According to a new report from the Rutgers University School of Management and Labor Relations, about 35.4 million disabled people will be eligible to vote in the November 2016 election, a larger group than African American or Hispanic voters.
It represents an increase of nearly 11 percent since 2008, a higher rate of growth than among voters without disabilities.
The trick is turning those eligible voters into likely voters, Rutgers professor Douglas Kruse said. According to the report, only 46 percent of eligible disabled voters are projected to actually cast a vote.
“Over the last century, people with disabilities have not been part of mainstream life, in general," said Kruse, a co-author of the report. "The relative neglect of people with disabilities just stems from that lingering social exclusion. They haven’t fully incorporated them into social life and political life.”