What does it take to run for office as a person with a disability? Rebecca LaMorte We talk to Rebecca Lamorte, who ran for city council in New York on a platform on disability rights.  Listen as she talks about her experiences running for a major office in the Big Apple. We also talk to Ventura City Council Member Liz Campos about working at a city hall that is inaccessible, her challenges finding accessible housing, and how she ran a successful campaign on only $3,000. Liz Campos Lastly, we talk to Denver City Councilman Chris Hinds about the unique challenges of being Colorado’s first elected official with a physical disability. Chris Hinds This episode of Pushing Limits is hosted and edited by Denny Daughters, and produced and written by  Jacob Lesner-Buxton. Check out this database of elected officials with disabilities.    Add your favorite politician with a disability to the list. Rebecca Lamorte Website Campaign website for Liz Campos Website for Council Member Chris-Hinds Transcript Denny Daughters:  Welcome to Pushing Limits, KPFA’s program by and about people with disabilities. We air every Friday afternoon at 2.30 p.m.  I’m Denny Daughters and I’ll be voicing a script written by Jacob Lester Buxton. According to a 2019 estimate by Rutgers University, 10.3% of elected officials serving in federal, state, or local government have a disability.  People with disabilities are twice as likely to serve as local officials rather than as state or federal representatives. Today we will be talking to people with disabilities who have run for public office at the local level. Our first guest is Rebecca Lamorte.  She’s a lobbyist for a labor union and she lives in Manhattan. In 2021, she ran for a seat on the New York City Council.  There were a total of seven candidates.  Unfortunately, she lost the election, coming in at third place. We asked Rebecca.  What motivated her to run? Rebecca Lamorte:   Anger, honestly. When I was pushed on the subway, I was 22 years old.  And I had just finished college.  I had just moved in to my first apartment alone in New York City. You know, I had my student loans, I had my bills, I had my friends. And in an instant, everything changed for me where I went from taking my body for granted and not looking at a flight of stairs, for example, and thinking twice about them to not being able to really leave my own apartment building for a long time because it had stairs and dealing with rude and invasive questions and comments and being faced with discrimination on the job and in public places. The most egregious thing for me that really made me and pushed me to take that step to decide I am gonna run for office is one day I was at New York City Hall for work.  I’m a lobbyist, I work for a labor union, and I have for 12 years now.  And at City Hall that day with union members, I was there with my cane and security told me if I couldn’t walk up the stairs, maybe I didn’t belong there.  And I got so angry.  I almost couldn’t speak.  I was so angry because I felt if this is happening to me, what’s happening to other people? Who cares about us?  Who’s fighting for us?  Who else is experiencing this?  And so angry and so upset right now when they’re just living life and going about their day like everybody else.  And I wanted to take my anger and do something positive from it.  And for me, working in the government space and being interested in politics, that was running for office to give disabled people like myself and others a seat at the table where decisions are made.   Where I was now witnessing and now very aware that those decisions were being made in ways that harmed us and harmed our community and ignored our needs, ignored accessibility, ignored disability rights and the inclusive society and city we could have.  And that’s what made me throw my hat in the race for 2021.   Denny:   Lamorte put disability front and center