“Maybe you should just let him die and move down to Florida.” - Donald Trump, responding to a request from his nephew to help his disabled grandnephew
“[A] a lot of us don't have time to be politically correct.” - Donald Trump explaining his derogatory comments about people with disabilities
Every once in a great while, a famous person’s behavior reflects the ugliest sentiments of a segment of American society. President Trump excuses his public bias against the disabled by claiming to represent the sentiments of the majority and by claiming that he simply refuses to be “politically correct.” While a majority of people and even a majority of his supporters do not support his disparaging language, Mr. Trump does channel the feelings of a minority of Americans who would just rather not see people with disabilities. He even publicly mocked a disabled reporter at a news conference. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other legislative have substantially expanded disability rights, but enforcement and acceptance remain challenges for the one in four Americans—including military veterans— who live with a disability.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
The ADA passed in 1990 under the George H.W. Bush administration, substantially expanding the rights of disabled people. The ADA prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in employment, state and local government, public accommodations, commercial facilities, transportation, and telecommunications; it also sets accessibility standards for new construction and renovations. The most visible expressions of the ADA include reasonable accommodation requirements in employment, wider doors and similar adjustments in buildings open to the public, and lifts and similar features in public transportation. Eighty-three percent (5/6) of Americans support the ADA.
Nevertheless, in 2022, 40 percent of the disabled reported experiencing unfair treatment in health care settings, at work, or when applying for public benefits because of their disabilities or other personal characteristics. This discrimination has profound impacts. Seventy-one percent of the disabled who experienced discrimination in healthcare saw a disruption of their care. The same percentage of those experiencing discrimination in public benefits ended up having difficulty accessing those benefits. Almost half of those who suffered from employment discrimination sought new jobs.
Mr. Trump certainly does not represent a majority of Americans in his distaste for individuals with disabilities, but discrimination against people with disabilities remains persistently high. A majority of members of both parties believed that both parties should be doing more to support disability rights.
Disability and Veterans
“It's the equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honor, but civilian version, it's actually much better, because everyone gets the Congressional Medal of Honor, they're soldiers. They're either in very bad shape because they've been hit so many times by bullets, or they're dead. She gets it, and she's healthy, beautiful woman.” - Mr. Trump explaining why he gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to a major campaign donor
Veterans paid a high price for our wars of the last 23 years. Forty percent of post-9/11 veterans have a disability rating with the VA. Voters have historically supported a variety of veterans benefits at high levels.
This support continued for expanding veterans benefits under the 2022 PACT Act for in-service exposure to toxics.
Indeed, a recent RAND study found that over three-quarters of Americans believe affordable housing, free college, mental health care, and physical health care should be guaranteed to veterans and, perhaps more importantly, were willing to pay hundreds of dollars more in taxes to provide these services. Notably, this support was identical across party lines and significantly exceeded support for these guarantees to the general public. Despite this widespread support, the Trump-linked Project 2025 recommended prioritizing reforms that would result in large reductions in veterans disability benefits for future veterans. (Mr. Trump has attempted to distance himself from Project 2025 for what one of the Project’s own authors described as political reasons.) Conversely, State Senator Cedric Hayden and I worked together to expand veterans dental benefits at the state level. Fortunately, most people value taking care of those who have borne the battle, in the words of President Lincoln.
Disability Visibility
“[The Paralympic Games are] a little tough to watch too much, but I watched as much as I could.” - Donald Trump
Despite the public’s widespread support for the rights of disabled people, the two most common forms of discrimination against the disabled are two of the most public - failing to acknowledge disabled people and mocking them. Members of the public see this, as 93% of them believe that people harbor prejudices against the disabled. In fairness, even good-hearted people can be concerned that their attempts to be helpful may be misconstrued or that acknowledging a disabled person may cause the disabled person to believe that they are being singled out because of their disability.
I am fortunate to work in an office where over 80% of the workers are disabled veterans. Perhaps because of that high percentage, I find that folks are pretty open about when they need help and how their disabilities may impact their work. The best advice I can offer to anyone is what I learned there. Respectfully acknowledge a person with a disability as you would acknowledge anyone else. When you see them in need of assistance, offer help just as I hope you would for anyone else. If you see someone mocking a person with disabilities, interrupt the behavior. Yes, people with disabilities are sometimes obviously different, but those differences shouldn’t make them invisible or subject to ridicule.
In this era of divisive politics, it can be difficult to find something that a strong majority of all Americans support. Despite this, the overwhelming majority of Americans support helping the disabled. I hope this inspires us in a time when we see too often see those who should use their fame to help the disabled mock them instead.
Recommendations
Our Enemies Will Vanish by Yaroslav Trofimov. This history of the first two years of the war in Ukraine by a Wall Street Journal reporter from Ukraine is essential to understand the conflict.
The Dead Cat Tail Assassins by P. Djèlí Clark. Clark, the pseudonym of a professor of history at the University of Connecticut with family roots in Trinidad and Tobago, is justifiably famous for bringing non-European perspectives to the fantasy genre. More importantly, he’s a great writer who invents endlessly entertaining characters.
Why Are You Seeing This a Week Early? I’m not sure my schedule will allow me to write this week, so I thought I’d get it done before things got too busy.
Keep Letters from a Recovering Politician Free
As always, the best thing you can do to support this column is to share it with people who might be interested. I do not have a paid plan because I want folks to be able to access it without worrying about money. If you’d like to leave me a tip to show your appreciation, you can click on the “buy me a coffee” button below.