Shifting OCR and OSERS

In The Politics of Autism, I write about social services, special education, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. 

Project 2025 proposed to turn IDEA into a "no strings" block grant, effectively gutting the law and destroying protections that disability families have long relied upon. During the 2024 race, Trump denied any connection to the project, but now he proclaims it, praising OMB director Russ Vought "of Project 2025 fame."

Trump and Vought are now accomplishing their goal of ravaging the law. Instead of shifting it to a block grant, they have tried firing most of the staff who enforce it. 

Mark Lieberman at Education Week:

The U.S. Department of Education has begun outsourcing responsibility for overseeing the nation’s sprawling special education system and enforcing civil rights law in schools to other federal agencies, after months of previewing dramatic efforts to restructure both core functions.

Department officials announced the moves—made possible by four new interagency agreements—on Tuesday morning to advocacy group representatives, and on Tuesday afternoon to reporters and the general public.

The Education Department office that oversees special education and employment programs for adults with disabilities will move to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The U.S. Department of Justice will take on the Education Department’s office for civil rights, student privacy enforcement, and a quartet of equity assistance centers that help K-12 schools with desegregation efforts.

Department officials have teased many of these moves for more than a year. The conservative policy agenda Project 2025, which has guided many Trump administration actions, recommended moving both special education and civil rights enforcement to their respective new agencies....

The Education Department’s office for civil rights will move to the Justice Department’s civil rights division, currently led by Trump appointee Harmeet Dhillon, who has upended the agency’s approach to anti-discrimination enforcement.

During a call with reporters on Tuesday afternoon, senior Education Department officials said the agency hasn’t yet determined whether current Department of Justice staffers will work on Education Department civil right cases.
...

During Trump’s second administration, the Education Department has closed more than half of OCR’s regional offices and attempted to lay off more than half its staff, only to be thwarted by courts and forced to keep more than 200 OCR staffers on paid administrative leave for much of last year.
...
The Department of Education’s office of special education programs and its Rehabilitation Services Administration, which funds services to help adults with disabilities transition to the workforce, will move to the Administration on Disabilities, a sub-agency of HHS.

The AOD is currently led by Rebecca Hines, a former associate professor of special education at the University of Central Florida. Hines’ sister, Cheryl Hines, is married to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Hines’ second-in-command at AOD is Principal Deputy Commissioner Diana Diaz-Harrison, who joined in January after serving as Trump’s appointee overseeing special education and RSA in the Education Department. Diaz-Harrison previously founded a system of Arizona charter schools for students with autism; HHS in February named her the Trump administration’s National Autism Coordinator.

Advocates for students with disabilities have been decrying the prospect of the HHS move ever since McMahon floated it during her Senate confirmation hearing in February 2025.
...

“IDEA is fundamentally an education law—not a healthcare law—and should continue to be administered by education policy experts who understand schools, teaching, learning, and accountability,” Phyllis Wolfram, executive director for the Council of Special Education Administrators (CASE), wrote in a statement on Tuesday.

In January, Dan Barry and Sonia A. Rao reported at NYT:

Late last month, a woman posted a photograph on social media of a purple hat she had knitted, while a black-and-white dog lounged on the carpet a few feet away. The cozy scene was accompanied by a single sentence: “This hat is an hour behind schedule thanks to influencer retards.”

The proud knitter, Harmeet K. Dhillon, is also the assistant attorney general overseeing the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. Her purview includes protecting the rights of people with intellectual disabilities by ensuring compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act.

For decades now, the “R-word” has been regarded as a slur against people with intellectual disabilities — a word to be avoided. Yet it has had a striking resurgence, in part because people in high-profile positions of power and influence have chosen to resurrect it, often with an air of defiance.

“The word ‘retarded’ is back,” the popular podcaster Joe Rogan declared in April, describing its return as “one of the great culture victories.” He did not respond to requests for elaboration, but there is abundant evidence to support his muscular declaration.

Musk and Autism

In The Politics of Autism, I write about the everyday struggles facing autistic people and their families -- including casual prejudice against disabled people.  

Trump has a long history of using the r-word, and Lordy, there are tapes.

Elon Musk has said that he is autistic, so it is odd that he uses the word, a term that bigots throw against autistic people.

