Day in Washington Disability Policy Podcast.  People with Disabilities and Military - New happenings in 2014.

http://dayinwashington.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/14-8-26-PWDs-in-Military.mp3

Audio file: http://dayinwashington.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/14-8-26-PWDs-in-Military.mp3

Transcript:

Hello and welcome to Day in Washington, your disability policy podcast. Together, we will explore and analyze issues of interest to the community. I'm your host Day Al-Mohamed working to make sure you stay informed. Today's topic is people with disabilities in the military.

I wrote about this some last year. You see, around June of last year, Leon Panetta, Secretary of Defense, lifted the ban on women in combat. Women would be allowed equal opportunity to participate in combat operations. There have been a variety of responses from the public, but I think that in general most people are generally in favor of the change. And to be fully honest, it wasn't like this was not happening already. There are women medics, women Military Police (MPs)), women helicopter pilots and women in other positions who, while not officially part of combat units are attached to such units or operating under the same or similar conditions. To ignore that reality is to denigrate their risks and their sacrifices.

That discussion lead to the question of If we are allowing women in to combat, when will we allow people with disabilities to serve? It would seem that the question has become more than an academic exercise.

Senator Tom Harkin spoke about this with Leon Panetta just this year

The idea may sound laughable to some in the general public but the call to serve is just as strong among people with disabilities as any other community.

Keith Nolan, a young man who is deaf who also happened to be a top performer in the California State University ROTC program as a part of a TED Talk said, All I really want to do is join the Army. I want to do my duty, serve my country and experience that camaraderie, and I can't, owed to the fact that I'm deaf. And he isn't alone. There's even a Facebook Page for people with disabilities who want to join the military.

Corporal Garrett S. Jones, an amputee who was injured in 2007 by an insurgent's bomb during his unit's deployment to Iraq, shows his prosthetic leg. Jones is a 23-year-old Newberg, Ore., native. (Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Ray Lewis)

The Army's Continue on Active Duty (COAD) program is putting military men with clear, visible disabilities back into combat, and retaining and retraining others for other forms of active duty. As of June last year, sixty-nine amputees have returned to active duty. Also of note, Fort Belvoir, Virginia, a 100-year old, 47,000-man (and woman) garrison is now commanded by Colonel Gregory D. Gadson. Colonel Gadson is a double-amputee. Perhaps even more impressive is Marine Corporal Garret S. Jones' recovery and redeployment to a combat zone after losing a leg.

With those preliminary programs already in place and courageous soldiers continuing on in their chosen duty, it was perhaps not surprising to hear Secretary Panetta's response.

On July 30th of this year, Representative Mark Takano filed H.R.5296 a bill to require a demonstration program on the accession as Air Force officers of candidates with auditory impairments. It mirrors a December 2013 bill from Senator Harkin.

A promising project. If an individual with a disability is qualified and capable of meeting the responsibilities and selective criteria that may be necessary for certain jobs and positions, then why not? However,