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Arizona State Legislator Jennifer Longdon Increases Disability Representation, But Still A Long Road

This article is more than 5 years old.

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Jennifer Longdon was a successful businesswoman until 2004 when she became a victim of a random shooting. After coming out of a medically induced coma, she discovered that she was paralyzed from the waist down as a result of the bullet penetrating through her spinal cord. During that time, she struggled to stay afloat, and the situation drastically worsened when she lost her health insurance and source of income.

Since then, Longdon has experienced the harsh realities that people with disabilities face and has devoted her life to enhancing the livelihood of this community. She recently decided to take her advocacy work to the governmental level, and ran for a spot on the Arizona State Legislature, representing District 24. She fought in a fair and square race and won the election.

“I've always been part of trying to make positive policy changes to impact the [disabled] community. And I ended up in a position where there was a seat open, and my state legislature in my district and I decided to run. I decided that I had to see disability represented because, you know, I see strong advocates working at different areas of diversity, but disability is not at that table. And because there is no one with a disability talking, you know, our point of view is missing, often,” she says.

Longdon’s victory story is rare and hard to come by, and that speaks volumes about the current state of this country. According to her, she is one of only two full-time wheelchair users currently serving in a state legislature, across the whole nation.

The 2018 midterm elections marked many historic firsts, and the 116th Congressional class became the most diverse one of its kind. A record number of women ran and won seats in Congress, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib became the first Muslim elected congresswomen, Marsha Blackburn became Tennessee’s first female senator and the list of firsts continues.

Throughout this increase of diversity in government representation, people with disabilities are still left behind. They constitute to be the largest minority group in the US, yet are still severely excluded from politics. According to a study conducted at Rutgers University, 62.7 million eligible voters were expected to either have a disability or had a family member with one. This means that more than 25% of the total electorate has an intimate connection to disability.

The National Council on Independent Living (NCIL) began to document and record candidates with disabilities running for local, state and federal offices starting from last year. Before the NCIL took on this initiative, there has been no known data on the number of American politicians with disabilities.

Many physical, societal and economic barriers in politics impede people with disabilities from running for office. In the most literal sense, many folks who use wheelchairs face inaccessibility of campaign and voting venues. They are denied the fundamental right to access physical space.

Secondly, although disability is one of the only social identities that anyone can inherit at any time in life, it is too often included last, or not at all, in discussions about diversity and inclusion. Disability intersects with all of the other identities that a person has, such as race and gender, yet it doesn’t receive as much attention as it deserves.

The third, and perhaps the most detrimental, barrier is economics. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, in 2016 the average winning Senate candidate spent $10.4 million campaigning, it was $1.3 million for House candidates. The majority of the disability community lives on or below the poverty line, so running for office is extremely cost prohibitive. This is the case not only for people with disabilities but also for many marginalized communities.

“I'd like to see a point in time when they're eight of [politicians with disabilities], 10 of us, in my legislature of 90. I'd love to see proportional representation at some point in time. It's in the future, but it can happen, and it's all about removing the stigma around [disability] and acknowledging one's disability,” Longdon explains.

Politicians and political candidates with disabilities aren’t just interested in addressing issues facing other people with disabilities. Instead, they are interested in every and all issue, since disability crosses all identities. They are able to amplify the voices of other marginalized communities— including immigrants, people of color, senior citizens and veterans—because the very same issues that affect them affects many others as well.