To be clear, I don’t think any era particularly stands out as a great one to be disabled(Although I am probably shaped by the brief flowering I was born into in the early seventies, and, in my teen years, the burst of optimism surrounding passage of the ADA, which was, implausibly now, signed into law by a Republican President.) At one time, I could occasionally find some hope for the future. It was probably all an illusion, but it helped get me through.
Now, as we face a budget that isa kick in the gut to our whole community and the economy itself, I’m definitely feeling less valued. Voting in 2018 will help to some degree, but I will probably end up voting for the “top-tier” candidate that feels that she can roll back my rights without any hits to her top-tieredness.(if you don’t see why that bothers me, imagine she supported segregation or some egregious “religious freedom” statute). Saddest part is, I probably will cast that ballot and try to feel good about because, even at her weakest, she is better than whatever whack-job the Right will put up. Choices and freedom, yay!
I started writing this post before I read about the incident with the ten-year-old being detained by immigration. It is probably worthy of its own post after I do more research(one of my greatest activist regrets with the previous administration is being too eager to accept their assurance that “Criminals” were the ones being targeted for deportation. In subsequent readings, I’ve discovered how often the law itself can be a weapon against the powerless.