Canvassing with a Disability: Disabled Political Leaders Share their Best Practices
“I want to run for office, but I’m worried that canvassing will be hard for me as a disabled person. How can I make canvassing accessible to me?” This is one of the most common concerns we hear about running for elected office here at Disability Victory. In celebration of National Run for Office Day 2024, we’ve set out to learn from disabled former candidates, elected officials, and campaign staff about how they’ve made canvassing accessible to them.
Canvassing and its Challenges
Canvassing involves going door-to-door in your district to meet with potential voters and convince them to vote for you (or the candidate you’re supporting). Going door-to-door to speak to voters has long been considered one of the most important methods of voter contact. It gives the candidate and campaign a presence in the community while allowing them to identify potential supporters, persuade undecided voters, and help voters plan to vote on Election Day.
However, canvassing presents many challenges for disabled candidates, campaign staff, and volunteers. Inaccessible neighborhoods are difficult or impossible for some people with physical disabilities to navigate. People with chronic pain or fatigue may find it challenging to knock doors for long periods of time. People who are Deaf or hard of hearing might experience barriers to communicating with voters. And there are many other challenges, from lack of bathroom access, to extreme hot or cold weather, to expectations of knocking a certain number of doors.
Despite the inaccessibility of canvassing, disabled people across the country have worked as campaign staff, volunteered on campaigns, and run for elected office. To do this, they’ve adapted and used strategies to make this voter contact method work for them.
We asked some of these leaders to share how they conducted canvassing as a disabled person, and their advice for other disabled people who want to run for office.
Canvassing While Disabled
For our first question, we asked: “What was canvassing like for you as a candidate or campaign staffer? What strategies did you use to canvass your community?”
Wisconsin State Representative Jimmy Anderson
Representative Anderson has represented District 47 in the Wisconsin State Assembly since 2017. He is a wheelchair user with paralysis.
Photo Credit: Anderson Campaign
“I typically started by taking a look at the VAN (voter) file, and cutting the turf in a way that I thought would be best for me. I tried to find compact communities so that I could reach as many doors as possible. Typically, I could hit doors at a 50% clip of what an able-bodied person could do. Sometimes it took a bit longer, and there were physical discomforts that required me to take breaks. From there, I went door to door, and I had someone helping me during the time who would drive, and go up and knock on the door. A lot of times there were physical barriers that made it impossible to go up to the door. The person helping me would go up to the door and introduce me, and then they would ask the voter to come down and chat with me for a little while.”
Rebecca Lamorte, 2021 Candidate for New York City Council
Rebecca Lamorte ran for New York City Council in 2021 and is a board member at Disability Victory. She was disabled in 2013 following a subway accident and uses a cane as a mobility aid.
“Canvassing was my favorite aspect of campaigning but as a disabled candidate, it was one of the most difficult things for me to do. I walk with a cane and experience chronic, intense pain from a degenerative nerve syndrome I have. It makes walking and stairs very painful, and at times prohibitive, which made traditional canvassing quite cumbersome.
“My campaign phone banked and door knocked, and I’ve always disliked phone banking so I leaned heavy into doors. Unfortunately though the buildings we could gain access to typically didn’t have elevators and were walk-up style apartment buildings, meaning I’d have to climb and descend 5-6 flights of stairs to get to voters. My team first tried to target buildings for me that were known to have elevators in them but we weren’t able to get access into many of them due to door people and staff keeping us out. I made the physically painful and emotionally difficult decision to knock doors everyday and hurt myself climbing the stairs. There were days I was physically unable to canvass and have to do phone calls instead but I pushed myself as hard as I could to knock at least one packet a day. I pushed myself too hard admittedly and fell walking up a flight of stairs when my left leg gave out and I broke a finger catching myself in the fall.”
Neal Carter, Co-Founder and Co-Director of Disability Victory
Neal Carter is the Founder and Principal of Nu View Consulting and Co-Founder, Co-Director, and Vice President of Disability Victory. He has been working on political campaigns for over 20 years.
I identify barriers I face as a disabled person and actively adapt strategies to make canvassing technology more accessible to myself and to campaign staff/volunteers.
Neil McDevitt, Mayor of the Borough of North Wales, Pennsylvania
Neil McDevitt was elected mayor of the borough of North Wales, Pennsylvania in 2022. He is believed to be the first Deaf person to be elected mayor of a municipality in the United States.
“For me - both campaigns in 2017 (lost) and 2021 (won) I had to do canvassing, BUT the nature of canvassing changed. In 2017, it really was quite a bit of "go up to door, ring doorbell, have awkward conversation" and as a Deaf candidate without an interpreter - that was a struggle.
“In 2021 - because of COVID and people's general reluctance to answer doorbells, we primarily did lit drops (hanging a piece of literature on a doorknob). That, along with having a really strong team of candidates, helped get me over the finish line. (Usually, unless it's a special election - there's a whole slate of candidates running for office at the same time).”
Lydia X.Z. Brown, 2022 Candidate for Maryland General Assembly
Lydia X.Z. Brown ran for Maryland General Assembly in 2022. They are an autistic disability advocate and community organizer.
