A Self-Advocacy Column by Eric Gmeinder

Then They Came For The Disabled…

At times I have been told that my columns are too politically charged. But now this topic has resurfaced, and I don’t think I can keep silent anymore. But I will go to lengths not to offend my counterparts.

The far-right has appeared to make a priority of protecting rich, white, heterosexual, Christian men. In the last few years, a few more groups have been added to the fray: those who are cisgendered, neurotypical, and able-bodied.

Compared to other social groups, the fight for rights in the disability community has been whited out by the media, both fiction and news. Therefore, most Americans remain unfamiliar with disabilities and those who have them. The injustices they’ve suffered are, by extension, the injustices suffered by poor people. How can we help but be poor? 68 percent of people with disabilities are unemployed, including 85 percent of people with intellectual disabilities.

But President Trump is still being chastised by the able-bodied, neurotypical population for mocking Serge Kowalski, a reporter with a physical disability, during the campaign. Recently his Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, rescinded six dozen guidelines for educators regarding disability rights. He appointed Justice Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, and even the other Justices have condemned his ableism as too extreme.

For the second time in my life, I am seriously considering moving to another country, partly because of the so-called Tax Scam Bill. Provisions stop just short of eliminating Social Security and Medicaid, and progressive places like California are targeted the hardest. I now fear no longer having healthcare, or even my own income, until I get a job.

Instead of feeling sorry for other minority groups that I am not part of, I am starting to truly feel in mortal danger because of the impending rollback of disability and LGBT rights. I now taste the same fear in this era as immigrants and women. I would love to get involved in a large-scale protest, and by “large-scale” I mean like the Women’s March, #MeToo, or opposing the repeal of the Affordable Care Act or DACA. That will get results that make feel welcome; sitting around and waiting for The Powers That Be to save us will not