Julia Metreaux at Mother Jones:

In September, Elon Musk amplified a post from Autism Capital—a pro-Trump X account that he often reposts—that read: “Only high T alpha males and aneurotypical people (hey autists!) are actually free to parse new information with an objective ‘is this true?’ filter. This is why a Republic of high status males is best for decision making. Democratic, but a democracy only for those who are free to think.” Musk called the claim, which originated on the infamous web forum 4chan, an “interesting observation.” His repost was viewed 20 million times.

...

A society with too much empathy—the kind of society Musk claims we live in—wouldn’t be full of ostracized, bullied kids who grow into adults like him. A society that supported, or at least more thoughtfully approached, autistic traits wouldn’t produce 4chan boards full of his Aspie supremacist fans. It would allow people like Musk to speak openly about being autistic, without retreating from the word, and to engage with initiatives led by autistic people, not figures like Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. who describe autism as an “injury” that renders people incapable of holding jobs, making art, or playing sports.

Aspie supremacists do real harm to autistic people in their embrace of gendered, racialized stereotypes, and in drawing spurious lines between themselves and anyone they consider “severely” autistic. Musk may simply be a jerk, but he’s a jerk with a tremendous platform—and one whose fans loudly, publicly connect his shitty personal behavior and fascistic policies to “mild” autism.

“It’s really frustrating to be caught in this place where we’re trying to be inclusive of all autistic people, and there are such polarizing opinions and perspectives about autism,” says Jules Edwards. “It causes this additional challenge when we’re advocating for inclusion and access, trying to educate people about what is autism versus the idea of ‘good autism’ or ‘bad autism.’”

Trump Blames the Crash on DEI

 In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the issue's role in campaign politics.   In the 2016 campaign, a number of posts discussed Trump's bad record on disability issues more generally.   As his words and actions have shown, he despises Americans with disabilities.   He told his nephew Fred that severely disabled people -- such as Fred's son -- should "just die."

A 1/31 release from the Autistic Self Advocacy Network:

Yesterday afternoon, President Trump asserted that efforts to recruit individuals with disabilities and members of underrepresented minorities to the federal civil aviation workforce contributed to the recent crash at Ronald Reagan National Airport.

This is a lie, and the Autistic Self Advocacy Network condemns this claim along with all efforts to discriminate against the hardworking members of the federal workforce who keep us safe.

This incident is an unfortunate tragedy that is still unfolding. ASAN offers our condolences to the friends, families, and communities of those who have been killed in this unexpected crash. It is disrespectful and dangerous to make claims that blame marginalized communities for this event without evidence. The crash is still under investigation, and as of now, there is absolutely no evidence that anyone with an intellectual or developmental disability, or indeed any type of disability, was involved.

The president is speaking without evidence before an investigation has occurred and is casting blame on minority communities, including people with disabilities. The government owes it to the victims of this crash to instead properly investigate the true causes of this tragedy and prevent future accidents. Its own actions related to air safety, including firing the heads of TSA, Coast Guard, and eliminating all members of the Congressionally-mandated Aviation Security Advisory Committee, and freezing Congressionally-mandated federal hiring of much-needed additional air-traffic controllers should certainly be examined, particularly given that air traffic control at Ronald Regan National Airport was apparently understaffed for their responsibilities the night of the crash.

Rather than discriminating against federal workers on the basis of their race, gender, or disability status and driving qualified personnel out of the government as part of an ideological test, we call on all members of government to do their part to ensure our aviation system has sufficient staffing to keep Americans safe.

Trump’s statements about disabled and minority members of America’s workforce mirror his executive orders directing agencies, including the FAA, to discriminate against people with disabilities and other marginalized groups. Trump has encouraged agencies to discriminate against and sideline members of the federal workforce based on their identities and stripped away or suspended government activities that protect against discrimination.

Some of these discriminatory actions include: 

• Improperly firing multiple members of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission- the agency that enforces all Americans’ civil rights against workplace discrimination.
• Issuing an executive order to end all Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility activities and suspend all federal employees who served as Diversity Equity and Inclusion and Accessibility officers.
• Issuing an execuitive order directing the FAA to end diverse recruitment and hiring efforts and singling out individuals with disabilities as suspect and subject to replacement
• Issuing an executive order directing federal agencies to discriminate against gender minorities
• Ending an executive order banning discrimination in federal contracting that has been in place since 1965

