This commentary is by Susan Aranoff, senior planner and policy analyst for the Vermont Developmental Disabilities Council.
The Covid-19 global pandemic has laid bare disparities in health, health care and education that exist in Vermont, throughout the United States, and indeed, throughout the entire world.
During the first year of this biennium, our Legislature — led by House Speaker Jill Krowinski and Senate President Pro Tem Becca Balint — issued a full-throated response to this inequity and passed major legislation to reduce and eliminate such disparities.
To review, last session our Legislature, led by committee chairs Rep. Tom Stevens and Sen. Jeanette White, addressed Vermont’s well-documented history of explicit bias against people with disabilities, Indigenous people, people of color, lower income people, and people of differing ethnic backgrounds.
These biases were enshrined in Vermont’s eugenics laws, specifically, in Act 174 of 1931, “An Act for Human Betterment by Voluntary Sterilization, for the purpose of eliminating from the future Vermont genetic pool persons deemed mentally unfit to procreate.”
The Legislature passed Joint Resolution 2 to apologize for the actions of the legislators who passed the heinous eugenics laws. Rep. Stevens, chair of the House Committee on General, Housing and Military Affairs, gave a powerful floor speech explaining eugenics, its history in Vermont, and the ensuing consequences. It should be shown in every Vermont history class and watched by every Vermont resident.
Last session, our Legislature, led by its health committee chairs, Rep. Bill Lippert and Sen. Ginny Lyons, acknowledged that Vermont’s serious health disparities did not arrive with Covid-19 and would not end with Covid-19. They took up this serious issue and passed Act 33, which seeks “to promote health and achieve health equity by eliminating avoidable and unjust disparities in health through a systemic and comprehensive approach that addresses social, economic, and environmental factors that influence health.”
Last session, our Legislature, led by its education committee chairs, Sen. Brian Campion and Rep. Kate Webb, took the first important step toward addressing this injustice with Act 35, which creates a Task Force on Equitable and Inclusive School Environments. The task force is charged with making recommendations to end suspensions and expulsions for all but the most serious student behaviors. The task force will also compile data regarding school discipline to guide decision-making and measure the effectiveness of policies and practices.
Acknowledging a problem is the first step toward any significant change, but the hard work does not stop there. Now is the time to build on this promising foundation with legislation that directs resources and recalibrates government programs to meet the needs of underserved groups, including Vermonters with disabilities, BIPOC Vermonters, and those who identify as LGBTQ.
Opportunities for concrete action abound. Here are just two that will ensure Vermonters with disabilities can receive quality services provided by a well-paid professional workforce in safe and stable homes.
• The Senate Health and Welfare Committee, chaired by Sen. Ginny Lyons, has taken up H.153, which makes progress toward achieving a livable wage for the home and community-based workforce that serves older Vermonters and Vermonters with disabilities.
• Vermont’s housing crisis for people with disabilities is being addressed in H.531, which will be taken up by the House Human Services Committee, chaired by Rep. Ann Pugh.
To all of Vermont’s legislators and legislative leaders, thank you for guiding Vermont through these perilous times. Lead on!
