What policies will you propose to address the opioid crisis without eliminating pain management options for those who live with chronic pain?
I’d expand healthcare to cover all Floridians. Most people are self medicating without physician management and that’s why drug abuse and overdose use has exploded. Disabled patients with legitimate healthcare issues should not be punished by their legitimate prescribing physicians. All citizens and residents deserve access to proper treatment of their health issues. We need to expand healthcare and healing treatments to reduce drug abuse and misuse. We need to treat humans for their underlying health issues before we will see an end to dangerous self medicating behaviors. We need to treat drug abusers as though they are trying to heal themselves without the skills to identify their core illness.
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?
Absolutely. Medical marijuana has proven to reduce the need of opiates. It’s a viable treatment solution for many.
What changes will you make to ensure that people who require pain management services can access and receive services that center their individualized needs?
Legalization of Marijuana and exploration of other plant based medicines is key to whole body healing. Many treatment option exist that are being ignored and criminalized because they are natural and not pharmaceutical. We need to create laws that make sense for all humans. Lab created medications are not proving to be better tolerated by human bodies long term than natural plant based therapies and we need to explore that more. We need to open the door to insurance paying for naturopathic treatment, including touch, physical therapy and chiropractic care. Not just plant based treatment.
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?
Pain management care should not be impacted by nationality, but our marginalized communities need to be included so they are not overlooked. All healing treatments need to be made available to all humans. Humans react differently to each treatment and we need to find the treatment that helps each person the most and get them the treatment so they heal and become more positive and productive. We need to stop treating medical care as a privilege for the few. We need to take care of our greatest asset. Humans are our greatest asset.
What policies would you implement to ensure people with disabilities receive comprehensive, high quality, and equitable mental health services and insurance coverage?
I would expand healthcare so it covers every one. It has to include all aspects of healthcare, especially mental health care. That’s the first level. Healthcare providers need to be licensed and be able to be penalized for providing bad care to patients. Patients need to know who to report bad providers to so they can be corrected or removed from the profession. We also need to create programs to identify personalities that can provide compassionate care. Psychosocial analysis on a mass scale through publicly funded, personality assessments to identify career aptitude would be a huge benefit. Compassion is not a skill that can just be taught at educational facilities. We have got to find the kind person who is capable of building others up. We know this is a need our community has and we know we don’t have enough therapists to fill this need. Whatever policy is created to provide care, has to include programs to identify and train more caregivers.
Share your thoughts on co-responder programs (mental health & law enforcement joint response to mental health crises).
I think this is long overdue. We need our law enforcement for crimes and our mental health providers to work together. People are our greatest asset and we should use our people to the best of our ability to help our people. This is how a mutually beneficial relationship works.
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?
We have to improve care and resources for the disabled. Raising Social Security to a livable amount is the first step. Too many stories of homeless disabled who can’t afford to live in care facilities. Disabled stealing to eat. Fighting for resources. We have to stop criminalizing life and make living possible. If we treat the Illness with dignity we’ll eliminate their crimes.
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?
Psychosocial analysis to identify people with the capacity to care for those with mental Illness. Many personality assessments are done by big corporations to identify people with the capacity for leadership. We should be doing this to eliminate people who lack the capacity for compassion. We should be using these tests to identify people who will excel in the care and treatment of others as well.
What policies would you propose to encourage public investment in improving accessibility and implementing universal design?
Public campaign pointing out that accessibility benefits strollers as much as wheelchairs would be a great place to start and connect the dots of how helping one helps all.
What policies or incentives will you promote to encourage private business owners to make their buildings accessible?
I will promote public policy including the % of patrons who require accessibility help. The best way to incentivize private business owners is to make sure they know how much business they’re losing.
How can housing data be utilized to better account for the needs of people with disabilities and to promote increasingly accessible living spaces?
We have to fix housing so it’s affordable and accessible to the disabled. Housing that’s attainable when living in SSI without government help needs to be available and considered honorable. We need to have enough affordable housing to match the amount of disabled in our community.
What policies would you implement to provide people with disabilities with equitable access to upward economic opportunity?
The penalty for marriage must be removed. If you can find love, it shouldn’t remove your income or healthcare. The disability amount needs to match the minimum wage and the Medicare cost needs to match the federal deduction, not be larger. Work at their level needs to be attainable, for morale. It makes life worth living to have work you’re proud of. Parents with disabled children on SSI need to be able to plan for that child’s care after they’re gone, so asset limits need to be removed. We punish the disable for living and then make life unbearable. We need to take better care of people, especially disabled people.
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?
We have to provide a minimum standard of living that is reasonable and within current living standards. I’ve heard too many stories of the disabled becoming homeless after the caregiver parent died because of tax laws and income restrictions that tied the hands of the disabled. Everyone deserves to be able to live somewhere, eat, bathe, clothe themselves and participate in the community. Our social safety net doesn’t start the process of helping the disabled become independent before the death of their parent and that has to change. We need to be creating a living environment that plans for everyone to be as independent as possible. None of us should be alone. But we need to be able to survive once our loved ones are not here to care for us.
How would you work to promote and incentivize equal opportunity for those with disabilities in employment?
Everyone has a skill that can be used for work. Psychosocial analysis to determine each persons best skill would be beneficial on multiple levels. Placing people in industries where they are predisposed to excel and help is the best place to start. Putting someone with a rare medical condition as a clerical worker in a facility that could treat them quickly would be mutually beneficial.
How would you propose to address the barriers that unequitable access to transportation create to economic opportunity for those with disabilities?
Transportation, using it and paying for it is a real problem for the disabled. Remote work would be most beneficial for those who cannot drive. We need to match people for opportunities that make sense.
What policies will you propose to better protect the rights of parents with disabilities and to ensure they have needed supports?
Family courts need to penalize the non disabled parent for using the disabled parents Illness against them. If the disabled parent was the primary caregiver during the marriage, that needs to remain and we need to punish the abusive partner when it’s identified. Instead of allowing the non disabled parent to use the system against the disabled parent. We are teaching children to mistreat the disabled by rewarding abusers. The disabled deserve to be able to leave their abuser without the state rewarding abuse.
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?
Have their been previous investigations for neglect? Or has this only become an issue when the disabled person tried to leave? Why is the disabled person leaving? Family courts are used to punish the poor parent. Disabled parents are often unable to fight for their rights and we have got to stop making courts so expensive that only the wealthy can afford to buy justice.
What policies would you propose to further address bias against parents with disabilities among child protection workers?
We have to hire compassionate child protection workers. Psychosocial analysis would be highly beneficial on a mass scale.
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?
As soon as a disability is identified a court appointed advocate for the disabled needs to be assigned at no cost to the disabled.
What policies do you propose to protect the reproductive rights of people with disabilities?
We must ensure the disabled wants to reproduce. Disabled are sexually assaulted at higher rates and unscrupulous people will use women to birth babies that may not be wanted. We have to make sure the disabled have the capacity to care for a child and are not being used as convenient breeding stock for domestically adoptable infants. We are living in a time where women are being turned into chattel and we need to ensure the disabled are able to have and care for a child if they want. But are not forced to have children they do not want.