People with disabilities, including IDD and autism, are hard-working, talented, skilled workers who succeed in jobs consistent with their individual skills and experience. While no one person has the skill set to perform every job, it is unconscionable and illegal to deny people work they are qualified to do because of an unrelated disability. Contrary to the president’s claims, people who work in sensitive positions with specific ability-related requirements, such as air traffic control and piloting, already routinely undergo medical fitness standards that assess their job-related capability. People whose disabilities would limit their ability to do these jobs without risk to the public are not hired for these positions. People who develop new disabilities that would compromise their safe job performance are let go and have to find other lines of work. At the same time, there are more than 45,000 positions at the FAA, covering an enormous variety of responsibilities. Meanwhile, there are more than seven million people with disabilities in the labor force, working across virtually every sector and holding nearly every type of qualification. Claiming that there are no people with disabilities who are well-qualified for any of those jobs would be an insult to the entire disabled community.

Prior to this administration, the federal government has acknowledged for decades that people with disabilities are unfairly discriminated against in ways that have no bearing on our ability to do our jobs. People with disabilities have an unemployment rate that is more than twice that of workers without disabilities. Even when an applicant’s disability is completely irrelevant to their ability to do a job, disabled job-seekers are 26% less likely to be offered an interview. Instead of protecting our community from discrimination and harm, the current president is standing before the nation and openly encouraging -even demanding- it. President Trump’s recent executive orders reinforce discriminatory beliefs about people with disabilities in the workforce by making claims that are based on a political agenda, not facts.

This discriminatory statement must also be placed in the context of this administration’s general approach to disability since taking office–specifically, pursuing deep cuts to the health care and services that people with disabilities -particularly those who struggle to find work- rely on to survive. 

• In his first days in office, the President attempted to impose a massive freeze on all federal funding and programs, including countless programs that people with disabilities rely on.
• President Trump and Congressional majorities are planning to seek devastating cuts to the Medicaid program which will devastate access to critical health carend services for members of the disabled community.
• President Trump and members of Congress are also pursuing similar cuts to other critical services such as food and nutrition assistance through SNAP.
• President Trump’s early executive orders also drastically impact housing access to the lowest-income individuals, including many people who face housing discrimination and require affordable, accessible housing to avoid homelessness or institutionalization.

Such actions would be worthy of condemnation coming from any administration. They are even more disturbing coming from a president who allegedly said, in reference to his own disabled family member, that people like us “should just die.” We hope that attitude will not prove to be the guiding principle of this administration’s approach to disability policy. America’s more than 70 million disabled citizens deserve better.

Survey on Discrimination

Many posts have discussed discrimination against autistic people.

Menezes, M., Pappagianopoulos, J., Smith, J. V., Howard, M., Brunt, S., Witte, L., Anderson, S., Boyd, B. A., & Mazurek, M. O. (2025). Prevalence of discrimination experienced by autistic youth as compared to neurotypical youth and youth with other neurodevelopmental diagnoses. Autism, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613241312445

Lay abstract:

Autistic individuals have described facing unfair or discriminatory treatment across settings, such as in school and at work. However, there have been few studies examining how widespread or prevalent discrimination is against autistic individuals. We aimed to fill that gap by examining how prevalent or common it is for autistic youth to experience discrimination based on race or ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity, and health condition or disability. We compared rates of discrimination against autistic youth to youth without developmental differences/diagnoses and youth with other developmental differences (i.e. youth diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder [ADHD], learning disability, and speech/language disorders). We analyzed data from the 2021–2022 National Survey of Children’s Health, which is a nationwide survey on which parents report about aspects of their children’s lives. We found that autistic youth experience higher rates of discrimination based on race or ethnicity and sexual orientation or gender identity compared to youth who are typically developing and do not have a diagnosis (such as a speech or language disorder). Importantly, they also face significantly more discrimination due to their disability than youth with other diagnoses, such as ADHD, and youth without a developmental diagnosis. These results show that autistic youth are at risk for experiencing discriminatory treatment. Our study should motivate researchers, policymakers, and community members to address this critical issue.

Musk, Aspie Supremacy, and Slurs

In The Politics of Autism, I write about the everyday struggles facing autistic people and their families -- including casual prejudice against disabled people.  

Elon Musk has said that he is autistic, so it is odd that he would use a variation of the r-word, a term that bigots throw against autistic people.

