Parents of special needs children, like myself, know something about facing mental disabilities. I’ve written pretty extensively about those battles here on Daily Kos. All of us have good days and bad days, but parents who care for children with mental disabilities have a unique bond with each other and our community. The community as a whole knows about our children or family member, but they really will never understand the joys and the struggles of living day to day in that situation.
Ann Coulter’s new book, “In Trump We Trust”, takes on the issue of Trump attacking a reporter over a disability. Instead of acknowledging this as a mistake, even with a half-hearted apology, Coulter decides to double down. “he’s not retarded” “he was doing a standard retard.”
Her answer makes no sense. Was he imitating a frightened reporter? Was he “doing a standard retard”? In a single paragraph, she offers two explanations.
Ann Coulter, though, reveals exactly what is wrong with the right wing thought process on mental health in America.
Ann Coulter doesn’t really understand the struggle that faces those with disabilities, apparently. She also doesn’t understand that most persons with mental disabilities are sweet, kind, generous, honest, caring people who face challenges every day and fight through them.
I have written here about times that we have had struggles, the successes and the failures. I’ve written before about the use of the “R” word, who uses it, how it gets used and how it can sting those who are developmentally disabled.
The term can be used without pejorative, but Ann Coulter, like Trump, uses it as a punch line, a joke as though poking fun at a class of individuals is “OK”.
The Sub-Human Problem
It is time for us to acknowledge that Trump and his surrogates have bought into the worst of right wing ideas. They openly advocate, without shame, that some human beings simply “are worth less” than the rest of us because of who they are or how they were born. Were you born mentally disabled? Grew up Islamic? Maybe you’re a minority? Making jokes about you is OK because they have decided if you are in those groups you are less entitled to courtesy, decency, respect. Simply put, you are sub-human, beneath them and their allies, and therefore mocking or degrading you is A-OK.
Classifying an entire group of people in this way is something I would have thought unthinkable even a few years ago.
In Coulter’s view, it’s all A-OK because poking fun at the mentally disabled is A-OK.
This is not OK. Trump has made it OK to talk out loud about people as “other” “different” “rejectable”.
This isn’t American. It isn’t healthy. It certainly isn’t pro-life.
This demeans life. This is an insult on human dignity. This sickens our public discourse.
Update: Thanks all for the shares, comments and emails. As always, you can always tweet follow ups to me @tmservo433 or email tmservo433@gmail.
