Like much of the country, I was elated when Joe Biden became the President of the United States. The chaos that the Trump administration has brought about—from mishandling COVID-19 to threatening the rights of marginalized groups—had finally come to an end, and for the first time in what seemed like forever, I felt like I could relax again.
But it wasn’t until January 20, Biden’s inauguration day, that I was truly blown away. Much to my surprise, the inauguration included several moments of visibility for the disabled community. From firefighter Andrea Hall signing the Pledge of Allegiance, to Senator Roy Blunt asking the crowd to “stand if you are able” during the invocation, to the Inaugural poet Amanda Gorman having speech and auditory processing issues, the event left me emotional.
I was born with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a form of muscular dystrophy, and for much of my life, I’ve felt “different” from everyone else, like my life didn’t really matter. Having the President and his team actively try to be inclusive of people with disabilities made me feel seen as a person, and after the last four years, that meant so much to me.
Biden’s progressiveness is in stark contrast to the actions of the Trump administration. Even before Trump became president, he had already deeply hurt the disability community, like when he mocked disabled reporter Serge Kovaleski during a rally in 2015. In the infamous video, Trump is seen waving his arms around and saying, “Now, the poor guy—you ought to see the guy: ‘Uh, I don’t know what I said. I don’t remember.’”
I was twelve years old when I saw the video. At just twelve years old, I felt invisible and terrified for my future.
Although that video made me fearful, it also made me determined to make my voice heard. I graduated middle school and dedicated my life to advocating for the disability community. The more I’ve learned about the struggles that people with disabilities face, the more frustrated I am.
People with disabilities are the nation’s largest minority group, making up 26% of adult Americans, according to the CDC. And the two things that make disability different from other minority groups are that one, every identity can be disabled, no matter the race, gender, or sexuality. And two, anyone can become disabled at any time. That means that every issue is inherently a disabled issue. So no matter how we should see it; every movement and policy should be inclusive of people with disabilities, but that is unfortunately not the case. So much of society doesn’t even think of people with disabilities as people, and the disabled community is represented the least in all areas of life.
Frustrated with the lack of representation, activists Alice Wong, Andrew Pulrang, and Gregg Beratan founded the nonpartisan social media campaign #CripTheVote to engage disabled people in politics, push political candidates to address issues affecting the disabled community, and open up conversations about intersectionality within the community. After Biden’s mention of disability, CNN host Jake Tapper mentioned #CripTheVote on air.
Over the four years of Trump’s presidency, he seems to have taken every effort to minimize the disabled community, from rationing medical care during the pandemic to making it harder for disabled people to receive SSDI. In October, at a campaign rally in Minnesota, he said, “you have good genes. A lot of it is about the genes, isn’t it? Don’t you believe? The racehorse theory. You think we’re so different? You have good genes in Minnesota.” The “racehorse theory,” or the idea of using breeding to encourage desirable traits and eliminate undesirable traits, has a violent history of eugenics and clearly suggests that disability is an “undesirable trait.”
In 2020, he also made strides to eliminate the Affordable Care Act, a measure introduced by President Biden and former president Obama to protect people with preexisting conditions. A repeal of the Affordable Care Act would have devastating effects of the disabled community, causing millions of disabled people to lose access to affordable health insurance.
Trump has made one thing very clear: he does not see disabled people as people or think of them as worthy of equal rights. To the Trump administration, disabled lives are disposable.
Biden, on the other hand, has a vastly different perception of disability. Just this week, his administration has voluntarily included an ASL interpreter in its daily press briefings, and the relaunched White House website states that it’s working to conform to the latest Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
In his COVID-19 relief plans, he also designated a specific component to supporting people with disabilities, and his disability policy plan would work directly with disabled policymakers to push for strong ADA compliance, ensure that voting systems are accessible, and expand employment opportunities for those with disabilities.
Of course, I should also mention that Biden’s openness about his stutter is also changing the public perception of disabled people. Unlike president Franklin D. Roosevelt, who deliberately hid his disability, Biden embraces it, and that in itself is powerful.
Biden’s inclusion of disability in his inauguration is just a beginning, though. In a Tweet dated November 7th, activist Alice Wong says, “in the future there will be more disabled pollsters, disabled pundits, disabled Cabinet members, disabled White House staff, disabled candidates & politicians, disabled activists, organizers, scholars, [and] disabled volunteers & trouble makers.” I believe her, and I look forward to the day disabled people are included everywhere in society.
That said, Biden’s inauguration makes me hopeful that this presidency will mark the start to the future that the disability community envisions. President Biden, I hope that what you do in the next four years will prove me right.