My tolerance for subtards is limited

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 27, 2024

l

 Eric M. Garcia  at The Independent:

Back in September, an X/Twitter account known as Autism Capital posted a screenshot of a written theory that appeared to be taken from 4Chan. The theory postulated that only “high [testostrone] alpha males” and “aneurotypical people” can think freely and be trusted to know what is objectively true. That means “a Republic for high-status males is best for decision making,” the theory continued. Elon Musk, the X owner and Tesla executive, responded: “Interesting observation.”

Little wonder that Musk found such proclamations interesting. He has talked in public a number of times about having “Asperger’s syndrome” (a term that fell out of favor as researchers learned the extent of Hans Asperger’s collaboration with the Nazi regime’s child euthanasia program and one that hasn’t been used clinically since 2013.) The concept of “Aspie supremacy” — a term some disability rights advocates coined for the deeply problematic idea that people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who previously would be considered as having Asperger’s are superior to both neurotypical people and other autistic people — has been around for a while. But it’s gained traction in the past few years in some very online, very right-wing spaces.

UPDATE:

Elon Musk just agreed with a tweet calling MAGA followers the “retarded right” pic.twitter.com/h8BaHnn2I8

— PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) December 28, 2024

Trump Despises People With Disabilities, continued

 In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the issue's role in campaign politics.   In the 2016 campaign, a number of posts discussed Trump's bad record on disability issues more generally.   As his words and actions have shown, he despises Americans with disabilities.   He told his nephew Fred that severely disabled people -- such as Fred's son -- should "just die."

 Jeffrey Goldberg at The Atlantic:

Kelly and others have taken special note of the revulsion Trump feels in the presence of wounded veterans. After Trump attended a Bastille Day parade in France, he told Kelly and others that he would like to stage his own parade in Washington, but without the presence of wounded veterans. “I don’t want them,” Trump said. “It doesn’t look good for me.”

Milley also witnessed Trump’s disdain for the wounded. Milley had chosen a severely wounded Army captain, Luis Avila, to sing “God Bless America” at his installation ceremony in 2019. Avila, who had completed five combat tours, had lost a leg in an improvised-explosive-device attack in Afghanistan, and had suffered two heart attacks, two strokes, and brain damage as a result of his injuries. Avila is considered a hero up and down the ranks of the Army.

It had rained earlier on the day of the ceremony, and the ground was soft; at one point Avila’s wheelchair almost toppled over. Milley’s wife, Holly­anne, ran to help Avila, as did then–Vice President Mike Pence. After Avila’s performance, Trump walked over to congratulate him, but then said to Milley, within earshot of several witnesses, “Why do you bring people like that here? No one wants to see that, the wounded.” Never let Avila appear in public again, Trump told Milley.

Reupping other examples:

Jonathan Swan, Maggie Haberman, and Shane Goldmacher at NYT:

Donald J. Trump took his seat at the dining table in his triplex penthouse apartment atop Trump Tower on the last Sunday in September, alongside some of the most sought-after and wealthiest figures in the Republican Party.

...

He disparaged Vice President Kamala Harris as “retarded.” He complained about the number of Jews still backing Ms. Harris, saying they needed their heads examined for not supporting him despite everything he had done for the state of Israel.

He has also used the r-word before, and Lordy, there are tapes.

In welcoming the US Olympic team to the White House , Trump said:

So today, on behalf of the United States, I want to thank every Olympian and Paralympian. And what as just incredible. And what happened with the Paralympics was so incredible and so inspiring to me. And I watched — it’s a little tough to watch too much, but I watched as much as I could.

Trump thinks it's "tough to watch" disabled people play sports.  This comment is the latest sign of his aversion to people with disabilities.

On November 26, 2015, Jose A. DelReal at The Washington Post:

On stage Tuesday, Trump berated Times investigative reporter Serge Kovaleski for his recent recollection of an article he had written a few days after the [9/11] attacks. Trump appeared to mock Kovaleski's physical condition; the reporter has arthrogryposis, which visibly limits flexibility in his arms.

“Now, the poor guy — you've got to see this guy, ‘Ah, I don't know what I said! I don't remember!' " Trump said as he jerked his arms in front of his body.

On August 3, 2015, Celeste Katz wrote at The New York Daily News:

"While disabled veterans should be given every opportunity to earn a living, is it fair to do so to the detriment of the city as a whole or its tax paying citizens and businesses?" Trump wrote in a 1991 letter to John Dearie, then-chairman of the state Assembly's Committee on Cities.

"Do we allow Fifth Ave., one of the world's finest and most luxurious shopping districts, to be turned into an outdoor flea market, clogging and seriously downgrading the area?" Trump demanded.

