Julián Castro Is the Latest Democratic Candidate to Release a Disability Plan

Julián Castro on Wednesday became the latest Democratic presidential candidate to unveil a policy aimed at expanding the rights of people with disabilities, promising to help the more than 60 million disabled Americans access “dignified work, decent housing, quality education, affordable health care, to live independently and achieve self-sufficiency.”

The plan says it will build on the promise of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by proposing a number of reforms to Social Security, advocating for employment opportunities, fully funding education for people with disabilities, and improving how disabled people are treated in the criminal justice system, among other ideas.

“The ADA ​is referred to as the ‘Emancipation Proclamation for People with Disabilities’ and ​provided reasonable accommodations for those with disabilities and banned discrimination against them in employment, housing, and public spaces,” Castro wrote in a Medium post on Wednesday announcing the policy. “Yet despite the important progress over the last three decades, disparity and poverty is still all to common in the disability community.”