BARACK OBAMA AND JOE BIDEN'S PLAN TO EMPOWER AMERICANS WITH DISABILIITES
Fifty-four Americans – roughly 1 in 6 – personally experience some from of disability. In 2006, working-age Americans with disabilities were almost three times more likely to live below the poverty line than those without disabliities. While the average annual household income of individuals in the United States without disabilities was $65,000 in 2006, the average annual household income for people with disabilities was $36, 300. And the employment rate for persons with disabilities in 2006 was at least 40 points lower than the employment rate of working-age individuals without disabilities.
Barack Obama and Joe Biden have a four-part plan to provide Americans with disabilities with the greatest possible access to the same opportunities as those without disabilities: (1) providing Americans with disabilities the educational opportunities they need to succeed; (2) ending discrimination and promoting equal opportunity and (3) increasing the employment rate of workers with disabilities; and (4) supportuing independent, community-based living for Americans with disabilities.