New York's original peddling exceptions for veterans date back to 1894 — created to give those disabled during the Civil War a chance to support themselves.

In 2004, when the regulations had come up for renewal, Trump piped up again.

John Hendrickson at The Atlantic:

Former president Donald Trump, perhaps threatened by President Joe Biden’s well-received State of the Union address, mocked his opponent’s lifelong stutter at a rally in Georgia yesterday. “Wasn’t it—didn’t it bring us together?” Trump asked sarcastically. He kept the bit going, slipping into a Biden caricature. “‘I’m gonna bring the country tuh-tuh-tuh-together,’” Trump said, straining and narrowing his mouth for comedic effect.

Trump has made a new habit of this. “‘He’s a threat to d-d-democracy,’” Trump said in his vaudeville Biden character at a January rally in Iowa. That jibe was also a response to a big Biden speech—one tied to the anniversary of the January 6 insurrection. (Guess who the he was in that sentence.)

...

Stuttering is one of many disabilities to have entered Trump’s crosshairs. In 2015, he infamously made fun of a New York Times reporter’s disabled upper-body movements. Three years later, as president, when planning a White House event for military veterans, he asked his staff not to include amputees wounded in combat, saying, “Nobody wants to see that.” Stuttering is a neurological disorder that affects roughly 3 million Americans. Biden has stuttered since childhood. He has worked to manage his disfluent speech for decades, but, contrary to the story he tells about his life, he has never fully “beat” it.

 

Greg Abbott Did Nothing

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss interactions between the justice system and autistic people.

An autistic man is on death row for a crime he didn't commit.

Terri Langford at The Texas Tribune:

In a state where the death penalty is as ingrained as cowboy boots and conservative politics, news of Robert Roberson’s death sentence broke through in Texas after the rarest of phenoms: a noisy, bipartisan effort that bypassed the governor’s office to save a man from lethal injection.

For years, the appeals of Roberson’s capital murder conviction for the 2002 death of his chronically ill, 2-year-old daughter had lumbered through the courts, tracing a byzantine process that often fails to register with residents of the nation’s execution capital, where 591 inmates have been put to death in the state since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976.

But while lawmakers were making historic interventions, many Texans took note of the silence by the person traditionally empowered to step in at the last minute: Gov. Greg Abbott.

“Abbott’s silence is deafening,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, a professor of political science at the University of Houston.

...

Roberson, 57, of Palestine, was convicted of his daughter’s death in 2003 after an autopsy determined his daughter, Nikki, who had been ill with a fever, had died of shaking and blows. Investigators believed that Roberson’s emotionless demeanor was further evidence of his guilt. Roberson has since been diagnosed as having autism, which could explain Roberson’s behavior at the time. A police detective whose investigation sent the East Texas man to death row, now supports Roberson’s claims of innocence.

Trump Despises People with Disabilities

 In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the issue's role in campaign politics.   In the 2016 campaign, a number of posts discussed Trump's bad record on disability issues more generally.   As his words and actions have shown, he despises Americans with disabilities.   He told his nephew Fred that severely disabled people -- such as Fred's son -- should "just die."

Jonathan Swan, Maggie Haberman, and Shane Goldmacher at NYT:

Donald J. Trump took his seat at the dining table in his triplex penthouse apartment atop Trump Tower on the last Sunday in September, alongside some of the most sought-after and wealthiest figures in the Republican Party.

...

He disparaged Vice President Kamala Harris as “retarded.” He complained about the number of Jews still backing Ms. Harris, saying they needed their heads examined for not supporting him despite everything he had done for the state of Israel.

He has also used the r-word before, and Lordy, there are tapes.

In welcoming the US Olympic team to the White House , Trump said:

So today, on behalf of the United States, I want to thank every Olympian and Paralympian. And what as just incredible. And what happened with the Paralympics was so incredible and so inspiring to me. And I watched — it’s a little tough to watch too much, but I watched as much as I could.

Trump thinks it's "tough to watch" disabled people play sports.  This comment is the latest sign of his aversion to people with disabilities.

On November 26, 2015, Jose A. DelReal at The Washington Post:

On stage Tuesday, Trump berated Times investigative reporter Serge Kovaleski for his recent recollection of an article he had written a few days after the [9/11] attacks. Trump appeared to mock Kovaleski's physical condition; the reporter has arthrogryposis, which visibly limits flexibility in his arms.

