What policies will you propose to address the opioid crisis without eliminating pain management options for those who live with chronic pain?
I am a physician. I am extremely against what the state and federal governments have done in interfering with pain management for patients by criminalizing physician prescribing. The US Supreme Court case in Ruan finally addressed this atrocity but a little too late as too many patients were left untreated for their chronic pain and too many physicians were prosecuted and convicted under arbitrary standard
Would your proposed policies account for the needs of some individuals to utilize both medical marijuana and pain medication in different facets of their treatment? If so, how?
Yes. I would propose medical marijuana as a stabilizing medication to prevent any side effects from opioids such as seizures.
What changes will you make to ensure that people who require pain management services can access and receive services that center their individualized needs?
I will write a bill that will clean up this mess of going after doctors for legitimately prescribing pain medications to those in need
Do you plan to address the disparity in equitable pain management treatment experienced by those in the Black, Indigenous and People of Color or multiply marginalized communities? If so, how?
Absolutely. I will write and pass a bill to ensure that the pain management patients are not regarded as drug seekers and excluded from so many health care programs leaving them to have to resort to street drugs for pain relief
What policies would you implement to ensure people with disabilities receive comprehensive, high quality, and equitable mental health services and insurance coverage?
I will focus on mental health as early as third grade and implement checklist for recognition of mental health in our pediatric population. Second, I will pass law that mandates that all mental health care for those with disabilities must be covered by all health care programs as a default
Share your thoughts on co-responder programs (mental health & law enforcement joint response to mental health crises).
I strongly believe that law enforcement needs to be stripped from being able to be in the center of calls relating to mental health unless there is imminent danger to life. I believe that these calls should be handled by mental health professionals- and in the case of imminent danger to lives, then co-responder response must be mandated
How would you work to eliminate the disproportionate connection between being disabled and becoming entangled in the criminal justice system as opposed to being given necessary and equitable mental health treatment?
I am against criminalizing diabled individuals to be entangled in the criminal justice system. I will pass laws that lower the threshold of competent to stand trial criteria because this criteria most often leaves a large number of individuals who are truly suffering from mental illness as competent to stand trial when they really are not
In your opinion, what can be done to identify and mitigate disability bias in the treatment of mental health? How would you work to address this?
The only way to eliminate bias is to take it on full and frontal. Increasing facilities in the communities which deal with mental health, running advertisements about mental health, and increasing information flow, are just some of the ways that I would ensure that state gets involved in removing the stigma from mental illness
What policies would you propose to encourage public investment in improving accessibility and implementing universal design?
I would impose a penalty issued by a state mandated task force committee for all businesses who refuse to make their businesses accessible to disabled
What policies or incentives will you promote to encourage private business owners to make their buildings accessible?
Incentives will be in the area of providing less stringent criteria for loans through state funded programs for businesses if they make their businesses accessible to the disabled.
How can housing data be utilized to better account for the needs of people with disabilities and to promote increasingly accessible living spaces?
Housing data especially in large apartment complexes should be required to be part of annual inspections so that the appropriate data about accessibility of these large complexes can be gathered.
What policies would you implement to provide people with disabilities with equitable access to upward economic opportunity?
I would pass law that mandates insurance companies to provide additional funding for self-care in order to increase employability of those who are disabled.
What changes to the current social safety net would you propose to implement a more all-encompassing framework that allows people with disabilities to receive needed services that are not currently covered by private or employer-based insurance, such as personal care and other uncovered assistance they may require, while not limiting the ability to pursue economic opportunity? If so, how?
I would also implement specific courses in technical colleges for those to be trained on to be able to provide personal care services for the sole purpose of improving employability of disabled individuals. This is something that can be easily learned as other technical skills such as welding and farming and should be made part of a curriculum where businesses who hire these individuals would also get a tax break
I would also implement specific courses in technical colleges for those to be trained on to be able to provide personal care services for the sole purpose of improving employability of disabled individuals. This is something that can be easily learned as other technical skills such as welding and farming and should be made part of a curriculum where businesses who hire these individuals would also get a tax break
I would pass law that gives tax break to businesses who hire those with disabilities as well as making it easier for those businesses to get state funded grants.
How would you propose to address the barriers that unequitable access to transportation create to economic opportunity for those with disabilities?
I would pass law that specifically is geared for transportation of those who are disabled and the transportation would only cater to those with disabilities in order to increase the access
What policies will you propose to better protect the rights of parents with disabilities and to ensure they have needed supports?
I would pass law requiring all judges to adhere to a checklist of criteria that objectively ensures that parental activities have been examined in detail to ensure that they are intact before any parental termination from a disabled parent.
Research shows that removing a child from their parents should only be used as a last resort. How might you work to ensure this standard is adhered to equally when parents with disabilities are involved and adaptation isn’t conflated with neglect or abuse?
The child welfare system has too much corruption in it because we have many laws that are unclear and the discretion to judges are way too much. I will pass law that will create a Family Task Force to examine all judicial decisions and act as buffer and barrier to some of the absurd decisions that judges make in this regard
What policies would you propose to further address bias against parents with disabilities among child protection workers?
Improve education and get rid of some of the draconian laws that exist in this regard on the lawbooks in Florida
When support is needed to guarantee that individuals with disabilities can exercise their parental rights, how will your policies ensure such supports are easily accessible to the family?
Through the FamilyTask Force for Disabled Parents
What policies do you propose to protect the reproductive rights of people with disabilities?
I will make sure that every disabled person's right to reproduce is absolutely protected by ensuring that they are not encouraged by the legal system not to reproduce or by the health care system not to reproduce. To reproduce is a fundamental right and must be protected at all cost.