Barack D. Obama Shaw responses:

1. People with disabilities represent more than 20 percent of the California population. If elected, what would you do to make sure that disabled people have a voice in your administration? Would you appoint a senior advisor on disability issues to help you set goals, track progress, and integrate disability issues throughout your administration?

I will work with Disability Rights Advocacy groups and have training available.  

I will appoint a senior Advisor.

2. Please describe how you have worked with disabled people and disability-led organizations in the leadership roles you have held to date.

I have had discussions about people with disabilities and I have been noting solutions to certain concerns.

3. HR 1 cuts $30 billion a year from Medi-Cal, which represents a significant threat to the disabled children and adults and older Californians who rely on Medi-Cal to live in the community. What would you do to mitigate the impact of these cuts on disabled Californians? Can you promise to protect home and community based (HCBS) services from cuts? How can California better include peers, who can support outreach to communities who may be fearful of participating in safety-net programs, as the first point of contact to build on inherent trust and connection with people in need?

I will get the required funding from the Trump Administration.

I promise to protect home and community based services from cuts.

I would like to include periodic surveys to maintain the highest customer service standards. That way we can ongoingly see our progress and areas that need improvement.

4. Our state has made immense progress in providing Medi-Cal to people regardless of immigration status, but the 2025 budget bill reversed most of this progress. How would you advance immigrant justice and disability rights through the Medi-Cal program? How would you raise needed revenue to ensure that cuts to federal funding are not borne primarily by people with disabilities and immigrants in the state?

I would establish an initiative to resolve this. I would reestablish a statewide relationship with the Trump Administration and secure the needed funds.

5. Governor Newsom developed master plans for aging and for developmental services. What ideas do you have for leveraging these plans or updating them to reflect current priorities?

I will have a quarterly report to manage the effectiveness.

6. What strategies would you use to improve outcomes for people who are currently unhoused and unsheltered, including the over 40% who qualify as people with disabilities?

California has thousands of nonprofit organizations who have the funding and the mission to make a difference here. I will give them the opportunity to fulfill on their mission, which is to help people.

7. How would you work to improve diversity, equity and inclusion in the State government and in the delivery of services funded by the government?

I will have conferences with city leaders to make sure that this issue stays relevant.

8. The representation of state workers with disabilities decreased significantly during Governor Newsom’s two terms. What ideas do you have to improve recruiting, retention, and career development for state workers with disabilities?

Do Advertising, see if disabled are happy where they work and setup a meeting to review career paths.

9. In November, we marked the 50th anniversary of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). What ideas do you have for protecting adequate funds for special education and improving outcomes for students with disabilities in California? Do you have specific ideas for improving outcomes and equal access for students who are Deaf or hard of hearing? Or students with disabilities caught in the school-prison nexus and involved in the juvenile legal system?

Allocate the funds and make it a priority to hire people who really are passionate about students with disabilities.  

Interview the students to see what is working.

Measure counseling effectiveness.

10. Wildfires, earthquakes, flooding and other disasters have disproportionate impacts on people with disabilities and older adults. What ideas do you have for improving emergency preparedness and response for these populations?

Make training a priority that has this scenario as a focus.

11. Transportation continues to be a major barrier to employment, access to healthcare and school, and community engagement for many Californians. What ideas do you have to improve transportation access, particularly in rural parts of the state?

Create a transfer among companies, agencies and present carpooling incentives.

12. California is home to the leading companies that develop new technologies for the world. How would you work with technology companies to improve technology accessibility and affordability for people with disabilities in California and beyond? Do you have a plan to address the growing use of artificial intelligence (AI) and ensure equitable measures to include diverse populations, including Californians with disabilities?

I would have the technology companies install guardrails in their programs that would protect people with disabilities and stand for programs built specifically for people with disabilities.

13. Despite decades of state and federal legal requirements, both public and private sector entities continue to provide web content that is inaccessible to persons with disabilities, especially persons who are blind or have low vision. What commitments would you make to more stringent laws and increased enforcement of state law to ensure websites that are fully accessible to people with disabilities?

I will hold them accountable or they will lose certain privileges.

14. California’s mental health system is struggling to keep up with major policy and funding changes implemented in the past five years—including CARE Court, SB 43, and Proposition 1—while one in seven adults live with a mental illness and many Californians struggle to find providers who accept their insurance. What is your plan to improve mental health care in California? What role do you see for peer leaders with lived experience with mental illness and substance abuse to help shape your approach, and what is your plan to fund and support consumer-operated, peer-led services—such as wellness centers and peer support? How can California work with private insurers to be more responsive to the growing need for care?

I will create incentives for providers to accept their insurance.

I will stand for funding and high quality centers.

We need to measure this with specific numbers and then create a feasible target for effectiveness.

15. Many disabled Californians have been traumatized by the racial profiling and aggressive tactics being used by ICE employees in our State. How will you protect Californians from illegal harassment by the federal government and their contractors?

I will deal with the deal maker-President Trump and be proactive to let him know where we stand. The problem most leaders have here is they are fighting the Administration instead of powerfully communicating.

16. What ideas do you have to improve our state’s understanding and support for people with Long COVID?

I will do studies with the medical professionals to see what is fully wanted and needed here.

17. Access to healthcare is vitally important to the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community who often face barriers to care. What ideas do you have to increase equal access to healthcare for people who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing?

I will have a study of the barriers before I offer solutions here. I want to get to the exact source of the problem here then quickly resolve it.

18. In 2024, California’s poverty rate tied (with Louisiana) for the highest in the United States. What ideas do you have for helping Californians get the resources they need to meet their basic needs, and be able to afford to live here?

I will allocate more funding, create more work programs and nonprofit structures.

19. California incarcerates a higher percentage of its people than almost any democratic country, and Black Californians are nine times more likely to be imprisoned than white Californians. According to the Prison Policy Initiative, at least 40 percent of people in state prisons have a disability. As Governor, what would be your approach to public safety and racial equity as it relates to the criminal justice system?

I will institute education programs to help the parents, the children and the communities.

20. In 2020, Governor Newsom signed SB 823 to close California’s youth prison system, which transferred the responsibility to care for young people charged with the most serious offenses from the state to the counties. Many young people who are currently detained in county-run juvenile detention facilities are disabled and reenter their communities with unaddressed and/or additional disabilities. There are also some juvenile detention facilities that the Board of State and Community Corrections have deemed unsuitable for housing young people, and yet they remain open. What ideas do you have to support young people with disabilities before and while they encounter the juvenile legal system?

We need to connect the nonprofit organizations that are equipped to handle their needs. I will also relook at revisiting having an adequate youth prison system.

21. With federal civil rights enforcement severely weakened, state agencies are now carrying more of the burden. What specific steps will you take to strengthen California’s civil rights enforcement agencies—through funding, staffing, authority, and coordination—so that rights violations are investigated and remedied promptly and effectively across the state, including violations that implicate AI developers and deployers?

I will focus on educating others that there is a problem here and that it can be resolved through the understanding of another person's difficulties in society.