“Now, the poor guy — you've got to see this guy, ‘Ah, I don't know what I said! I don't remember!' " Trump said as he jerked his arms in front of his body.

On August 3, 2015, Celeste Katz wrote at The New York Daily News:

"While disabled veterans should be given every opportunity to earn a living, is it fair to do so to the detriment of the city as a whole or its tax paying citizens and businesses?" Trump wrote in a 1991 letter to John Dearie, then-chairman of the state Assembly's Committee on Cities.

"Do we allow Fifth Ave., one of the world's finest and most luxurious shopping districts, to be turned into an outdoor flea market, clogging and seriously downgrading the area?" Trump demanded.

New York's original peddling exceptions for veterans date back to 1894 — created to give those disabled during the Civil War a chance to support themselves.

In 2004, when the regulations had come up for renewal, Trump piped up again.

John Hendrickson at The Atlantic:

Former president Donald Trump, perhaps threatened by President Joe Biden’s well-received State of the Union address, mocked his opponent’s lifelong stutter at a rally in Georgia yesterday. “Wasn’t it—didn’t it bring us together?” Trump asked sarcastically. He kept the bit going, slipping into a Biden caricature. “‘I’m gonna bring the country tuh-tuh-tuh-together,’” Trump said, straining and narrowing his mouth for comedic effect.

Trump has made a new habit of this. “‘He’s a threat to d-d-democracy,’” Trump said in his vaudeville Biden character at a January rally in Iowa. That jibe was also a response to a big Biden speech—one tied to the anniversary of the January 6 insurrection. (Guess who the he was in that sentence.)

...

Stuttering is one of many disabilities to have entered Trump’s crosshairs. In 2015, he infamously made fun of a New York Times reporter’s disabled upper-body movements. Three years later, as president, when planning a White House event for military veterans, he asked his staff not to include amputees wounded in combat, saying, “Nobody wants to see that.” Stuttering is a neurological disorder that affects roughly 3 million Americans. Biden has stuttered since childhood. He has worked to manage his disfluent speech for decades, but, contrary to the story he tells about his life, he has never fully “beat” it.

Trump Despises People with Disabilities

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the issue's role in presidential campaigns. In this campaign, a number of posts have discussed Trump's support for the lie that vaccines cause autism. He also has a bad record on disability issues more generally.  He told his nephew Fred that severely disabled people -- such as Fred's son -- should "just die."

He has also used the r-word, and Lordy, there are tapes.

Maegan Vazquez and Sabrina Rodriguez a WP:

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump criticized Vice President Kamala Harris’s mental capacity Saturday, falsely claiming she was born “mentally impaired” and comparing her actions to that of “a mentally disabled person.” The remarks prompted criticism from advocates for people with disabilities.

Disparaging Harris’s actions on border security as vice president, Trump told the crowd in Prairie du Chien, Wis., “Kamala is mentally impaired. If a Republican did what she did, that Republican would be impeached and removed from office, and rightfully so, for high crimes and misdemeanors.”

He later suggested Harris “was born that way,” prompting cheers in the crowd.

“Joe Biden became mentally impaired. Kamala was born that way. She was born that way. And if you think about it, only a mentally disabled person could have allowed this to happen to our country,” he said, elaborating on a claim backed by no evidence. He called Harris “a very dumb person,” and repeatedly mispronounced her first name, an action some supporters see as demeaning and racist.

Biden’s faltering debate performance prompted criticism about his mental acuity and his eventual decision to drop out.

The comments, which were part of what Trump acknowledged was “a dark speech,” drew swift criticism. Maria Town, CEO and president of the American Association of People with Disabilities, said in a statement to The Washington Post that Trump’s comments “say far more about him and his inaccurate, hateful biases against disabled people than it does about Vice President Harris, or any person with a disability.”

“Trump holds the ableist, false belief that if a person has a disability, they are less human and less worthy of dignity,” she added. “These perceptions are incorrect, and are harmful to people with disabilities.”

Reactions to Trump's Hatred of People with Disabilities

 In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the issue's role in presidential campaigns.   In this campaign, a number of posts have discussed Trump's support for the discredited notion that vaccines cause autism.  He also has a bad record on disability issues more generally.  He told his nephew Fred that severely disabled people should "just die."

At The Kansas City Star, Nathaniel Ross Kelly recalls a teen with Down Syndrome who cheered up stranded passengers at the Kansas City airport. 

