Aronsohn has successfully advocated on behalf of families with disabilities. His op-ed highlights the systemic obstacles that families like mine encounter, and he is right: Navigating health care, education and social services can be daunting. The struggle is real, and it often feels overwhelming. It is these challenges that prompted me to get involved in politics in the first place. I was tired of the system ignoring my daughter’s needs and the needs of all people with disabilities.
My daughter, like many others, is a vibrant testament to love, resilience and the human spirit. Her laughter, determination and unique perspective on life illuminate our days. While she requires support and advocacy, she also inspires those around her to be better, kinder and more inclusive.
This is why I worked with the Special Olympics of New Jersey to expand unified sports to every public school in the state. Unified sports provide an opportunity for people with disabilities to compete in a physical education class or an intramural sport, and in some cases on a varsity team alongside able-bodied individuals.
I also pushed for the development of Adult Career Training centers to ensure that individuals with disabilities could gain vocational training to make them more employable. I also believe that we need to create “Intentional Communities” that focus on creating an entire community of families for people with disabilities. These communities would create greater inclusion for our families and make it easier to access health care.
And the health care needs of individuals with disabilities will not be met unless the needs of workers in the direct service professionals (DSP) industry are met. Our DSPs have been woefully underpaid, and, as Senate president, I advocated year after year for better payment. I also helped create the Direct Support Professional Career Development Program to support DSP workers and encourage them to remain in the workforce.
Aronsohn mentioned in his op-ed that words matter, and they do, which is why I passed the law to remove the “R” word from our laws. He emphasized that staff matters, and it does. I have no greater advocate working on my behalf than my daughter Lauren. And as freeholder director in Gloucester, I made strides to increase hiring that included people with disabilities. As Senate president, I sponsored legislation to assist businesses with funding to provide reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities. And I was the prime sponsor of the bill that would have provided tax incentives to businesses hiring individuals with disabilities, a bill I intend to sign when I am governor.
And I wholeheartedly agree with Aronsohn that New Jersey has an autism crisis. I was a sponsor of the law that required health benefits coverage for therapies for the treatment of autism and other developmental disabilities. Additionally, many people have more than one disability; for instance, nearly 20% of people with Down syndrome also have autism spectrum disorder.
As Senate president, I was fortunate to visit the Rutgers Center for Adult Autism Services, a place that reenforced my own perspective on people with disabilities — that it is important to move the bar on expectations about abilities, because our loved ones have value and they get frustrated because they’re often not seen that way.As governor, I will make people with disabilities and their families a priority.
Steve Sweeney is a Democratic candidate for governor, former president of the New Jersey Senate and the father of a daughter with Down syndrome.
