Over the last few years, Republicans have adopted a new way to attack people who receive assistance through the ACA. They are “able-bodied” adults.
healthaffairs.org/...
A conservative critique of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA’s) expansion of Medicaid eligibility is that it helps adults who are “able-bodied” and may discourage them from working.
It’s a hidden attack. It is aimed to present the idea that millions of Americans receiving help are lazy, that something is wrong with them, or that they deserve the negatives in their life. It is also directly an attack on those who face mental disabilities, from Autism to Down Syndrome, Bipolar Disorder to Schizophrenia.
Those disabilities are not visible at all times. They are real challenges for individuals. But to far too many, those individuals are “lazy able-bodied adults”; they are also at times subject of mockery. Today, the White House engaged directly in that use of mockery, and it is not OK.
I am often asked about motivation to be politically involved. There are several motivating factors for me, but nothing drives me to stay active like my oldest son, who was born with a mental disability. Our son has Autism, Bipolar, and Schizophrenic reactions. But, from the outside, he is a typical big kid. 5’11, 280, he walks around the house most of the time with a giant smile laughing. As I write this, he paces back and forth, watching Disney Channel’s Mickey and the Roadster Racers, and his laughter and claps remind me that while he will turn 18 in a week, he will always be a big little kid.
Receiving healthcare for individuals like my son is difficult. In many states there are waiting lists, and believe it or not, there is opposition. There are Republican legislators who would tell you that asking for help from a state for children like my son is wrong — the parents should take full responsibility. Go to user forums whenever issues of mental health in children is brought up, and at least once you will find a commenter accuse the parents of not doing enough, or say that a child is able bodied — they are over 85 IQ, because they are without a physical disability? Well, it is not their problem.
I have watched this opinion grow in state houses. Republicans beat the drum “able-bodied adults”, a subtle attack on those without visible disabilities, another hurdle for those who face mental disabilities.
And then there is the ridicule. As my son nears 18, I worry a great deal about the world he will encounter--insults, people who don’t understand, being the punch line to mean-spirited jokes or ill-mannered people.
Today, we will talk about how out of control White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci is toward his own people. As a parent of someone with mental disabilities, I see the same bully tactics that exemplify the Trump administration we witnessed when he mocked a reporter with disability. I see someone with no compassion, who uses a group of people as a punch line and a joke.
What drives you? What motivates you to be politically active, to keep up the work? What makes us spend our time in an effort that is 90% volunteer, and very time-consuming?
What drives me?
I sit in a room with someone I love, my son, while I watch an American Administration use people like him as a joke, as a punch line, as a slur.
How dare you, sir. How dare you.