Inside STAT: Disability advocacy, once an afterthought in presidential races, gains traction

A WOMAN VOTES IN QUEENS, N.Y., DURING THE NEW YORK DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY ELECTION IN JUNE. (JOHANNES EISELE/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES)

The disability advocacy community has for decades been overlooked in mainstream political discussion, but the 2020 presidential race has brought a marked shift. Back in May, amid social media pressure from activists, the now presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden put out a full disability platform. And nearly every Democratic presidential campaign, including Biden's, reached out to the Disability Justice Initiative at the progressive think tank Center for American Progress to workshop platforms. “To watch the shift from us having to beg candidates — like literally beg candidates — to include the word ‘disability’ as they rattled off diversity categories to [them] coming to us to say, ‘I want to engage with your folks’ … [this] was such a powerful shift,” Rebecca Cokley, founder and director of the Disability Justice Initiative tells STAT's Juliet Isselbacher. Read more here.