My intellectually disabled daughter has voted in every election since she turned 18

[cyclonefence]

Her high school special ed teacher took the whole class to the courthouse and registered them to vote (those whose parents agreed; I suspect we all did) in the party the parents/guardians chose.

For the years she lived at home, I had permission from the judge of elections to go into the voting booth with her and cast her vote for her.

Now that she lives with two other women in a community-based home, she is signed up for permanent mail-in voting due to the physical aspects of her disability.

Some people raise their eyebrows when they learn that this woman (38 years old now) votes, and I point out to them that more than anyone else they know, my Sara is dependent on the policies of national, state, and local politicians to control the quality and even the sustainability of her life. Without the help of government agencies, she would die because we cannot afford her medical expenses or the special adaptations her life requires.

She lives a happy, productive (in her own way) life, with the support of wonderful (mostly) women who care for her day and night.

When she was in utero, amniocentesis showed something was wrong, but the opinion of the doctors was that it was nothing that would interfere with a normal life. Had I known better, I might have considered an abortion. At least that was an option at that time. Now more sophisticated testing finds these serious neurological anomalies, and I suspect most women would opt to abort, but too bad for them.