We can often only really dig in on one thing, and we should acknowledge others, but we don't need to do so performatively in short-form communications. We need to do so seriously in movement building, in longform thoughtful writing, etc. But ...
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I hear what you’re saying, but the thing is that people with disabilities aren’t omitted with roughly the same frequency as other marginalized groups. That we’re especially likely to be ignored is a meaningful reflection of the extent of our marginalization.
Even with this press conference where disability was explicitly discussed/blamed, I’ve seen so many takes here that left it out. I’m guessing you have too given this thread. :)
I'm really gonna need folks to pay attention to the anti-disability language that Donald Trump used today. You can read @metrauxjulia.bsky.social for details. It is as central to what he's doing as the misogyny and racism and homophobia and ....
that atlantic article about harris using self-descriptions in a meeting with disability advocates, the more i look back on it, really feels like a harbinger. i thought it was an ugly one-off but now i think it was picking up on something in the water
Wasn't that because it was on a zoom call and not everyone had a visual of the people speaking? But the right wing agitpropped it as "What woke fools they are, introducing themselves this way"
Here's some reasons why. First, Trump's ableism, his absolute terror of disability and sickness, is core to his critical failure as president in the face of the pandemic. People died because Trump doesn't even want to think about disease.
Second: The status of disabled people in this country is heavily contingent on a core set of FEDERAL programs (often administered via states), where the president has enormous power to do harm in ways that he does not, or may not, in other contexts.
Anyway, it's not incidental that Trump (or someone) went on the FAA website, clicked on diversity, and keyed in on disabilities he count rant about before moving on.
One controller I know keeps joking about getting me certified on a position, and I'm like that's all well and good so long as no one asks to see my physical or for a list of the copious meds I take that would DQ you for days 😅
They're gonna come for Medicaid, for the ADA, for IDEA, trying to take them down in whole or in part, doing so with laws but moreso with regulations or non-enforcement, and we're gonna need a lot of help.
There’s a great TikTok from Imani Barbarin about her work in a disability org how between elections republicans could be much more receptive to her orgs lobbying
The major Disabilty rights laws were signed into law by Republican Presidents with overwhelming bipartisan support. Nixon in 73, Ford in 75, and Bush in 90.
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https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/01/trump-dc-plane-crash-dei-conspiracy/
Indeed.
https://bsky.app/profile/deanobeidallah.bsky.social/post/3lgdhmx7jas2s
#disability
Especially since, among other things, they have to pass a physical I could never, because of, y'know, the disabilities.
#eugenics