“My district varies widely between dense suburban neighborhoods and very rural communities. This meant strategizing long walks in large apartment complexes, some with multiple buildings, as well as planning to drive up long driveways to homes in rural areas. It was easier to canvass when I had a volunteer campaign worker with me, since they could give voters campaign literature or place it on a door, while I was prepared to speak with voters. The most difficult aspect of canvassing was accounting for the physical and sensory toll that it took on me. During the high heat and humidity of summer, I had to plan for extra hydration and longer breaks in the air conditioned car while on the same block or road. In the fall, I had to take extra medication for aggravated pollen, grass, and tree allergies. At the end of the election season, I took a bad fall in the rain on a flagstone path that badly injured my knee. Throughout the election season, I had to be extra conscious of how autistic communication norms could be misperceived by neurotypical voters, which made it extra special when I encountered neurodivergent people in my district. Traditional campaigning activities assume that candidates are physically able-bodied and neurotypical, and that fatigue and pain are either nonexistent or should be overcome.
“Although I am a light-skinned Asian American, canvassing alone also gave rise to many anxieties about how I could be potentially met with hostility or discriminatory reactions as a young, gender non-conforming trans person. While I was very fortunate to have largely positive interactions with constituents, those fears were later cemented after widely publicized cases of young people -- especially but not always young Black people -- facing violent responses from homeowners for driving up the wrong driveway or knocking on the wrong door. Gender-conforming, white, and nondisabled candidates may feel much safer and able to walk within apartment buildings or up long rural driveways than candidates who are visibly gender non-conforming, people of color, and disabled.”
Their Advice
We asked these disabled political leaders to share: “what advice do you have for a disabled person who is considering running for office but is worried that canvassing is inaccessible to them?
Representative Jimmy Anderson:
“I think for most disabled people, we learn how to get around obstacles. We’re often very solutions-oriented folks who know that if we want to get access to the same things that everyone else does, it just takes a longer, roundabout way to get there. For me, I had to make sure that I had someone with me who was positive, friendly, gregarious, and good at the door to get people to hear what I had to say. Having support staff was incredibly important. Recognize that there are alternative ways to connect with voters as well. When I couldn’t go door to door, such as in bad weather, phone calls were a good way to reach people. It may not be quite as memorable, but it is still a way to reach voters. You can also hold a lot of outdoor events in the summer and fall, where you can be around a lot of people in one central location in the district that you’re running in. Finally, try your best and keep a good attitude. It’s hard work running for office, and it’s tedious, but if you have a plan of action and a good support staff around you, then you can be successful. Have someone around you who will remind you why it is you’re doing what you’re doing.”
Rebecca Lamorte:
“Absolutely run for office and acknowledge up front canvassing is inaccessible and won’t be easy. Acknowledging that upfront will stave off disappointment when it’s egregiously clear and frustrating that you may not be able to canvass and campaign like others in your race are.
“Political campaigns are not one size fits all though. After coming to terms with the inherent inaccessibility, I challenge you to create a non-traditional canvassing plan that meets your needs personally and politically. Maybe you lean on staff and volunteers for door knocking and you as the candidate lean into phones instead. Perhaps you plan outdoor events in an accessible place for voters to attend that’s near their inaccessible building you can’t canvass in. As disabled people we are more creative than others because we are constantly adjusting to and creating space for ourselves in an inaccessible work, and we can do the same with political campaigns and running for office.”
Neal Carter:
“Find individuals and organizations that will support and uplift your campaign on a consistent basis. Additionally, research organizations that will support your story of self as a disabled candidate.”
Want to learn more about building your story of self? Watch our training with Atima Omara on building your story of self as a candidate on our YouTube channel.
Mayor Neil McDevitt:
“Like almost everything, canvassing is a tool that you have to adjust to fit your needs and the community you're working in. Sometimes you can lean heavily on your team (whether that's a team of candidates on your slate or your campaign team) to fill in for you. Sometimes you can focus more on community events rather than door to door. Other times, you can target sunny warm days when residents are out and about and have conversations that way. It doesn't have to follow a standard model!”
Lydia X.Z. Brown:
“Identify the specific barriers to conventional canvassing that might affect you -- for instance, concerns about physical accessibility (like steps at voters' homes or apartment complexes without working elevators); length of time walking if you are ambulatory but have chronic pain or fatigue; or communication if you are a non-speaker, signer, or have a speech impairment (like a stutter, difficulty forming speech, or aphasia). Then strategize how you can best communicate with voters with or without support. What assistive technologies -- or even analog tools, like index cards -- could help you? Could a campaign worker accompany you or drive you between homes? Could you schedule canvassing times that account for your limits with walking or continuous work? Could you inject humor into the situation or incorporate these access barriers into your policy platform? The point of canvassing is to connect with voters. If you are considering running for office, you are already connected to your community -- so build on your strengths, use the tools that you know work, and ask for support from your campaign volunteers.”
Disabled candidates and campaign staff face constant challenges in a political arena and society that isn’t built for our needs. However, we are resilient, adaptable, and solutions-oriented. These qualities not only help us overcome these barriers, but they’re also great leadership qualities for elected officials to have.
If you’re thinking about running for office for the first time, head over to National Run for Office Day’s website to learn about local elected office positions, take a quiz on which elected office is right for you, and sign up to run. And of course, make sure you’re on Disability Victory’s mailing list so we can let you know when we post training opportunities and articles like this one.