I am the parent of two adult children with disabilities who I am a caregiver for. I have a son diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, and a daughter who was born with cerebral palsy, IDD, a left hemiparesis and vision field cut. I have a disability (T2D, and nocturnal hypoxemia following COVID). When I was 12 my mother was diagnosed with an aggressive form of Multiple Sclerosis, and my older sister had schizophrenia. My entire life has been a lesson in caring for, or managing my own, disabilities.
I am a member of the Legislative Coalition for People with Disabilities, participate in the Utah Developmental Disabilities Council ALPS program, and have applied to be a council member of UDDC. My daughter is a Special Olympics US Youth Ambassador and athlete. She and I host a Podcast on disability and inclusion topics. See https://katnnat.com/wp/category/podcasts/.
Adapted from the Disability Victory Fund, when I say all legislation is disability legislation, this is what that means:
- HOUSING: we need affordable homes. We need safe and efficient homes. We need accessible homes.
- INFRASTRUCTURE: walk and roll cities: accessible public transit, accessible streets and sidewalks, accessible public buildings, accessible bathrooms. I want to address transportation and accessibility issues by supporting walk & roll cities.
- ENVIRONMENT: clean air, clean water, and a clean environment
- JOBS: improved job access, and a true minimum wage – we need better customized and competitive employment options for people with disabilities. We need to address pay inequities that exist not only for people with disabilities; you’ve heard this before but the same job should equal the same pay.
- MEDICINE: fulfill state Medicaid expand for medical and mental health supports, and caregiver supports. If elected, I will work to fully fund Medicaid expansion in the state. I want to fund Services for People with Disabilities (DSPD) to resolve the multi-year backlog.
- POLICE: we need continued, improved training on crisis intervention, and standard de-escalation procedures when responding to altercations. Use of community services as first responders, and citizen review boards are sensible considerations to ensure community support and safety.
We have the unfortunate circumstance that our Utah State Legislature has pushed back on Medicaid expansion in our state, which means that Federal funds we have already paid taxes toward are left unused. Claims of fiscal responsibility in choosing not to expand the program in Utah are absurd. You can see my proposed 2025 legislation at https://green4utah.vote/proposed-2025-legislation/ that includes specific topics on disability.
You can see my stance on issues at https://green4utah.vote/issues-healthcare/ and https://green4utah.vote/issues-environment/ and https://green4utah.vote/issues-police/ (notice the separate links, because this is where “all legislation is disability legislation” comes from).
I look forward to hearing from you.