Disabled Voters Get Prepared With Class

On Tuesday, for the first time Cathy Krieger, 43, will exercise her right to vote.

Krieger, who is disabled, said it never occurred to her to register to vote. But through Anaheim-based Westview Vocational Services, which offers job placement services for individuals with disabilities, she recently completed a class on voter registration and decided to exercise her civil rights.

“I want to get my vote in,” said Krieger, who works as a teacher’s aide at a day-care center. “I want to make a difference and be able to make my own choices.”

Lynn Bradford, director of Westview’s Community-based Program, led a class that included information on political parties and candidates. About 80 of the developmentally disabled adults who participated, then registered to vote.

“We wanted to give them the opportunity to have their voices heard,” Bradford said. “They didn’t realize they had this right.”

Bradford said many of Westview’s adults are now eager to participate in Tuesday’s election. “It just goes to show how much knowledge can be shut in until the doors are open.”

Krieger, a Garden Grove resident who has Williams syndrome, a rare genetic disorder, said that people with disabilities “are just people with different problems” and that they can have the knowledge to participate intelligently in the electoral process.

Being able to indicate her choice for president of the United States, Krieger said, “is going to be the most exciting thing in my life. It makes me feel more independent and [that I] have more freedom.”