In the immediate aftermath of the horrific tragedy of a Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines plane crashing in Washington D.C., Donald Trump blamed DEI and specifically singled out disabled and BIPOC people.
“He cited efforts by the FAA to hire individuals with disabilities, including dwarfism, missing limbs, and intellectual disabilities,” The Hill reported.
“Brilliant people have to be in those positions,” Trump said.
“A group within the FAA… determined that the workforce was too white,” he complained.
We should not be surprised that a man who has reportedly openly expressed admiration for Hitler and surrounds himself with white supremacists and figures like Elon Musk, who has given Nazi salutes while promoting antisemitic and anti-immigrant conspiracy theories, is doing this. We must unequivocally reject it.
Sixty-seven people are dead. Regardless of the cause of the crash, this rhetoric is unacceptable. I am begging people to collectively wake up. He is blaming disabled people and racial and ethnic minorities for this.
Hitler called disabled people “useless eaters.” The eradication of disabled peoples in Nazi Germany—estimates range between 250,000 and 300,000 killed in all—served as a “testing ground” for the millions of murders that would follow in concentration camps, including socialists and communists, Roma, Jews, and queer/trans people. I am a disabled person. I am also Black, bi-racial, and queer. Disability is the only group anyone can join at any time, and none of you are exempt from joining it.
Related: “Disability Rights: ‘We Don’t Want to Go Into the Fetal Position and Do Nothing’“
I am reminded again of the ever-present ableism that has shaped American society—and the world. The Nazis referred to disabled people as “burdens upon themselves and the nation’s resources.” That language didn’t die with them. It lingers, poisoning public policy, discourse, and society.
What we are witnessing is not just an escalation of ableist rhetoric—it is the targeted destruction of the federal government itself. An assault on basic human decency and human rights. An internal coup in progress. And most chillingly, dehumanizing language and ramping up of policies seemingly to justify genocide.
There are over 70 million disabled adults and more than 3 million disabled children in the United States. Over 7.3 million disabled students were in U.S. schools in 2021-2022. Over nine million disabled people rely on housing assistance. Millions depend on SNAP, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid to survive.
As a disabled person who relies on these and many other programs, our position at the precipice of autocracy isn’t my only concern. It’s surviving the result of it in the months and years ahead.
As we collectively experience this crisis—not only of our nation, government, and ideals, but of our humanity itself—disabled, autistic, and neurodiverse people are being told that we are being negative. That we are overreacting.
The statistics surrounding people who use social programs are often framed in terms of “marginalized groups.” Meanwhile, Elon Musk, at Trump’s behest, is taking over government systems responsible for over $6 trillion in disbursements, including Social Security and Medicare— lifelines for millions, including disabled people, the elderly, and those who don’t consider themselves disabled but find themselves in need.
Many of us have honed our gift for pattern recognition not only because of our inherent traits and interests, but also just to survive. The pattern of being the canary in the mine is one disabled people, particularly autistic and neurodivergent people, consistently recognize and experience.
Those who say we’re overreacting should be our allies, especially those who profess empathy and understanding. However, denial, fear, and ableism are deeply embedded in the responses we receive.
Disabled people live under constant scrutiny of our existence in transactional terms. Every choice we make—whether we date or marry, have children, buy new clothes, indulge in a hobby, or purchase a smartphone—is analyzed through the lens of proving our worthiness to exist. We are constantly judged on whether we’ve “earned” any measure of relief, happiness, or success.
This historical moment should be a reckoning with how our status quo has already failed so many. While we watch and, more importantly, mobilize to save our nation and humanity, we must not ignore the history that led us here—the symptoms of our decay.
We have told ourselves, collectively as a nation, that far too many things are OK that never have been. We have never fully addressed our past; we outsourced our humanity under the capitalistic guise of progress and growth. We were not OK before this.
If this society was working for you, you were fortunate. If you were able to ignore injustices, you were privileged—and also doing a disservice to your fellow humans. That includes marginalized people who feel insulated and middle-class individuals who aren’t willing to be in the trenches, lest they end up like millions of people like me.
Elon Musk has promised slashing $2T from the nearly $7T federal budget. Toward that end, Musk has taken control over the Treasury Department’s federal payment system, providing his team everything from Social Security payment records to Medicare benefits. It’s a move described by Congressman Jamie Raskin as an “illegal, unconstitutional interference with congressional power.”
Reaching the artificial goals of governmental efficiency, however, will require extreme measures. It’s highly likely that it will require slashing Medicaid and insurance subsidies, for instance, even though it’s understood that the “human cost of this approach would be staggering.”
This is my appeal to those who may not be the first to suffer from these changes.
Your privilege is at risk. Do not let your humanity be at risk too.
All of us have a responsibility to fight Trump, his enablers and henchmen, those who have taken up residence in Washington, D.C., and those scattered around the country and the world, to prevent a repeat of the pattern of inhumanity that humans, at our best, have fought and died to eradicate.
