Disability Advocates Fight Disabled Governor

NPR

Published January 28, 2015 at 1:50 PM EST

Texas Governor-Elect Greg Abbott listens to questions from the press after a meeting at the White House December 5, 2014 in Washington, D.C. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images)

For the first time since 1987, one of the nation’s governors is in a wheelchair. Texas Governor Greg Abbott won the race by promising to fight the federal government with his literal “spine of steel,” but disability advocates are saying that he hasn’t fought for them.

Here & Now’s Jeremy Hobson speaks with Bob Kafka, an organizer with ADAPT, an Austin-based disability rights group. He says that despite the governor’s own paralysis, Abbott has gutted programs for disabled people and battled to keep federal aid out of Texas.

Guest

Bob Kafka, organizer for ADAPT of Texas, an Austin-based disabilities rights group.