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10/13 #CripTheVote chat: #Poverty and #Disability

#CripTheVote Twitter Chat

Poverty and Disability

Thursday, October 13, 2016

8-9:15 pm Eastern

Hosted by Andrew Pulrang, Gregg Beratan, and Alice Wong, #CripTheVote Twitter chats explored various policy issues important to people with disabilities this year. Our 11th Twitter chat will focus on poverty and disability. Joining us as a guest for this chat is the National Council on Disability, an independent federal agency on disability policy. 

You can find the questions for this chat below in this post. The Twitter chat will be archived in Storify for anyone who would like to see it in chronological order at a later date.

How to Participate

Follow @AndrewPulrang @DisVisibility @GreggBeratan @NatCounDis on Twitter

When it’s time, search #CripTheVote on Twitter for a series of live tweets under the ‘Live’ tab to follow the full conversation. 

If you might be overwhelmed by the volume of tweets and only want to see the chat’s questions, check @DisVisibility’s tweets. Each question will tweeted 4-5 minutes apart.

Use the hashtag #CripTheVote when you tweet. If you can’t join us on 10/13, feel free to tweet anytime before or after with the hashtag.

If you don’t use Twitter, check out the live-stream:

http://twubs.com/CripTheVote

Check out this explanation of how to participate in a chat by Ruti Regan: https://storify.com/RutiRegan/examplechat

Questions for the 10/13/16 Twitter Chat

Welcome to our 11th chat! We’re thrilled to have @NatCounDis join us. Remember to use the #CripTheVote hashtag when you tweet!

If you respond to a question such as Q1, your tweet should follow this format: “A1 [your message] #CripTheVote

During this chat, ‘safety net’ programs refers to benefits that help low-income people such as housing assistance #CripTheVote 1/2

…tax credits, food stamps, #Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income, Pell Grants, Head Start, just to name a few examples #CripTheVote 2/2

Q1 When you think about poverty, how do you define/describe it? Is it solely based on income & assets? What else? #CripTheVote

There’s the working poor, the underclass, people working in the shadow economy, people w/ growing debt #CripTheVote

Q2 What’s missing in the discussion on #poverty & how #inequality & #disability intersect & impact one another? #CripTheVote

Q3 How do ableism & other forms of discrimination exacerbate the inequality & poverty of disabled people? #CripTheVote

The federal poverty level (FPL) is used to determine eligibility for programs such as Medicaid https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/federal-poverty-level-FPL/ #CripTheVote

Q4 2016 FPL for an 1 is $11,880 & $24,300 for a family of 4. Do you think the FPL is an accurate measure of poverty? #CripTheVote

It is expensive being disabled! What are some of the costs of being disabled that are invisible & not taken into account? #CripTheVote

Q6 Do you struggle getting the basics such as food, housing, healthcare, personal assistance, utilities? How do you manage? #CripTheVote

Q7 What changes have you experienced w/ safety net program cutbacks, elimination of services, or tighter restrictions? #CripTheVote

Q8 How does the ‘safety net’ help or trap disabled people with income and asset limits? #CripTheVote

Q9 How can fed/state policies & programs such as #Medicaid #SocialSecurity, food stamps, unemployment insurance be improved? #CripTheVote

Q10 What are some major assumptions about poor disabled people that policymakers have? What do they need to know? #CripTheVote

Q11 What ideas do you have that can ‘lift’ disabled people out of poverty related to employment, minimum wage, and debt?  #CripTheVote

Q12 What are some anti-poverty initiatives that should be invested into the disability community? #CripTheVote

This ends our #CripTheVote chat on poverty & disability. Thank you to our guest @NatCounDis! Please continue the convo!

This Twitter chat will be archived in Storify later this evening. Look for the link with the hashtag #CripTheVote

Additional links

It’s Time to Ask the Candidates: #WhereDoYouStand on Fighting Poverty?

Jeremy Slevin, TalkPoverty.org, October 3, 2016

Poverty Data

TalkPoverty.org

How Medicaid Forces Families Like Mine to Stay Poor

Andrea Louise Campbell, Vox, July 28, 2015

5 Despicable Ways We Keep Disabled People Chained to Poverty

s.e. Smith, Alternet, October 22, 2014

State General Assistance Programs Are Weakening Despite Increased Need

Liz Schott and Misha Hill, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, July 9, 2015

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: Poverty and Inequality

http://www.cbpp.org/topics/poverty-and-inequality

U.S. Census Bureau on Poverty

http://www.census.gov/topics/income-poverty/poverty.html

#CripTheVote Links

Resources on voting and people with disabilities:

http://disabilitythinking.com/election-2016-cripthevote

#CripTheVote Facebook Page:

https://www.facebook.com/CripTheVote/

A note on language and why we use the term ‘crip’

http://disabilitythinking.com/disabilitythinking/2016/3/28/cripthevote-notes-on-crip

About the National Council on Disability

The National Council on Disability (NCD) is a 38-year-old independent federal agency tasked with advising Congress, the White House and its partner agencies on all issues impacting to Americans With Disabilities Act. Made up of nine individuals selected by the President of the United States and leadership of Congress, NCD has decided that for that for 2017 the theme of its work will be the nexus of poverty and disability. Policy projects, quarterly meetings and other public events will be focused on this issue and allow the council to hear directly from the disability community what changes are needed to achieve the goals of the ADA, economic self sufficiency, independent living, equality of opportunity, and full participation. 

NCD’s Executive Director, Rebecca Cokley, @NCDExecDir, is thrilled to be joining #CripTheVote for this Twitter chat.
Twitter: @NatCounDis

About #CripTheVote

#CripTheVote is a nonpartisan campaign to engage both voters and politicians in a productive discussion about disability issues in the United States, with the hope that Disability takes on greater prominence within the American political landscape.

While #CripTheVote is a nonpartisan project, we understand that many people have already developed preferences for particular candidates. This is great–we only ask that everyone is respectful in their interactions with each other. Our primary focus here is on increasing engagement with disability issues as a part of American politics and on the need for that we are all in agreement!

Please note we do not represent the entire disability community nor would we ever claim to do so. There are many ways to create social change and engaging in conversation is one approach.

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