Propaganda by Germany’s Third Reich depicted people with disabilities as “useless eaters” who threatened the economic stability of the nation and the so-called purity of the “Aryan race.” When the Nazis came to power in 1933, they began sterilizing people with disabilities. Later, they began killing them en masse. To our country’s great shame, the Third Reich was inspired by the despicable policies that spread across the U.S. in the first half of the 20th century. More than 30 states passed compulsory sterilization laws for anyone deemed to have genetic illnesses or conditions. Missouri legislators tried and failed to pass such laws. Kansas, on the other hand, successfully passed a law in 1913 that legalized the forced sterilization of anyone thought to be “mentally deficient.”

Tragically, 31 states and Washington, D.C., still permit their courts to order the sterilization of people with disabilities. The process is far more complicated today, but the outcome is the same: the denial of reproductive freedom to marginalized people. How much further might the rights of people with disabilities erode under the leadership of a president who is incapable of seeing their innate humanity?

There’s an endless torrent of questions about what a second Trump term would entail. Mass deportations, weakened environmental regulations, and increased tax breaks for the ultrarich are just some of the many possibilities. Maybe you wholeheartedly agree with these potential policies and you’re looking forward to voting for Trump in November.

But when you’re alone and on the verge of casting your ballot, I urge you to remember that kid at KCI Airport, bringing joy to weary travelers. And I urge you to seriously consider the implications of giving power to someone who doesn’t care whether that young man — and millions of others like him — live or die.

Senator Maggie Hassan, whose son is severely disabled, at The Boston Globe:

Vice President Kamala Harris, on the other hand, understands what empathy looks like. We served together in the Senate, and she never fails to ask about Ben. She understands that finding common ground starts with learning about the challenges and aspirations of all people, not just the people you know or socialize with. She knows that real leaders love people for who they are, for who they can become, and for what they can accomplish.

Compare this to Trump. In addition to what he said about his grandnephew, recall that he mocked and mimicked a reporter with disabilities on the campaign trail in 2015. He seems unable and uninterested in learning about people whose experiences and challenges might be different from his own. And he has never exhibited the empathy necessary to absorb the hopes and the hurts that Americans who are different from him carry.

Our country is founded on the vision set out in the Declaration of Independence — that all of us are created equal and are endowed with the same rights. America has become stronger when our country has expanded its promise to marginalized Americans, including, yes, Americans with disabilities.

Making progress requires us to embrace each other’s intrinsic humanity. Our American mission is to bring out the best in each other — when we have, our country has flourished. Trump has proven that he is incapable of the generosity of spirit that has defined our country at its best. America deserves better.

 Martin Mutsch at NJ.com:

Does my 22-year-old autistic son, who has severe behavioral limitations, have the same “value” as his brother – an Eagle Scout with stellar grades, a college degree earned in just three years, and success as a Science Olympiad national finalist?

Or is he, as Donald Trump sees it, just one of “those kinds of people. . . (who) should just die,” and cease being a burden to my family and future generations?

Disabilities and the 2024 Campaign

 In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the issue's role in presidential campaigns.   In this campaign, a number of posts have discussed Trump's support for the discredited notion that vaccines cause autism.  He also has a bad record on disability issues more generally. 

Eric Garcia at The Independent:

Democrats commemorated the 34th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act by coming out swinging against Donald Trump, after his nephew claimed in a new memoir that the former president once suggested people with disabilities “should just die.”

“It’s hard to describe the pain millions of Americans with disabilities are feeling in response to Donald Trump’s newly-reported comments against folks with disabilities,” Senator Tammy Duckworth, who lost both of her legs serving in the Iraq War, said in a statement shared by the Democratic National Committee on Friday.

“But we know this is nothing new for him — he mocked a reporter with a physical disability, dismissed traumatic brain injuries as ‘not very serious,’ attempted to slash support for disabled veterans and so much more. Any human being who suggests that people with disabilities ‘should just die’ is fundamentally unfit to serve.”

Friday marks 34 years since former President George H W Bush, a Republican, signed the Americans with Disabilities Act into law, thanks to bipartisan collaboration in Congress.

In recent years, there has been less agreeement between parties on disability rights. The DNC’s release points out that Trump faced multiple lawsuits during his presidency claiming that his properties did not comply with the ADA and also notes his attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which would have reduced funding for Medicaid, which many people with disabilities rely on to receive care in their homes.

