I’ve been watching the stories trickling out about Trump’s mysterious Walter Reed visit where Pence may or may not have been prepared to “take over.”
This data point combined with Trumps own description of a common post stroke cognitive function screening test has people speculating that he may have had a Stroke or a “mini-stroke” called a Transient Ischemic Attack. This has been recently amplified by Trump’s unforced tweet denying he had “mini-strokes.”
I understand, anything possibly leading to the perception that Trump is unfit will be amplified and spread. And, I understand that the public’s perception of any stroke survivor as disabled has allowed the unfortunate association of “Stroke = unfit.”
This matters to me because I survived a stroke. I am recovering from a stroke. I too took the cognitive function test that Trump did. I didn’t brag about it, but It meant that I hadn’t suffered the kind of stroke that would leave me cognitively impaired. It was a relief. Then the Cognitive Psychologist told me I had scored 154 on the I.Q. portion (I bragged a little.) I took my Medical Boards again, passed them and returned to work as a disabled physician who had survived a stroke.
It’s called a “Motor Only” stroke.
I am quite personally sensitive to the false association of “Stroke = unfit.”
We can take Donald Trump down without perpetuating unfortunate stroke disability tropes. We all have “pet issues.” It was not my choice for this to be mine, but it is.