I couldn't help but smile as I left the county building last Friday morning thinking that I had finally been able to do something that just about every other American has taken for granted for many years. Because of the hard work and activism of many people in the disability community I was at long last able to cast my vote independently, without the help of anyone. I know, for some of you reading this it sounds trivial. You've been able to walk/roll in to the voting booth and fill out a ballot and probably not thought twice about it. But, for some of us, this hasn't been possible.

Yes, I'm a bit late to the party and I should have been able to do this in 2006. Unfortunately, some problems prevented that from happening. Even this time, I had to wait for over half an hour while election workers tried to fire up the machine that read the ballot to me. But eventually everything worked and, after cycling through various federal, state, county and local races, I had finally done it.

I have a disability, and I am pro-choice.(Although I can't always say that my life has been all about exercising a plethora of choices, more about coping with scarcity, but that is a topic for another time). However, I think it is because I know what it is like to have my bodily autonomy questioned or attacked outright, that I am solidly in favor of women making the decisions about the children they have or do not have.

Dear Americans with Disabilities,

It's a pleasure for me to join you in celebrating National Disability Employment Awareness Month. Americans with disabilities are an essential and underutilized part of our workforce. As President, I will work hard to help you achieve full equality - in the workplace, in education, and in all aspects of life.

I don't have to tell you the dismal statistics - an employment rate 40 points below that of working-age individuals without disabilities and a federal failure to meet the disability employment targets of Executive Order 13173.