The Republican National Committee’s “research” account on X has also taken heat for mocking Vice President Kamala Harris in 2022 for describing what she was wearing, a common practice to aid people who are blind or who have low-vision. The Republican National Committee did not release a statement commemorating the law.

Democrats also noted how Project 2025 proposes eliminating the Department of Education, which enforces accommodations for students with disabilities under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

She was addressing a table of the blind, you morons. https://t.co/gI7yRgVDPy

— A.J. Delgado (@AJDelgado13) July 21, 2024

Black Families and Autism Diagnosis

In The Politics of Autism, I write about the experiences of different economic, ethnic and racial groups.   Inequality is a big part of the story. 

 Wendy Chung at STAT:

In two separate studies of Black families with autism, partially funded by SPARK, investigators from Vanderbilt University and the University of Arkansas found that cultural barriers, stigma, and a basic lack of understanding of autism often led to delays in seeking an initial diagnosis. What’s more, when Black families did seek an evaluation or tried to access services, many experienced cultural bias and overt racism. Both studies underscore the role of misinformation, misperception, and misunderstanding in perpetuating false narratives about autism and increasing the amount of anxiety parents felt about receiving a diagnosis.

The Vanderbilt study documents the lived experience of 400 Black or multiracial families seeking care. In it, one in 10 parents said they delayed seeking an evaluation for their child because they simply did not know enough about autism and its signs. When Black parents did seek help, they often encountered a system misaligned with their needs. Parents noted evaluations that relied on toys and activities their children weren’t familiar with, clinicians who didn’t understand their culture, and a scarcity of available, affordable resources within their communities.

Underemployment

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the employment of adults with autism and other developmental disabilities.

Davies, J., Romualdez, A. M., Pellicano, E., & Remington, A. (2024). Career progression for autistic people: A scoping review. Autism, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613241236110

Lay abstract:

Lots of autistic people are unemployed. Even when they are employed, autistic people might be given fewer opportunities than non-autistic people to progress in their careers. For example, assumptions about autistic people’s differences in social communication might mean they are not given as many promotions. Indeed, we know that many autistic people are in jobs lower than their abilities (known as ‘underemployment’). We reviewed 33 studies that tell us something about career progression for autistic people. Our review found that lots of autistic people want to progress in their careers, but there are many barriers in their way. For example, when they told their employer about being autistic, some people were given fewer opportunities. Research has also shown that autistic people do not get enough support to progress and that gaps in their employment history can make it difficult to progress. Our review suggested that good employment support (e.g. mentors) might help autistic people to progress in their careers. However, not much research has evaluated employment support for autistic people, which means we do not know how useful it is. Future research should find the best support that allows autistic people to live and work in ways that are meaningful to them.

From the article:

Our review suggests that, while many autistic people desire career progression, they are often underemployed, ‘stuck’ in poorly matched job roles and receive few opportunities and little support to progress in their careers. Several studies included in this review attempted to quantify underemployment in their samples, with estimates suggesting up to 46% of autistic people may be employed in jobs below their capability and/or capacity (Baldwin et al., 2014). Our findings suggest that such underemployment may be exacerbated by external agencies (e.g. disability employment providers) who are motivated to place autistic people in the first job that arises, as opposed to the job that is the most appropriate fit to the individual’s preferences, skills and abilities (Berman, 2022; Ortiz, 2018; Raymaker et al., 2023; Sharpe et al., 2022). This underutilisation of autistic talent is problematic for several reasons. First, underemployment has negative implications for people’s mental and physical health, and the impact of underemployment on mental health is thought to be more pronounced for disabled people (Allan et al., 2022; Friedland & Price, 2003; Milner et al., 2017; Milner & Lamontagne, 2017). This is particularly alarming given that autistic people are already considered more vulnerable to poor health outcomes (Cashin et al., 2016; Croen et al., 2015; Lai et al., 2019). Second, underemployment comes at a significant economic cost to individuals, organisations and society more broadly (Barnichon & Zylberberg, 2019; Lloyd-Cape, 2020). As such, reducing underemployment for autistic people should be considered a key target outcome for future research and practice. To address the issue of underemployment, we must understand its underlying causes. The findings of this review provide important insight into the possible barriers to, and facilitators of, appropriate employment and career progression for autistic people. Next, we map the identified barriers and facilitators on to the three key competencies outlined by Arthur and colleagues (1995, 2017).