President Trump’s Personal Attacks Are More Impactful Than He Knows

 This past September, an article was published in a disability magazine known as Disability Scoop. Michelle Diament wrote the article. It highlighted an incident where former President Trump equated having a mental disability to poor job performance. He did so when he attacked Kamala Harris and Joe Biden at back-to-back political rallies. I will attach the original article to the bottom of this piece. The rest of this piece will not discuss that particular incident but use it as a jumping-off point to analyze the former president and his behaviors as a whole.

I am political, but I am nowhere near a politician. In my 38 years on this planet, I would like to think that I have seen quite a lot and know a little something about a lot of things and a lot about a few things. Unfortunately, having a disability in today’s world means you encounter a lot of misunderstanding, ignorance, and discrimination. A recent incident with former President Trump highlights an overall problem that still exists even twenty-four years after the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed.

Trump equated poor performance to mental disability. The term mental disability is inherently subjective in and of itself; in fact, isn’t the term disability also subjective? Now, I’m not saying that I don’t have challenges, but might I suggest a different word than disability? Due to the fact that the word has such a negative feeling associated with it, and like it or not, language has power. Might we use the phrase impairment instead? Impairment describes one's physical condition; it does not interpret it as a positive or negative aspect of a person. There is no doubt that President Joe Biden is cognitively impaired, and Kamala Harris has made some bad decisions, but to equate that to a mental disability does more harm than good.

In short, I have never been a “woke” person, but because I use language to express myself, something I do fairly well, I understand that words have power even if we don’t want them to. In closing, I have advice for Former President Trump and everyone. Next time you speak, pay attention to what you say because it may impact more than just the person you are talking to.

Until next time, your friendly neighborhood super advocate,

Jay

 

Resources:

https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2024/09/30/trump-faces-backlash-for-calling-harris-mentally-disabled/31089/

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