Most candidates vying to represent parts of King County have NOT responded to a questionnaire about developmental disabilities
Earlier this year, The Arc of Washington State sent candidates running in the 2020 races a questionnaire about developmental disabilities. The responses are posted, and can be accessed from this page: https://arcwa.org/advocacy/2020-elections/
The bad news? Hardly any candidates who want to represent King County responded.
What can you do? Contact the candidates and ask them to fill it out. It's easy - their campaign emails and phone numbers are listed next to their names on The Arc of Washington's election page. (If they are incumbents, please use their campaign contact information and not their office email or phone numbers. They aren't allowed to use public resources to campaign.)
Don't know your legislative districts? You can look them up here: https://app.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/.
- On this tool, "Congressional" refers to federal positions (U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate) while "Legislative" refers to state positions (Washington's House of Representatives and Senate).
Our advice: Tell candidates you care about issues affecting people with developmental disabilities and you are looking to support candidates who do, as well. Ask them to fill out the questionnaire. We have a sample email (see bottom) that you can use (with information about DD) below. Here is a link to the questionnaire that you can share: https://arcwa.org/content/uploads/sites/35/2020/06/Legislative-questionnaire-2020.pdf
You also might mention that DD issues intersect with most areas they willneed to make decisions about as elected leaders:
- Health care (including Medicaid and long-term supports)
- Behavioral health supports and well-being
- Housing
- Education (including child care and early learning)
- Employment
- Transportation
- Civil rights and legal protections
- ... and more!
There are just four questions:
- If you have a personal connection or professional experience with someone who has a developmental disability, would you describe its impact on you?
- What are your top three legislative priorities and how would you help people with developmental disabilities in them?
- With the current economic crisis, how would you protect services that people with I/DD and their families need?
- Is there other information you’d like constituents with developmental disabilities and their family and friends to know?
Washington's primary is August 4; ballots will be mailed starting July 17. The top two candidates in each race then advance to the general election on November 3.
From an advocacy perspective, this is an important time to make sure candidates understand issues that people with developmental disabilities and their families face.
There are 10 Congressional districts; four include parts of King County:
- 1st CD. No candidates responded as of 7/13
- 7th CD. No candidates responded as of 7/13
- 9th CD. 1 candidate responded as of 7/13
There are 16 legislative districts in King County. (Some also include parts of other counties):
- 1st LD. 0 of 7 candidates responded as of 7/13 (North King County)
- 5th LD. 2 of 6 candidates responded as of 7/13 (East King County)
- 11th LD. 0 of 6 candidates responded as of 7/13(South King County)
- 30th LD. 3 of 8 candidates responded as of 7/13 (South King County)
- 31st LD. 2 of 6 candidates responded as of 7/13 (South King County)
- 32nd LD. 0 of 6 candidates responded as of 7/13 (North King County)
- 33rd LD. 0 of 3 candidates responded as of 7/13 (South King County)
- 34th LD. 0 of 2 candidates responded as of 7/13 (Seattle and SW King County)
- 36th LD. 2 of 4 candidates responded as of 7/13 (Seattle)
- 37th LD. 2 of 11 candidates responded as of 7/13 (Seattle and South King County)
- 39th LD. 1 of 7 candidates responded as of 7/13 (NE King County)
- 41st LD. 1 of 7 candidates responded as of 7/13 (East King County)
- 43st LD. 1 of 6 candidates responded as of 7/13 (Seattle)
- 45th LD. 0 of 4 candidates responded as of 7/13 (East King County)
- 46th LD. 1 of 4 candidates candidates responded as of 7/13 (Seattle and North King County)
- 47th LD. 0 of 6 candidates responded as of 7/13 (South King County)
- 48th LD. 1 of 6 candidates responded as of 7/13 (Seattle)
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SAMPLE EMAIL:
Dear candidate,
Developmental disabilities are a huge part of my life and it is important to me that my elected representatives understand and prioritize issues that affect me and my loved ones.
The Arc of Washington put together this questionnaire, https://arcwa.org/content/uploads/sites/35/2020/06/Legislative-questionnaire-2020.pdf. It would mean a lot if you answered it and returned it to Diana Stadden, policy and advocacy coordinator at The Arc of Washington, at Diana@arcwa.org.
Developmental disabilities intersect with most issues elected leaders need to make decisions about, including:
- Health care (including Medicaid and long-term supports)
- Behavioral health supports and well-being
- Housing
- Education (early learning, K-12, and post-secondary)
- Employment
- Transportation
- Civil rights and legal protections
If you aren't familiar with developmental disabilities, here is some information:
Developmental disabilities are defined differently depending
on the entity. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) uses a broad
definition that captures a large group of disorders related to development delay in
childhood; this definition represents 15 to 17 percent of the
population. Most people captured in this group do not qualify for state support, however.
The federal DD Act uses a much narrower definition
that
limits the scope of “DD” to people with severe and chronic disabilities
that start in childhood, continue indefinitely, and result in
substantial functional limitations in 3 or more areas of major life
activity; this captures 1.58 percent of the population. Using this definition, there are about 119,000 people with DD in Washington, and about 34,000 in King County. The term includes many diagnoses, but the common ones are Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, and autism, and intellectual disabilities.
Washington
state also defines developmental disabilities in its administrative code
and uses this definition to determine who gets supports from DSHS Developmental Disabilities Administration. Of the estimated 119,000 individuals in Washington who meet the federal definition, only about 30 percent are able to access services determined
by its WAC definition.
You can learn more about policy issues that affect people with developmental disabilities and their families here: https://thearc.org/policy-advocacy/
Sincerely,
