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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-19-2026 Correspondence - Disability Rights Montana - Growth Rings - 259,669 VoicesFrom:Disability Rights Montana - Growth Rings To:Bozeman Public Comment Subject:[EXTERNAL]259,669 Voices Date:Wednesday, August 19, 2026 7:33:19 AM CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more Every paid subscription supports Disability Rights Montana’s work across Montana. Federal funding is nowhere near sufficient to meet the advocacy and culture change work that is needed. You can help fund the future you want to see! 259,669 Voices Disabled Voters are Paying Close Attention READ IN APP Montana Disability Voter Guide AUG 19 Here’s a number every candidate running in Montana should know: According to the CDC, that’s the number of voting-age Montanans living with a disability. And that’s a conservative number because it doesn’t include people with mental illness or all the people covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act. So in a state of just over a million people, that is far from a niche constituency or special interest group. That’s one of the largest communities with shared experiences and needs in our entire state. As such, we asked politicians to respond to questions the disability community wrote, and their answers have been compiled in a new voter guide. We did this because if you look at our political discourse, it’s usually left vs. right, my team vs. your team. Rarely do we actually get to hear about the issues that are important to us without scripted answers or a party line coming down from the political bosses and rich doners. This means that in those rare instances where our issues are addressed, it is usually in generic ways that have been workshopped, focus grouped, or just edited through the lens of what resonates with the “typical” Montanan voter. Housing is discussed without discussing accessibility. Workforce issues are discussed without discussing disability-related barriers to employment. Health care debates often segregate Medicaid from broader conversations and overlook the 259,669. people who rely on Medicaid for daily assistance to get out of bed, get dressed, eat, work, raise families, and remain in their communities. Transportation, education, caregiving, mental health, civil rights, and voting access are all disability issues, whether people recognize it or not. That’s why I’m excited to announce the launch of the 2026 Montana Disability Voter Guide. This is a resource for all Montanans and it was developed by The Collective Disruption, a statewide, disability-led coalition that includes Disability Rights Montana and partners from across Montana. What do the people running for office think about the issues most important to disabled Montanans? To answer that question, we first had to figure out what issues were actually most important to disabled Montanans. Over 100 Montanans with disabilities, family members, caregivers, advocates, and community leaders provided feedback and crafted the eleven questions. The Collective Disruption then sent those eleven questions to every candidate running for a state or federal legislative position in the 2026 election. Every candidate received the same set of questions and had the same opportunity to respond. A simple question: The result is a voter guide that gives all voters, disabled or not, valuable information about where the people asking for their vote stand on a number of big issues. What the guide does not do. No rankings. No scores. No endorsements. No editing. Candidates’ responses are published exactly as they were submitted without commentary. Candidates who did not respond are clearly identified. I think that’s important. Too often our politics rewards slogans, talking points, and homerism for those on our team (Homer, like sports fans who think their hometown team can do no wrong, not the guy who wrote the Odyssey). This guide gives voters something more useful. It allows people to compare candidates side by side and hear directly, in their own words, what they think about the issues affecting hundreds of thousands of Montanans. We are voting. And increasingly, we are expecting elected officials to engage with us as a powerful constituency to get votes from and as people with lived experiences that provide valuable insights to a wide range of policy solutions rather than treating disability as a policy problem to be solved. The disability community includes people from every political party and every ideology, and this guide doesn’t tell anyone how to vote. What it does do is elevate the voices of disabled Montanans and create an opportunity for candidates to engage seriously with the issues that affect our lives. Disabled people are in every community ofMontana and we are paying attention Because disability is part of the human experience. It is part of the Montana experience. Many of us will acquire a disability through illness, injury, or aging. And many of the innovations originally championed by disabled people, from curb cuts and captioning to remote work and mail voting, ultimately make life better for everyone. What’s good for disabled Montanans is good for Montana. As election season continues, I hope you’ll spend some time with the voter guide, share it with your networks, and encourage others to do the same. Personally, I think Democracy works best when people have information. And this guide has a lot of information that is important to you and your disabled family and neighbors. Please check it out. David David Carlson Executive Director Disability Rights Montana You’re currently a free subscriber to Life Beyond Compliance. Upgrading to paid subscriptions supports Disability Rights Montana’s work across Montana. Federal funding is no where near sufficient to meet the advocacy and culture change work that is needed. You can help fund the future you want to see! Upgrade to paid LIKE COMMENT RESTACK © 2026 Disability Rights Montana1022 Chestnut Street, Helena, MT 59601 Unsubscribe