‘I Know What It’s Like to Live with Serious Disabilities’

MAGA govt works to benefit corporate billionaires, not people in need

Latest

Left to Right: Wanda Kincy, Emma Denice Milligan. Photo Austin Long-Scott

OAKLAND, CA —These days as I hear the news, I wonder how so many people can be filled with so much hate. This MAGA government, working to benefit the corporate billionaires who gave unprecedented amounts of money to elect it, seems to hate all the things that make life useful and fulfilling for people with disabilities, people like me. 

I know what it’s like to live with serious disabilities. It’s much the same way you live. I have friends, family, people who love me, people who call me an inspiration because I’m happy, I never give up, and I love just hanging out. I’ve traveled. I’ve had a great life, even though I’ve never walked, can’t use my arms, and am often in pain. 

I think all of us need supportive tools and systems to live full lives. I need special tools to move around, to use my iPad, to talk, even to eat. You need special tools too, only you probably take yours for granted. What would happen to your life if suddenly your special tools disappeared. No cell phones, no computers, no Internet, no transportation, no hospitals, not even spoons or forks or chopsticks. 

Without special tools we wouldn’t have had Stephen Hawking, the amazing physicist who spent most of his 76 years in a wheelchair, needed a voice synthesizer to speak and greatly expanded our understanding of time and black holes. We wouldn’t have Frida Kahlo’s amazing art, or feminist Helen Keller, or Nick Vujicic, born without arms or legs, who travels the world, inspiring millions by preaching resilience, self-worth, and hope. We wouldn’t have people like me, helping others with a little encouragement when things get tough.

This MAGA government thinks only wealthy people and corporations should have the tools they need – not immigrants, not people of color, certainly not the working poor who have always done so much of the hard work to make us the wealthiest nation in the world. They are cutting the heart out of programs that benefit people they don’t care about. Robert F. Kennedy, MAGA head of the federal Department of Health and Human Services, recently said people with autism “will never pay taxes, they’ll never hold a job, they’ll never play baseball, they’ll never write a poem, they’ll never go on a date.” 

What a monstrous lie! He is getting lots of pushback, as he should, from people on the autism spectrum who have made amazing contributions to the world. And yet Kennedy is making drastic cuts to health care that will leave the federal government stripped of many key experts on medical research, drug approvals and other issues. They say they will not cut Medicaid, which helps me. But they have shown again and again we must not believe their promises.

Wanda is my wonderful caretaker. I love her dearly. She has a son who is autistic. Cuts to Medicaid will keep us from getting the tools we need for empowerment, self-expression, creativity, and love of self and others. We need a change. We can start by coming together to take back what is ours as worthy human beings — not rich but definitely worthy. We can win if we fight together, understanding that this is a fight to keep the ruling class from kicking the working class to the curb. The People’s Tribune is an important part of that fight because it connects us all to what is going on by speaking truth to everyone.

Editor’s note: Readers, please feel free to send the People’s Tribune your story!

+ Articles by this author

Free to republish but please credit the People's Tribune. Visit us at www.peoplestribune.org, email peoplestribune@gmail.com, or call 773-486-3551.

The People’s Tribune brings you articles written by individuals or organizations, along with our own reporting. Bylined articles reflect the views of the authors. Unsigned articles reflect the views of the editorial board. Please credit the source when sharing: ©2024 peoplestribune.org. Please donate to help us keep bringing you voices of the movement. Click here. We’re all volunteer, no paid staff.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Featured

Pushing People into a Really Bad System Will End Really Badly

President Trump's executive order fuses drug use and homelessness, ignoring that homelessness can cause or exacerbate substance use because people use drugs to cope with pain. Forced institutional settings rather than housing will not help the ill or unhoused.

Chicago Resistance Speaks: ‘Until All Are Free, None Are Free’

An uprising is growing as the government tries to impose a dictatorship. Chicago resistance leaders recently offered their thoughts in public remarks made at demonstrations and press conferences.

Los Angeles Continues to Rebuild and Resist

Angelinos, suffering from the profit over people economy, continue to rebuild after the fires and to protest immigration raids, while also experiencing joy in such difficult times.

Chicago Teachers Union Says: Trump, Stay Out of Our City

Chicago Teachers Union rejects any unlawful federal occupation of their city, while welcoming federal leadership that fully funds public education, restores SNAP, and expands Medicaid to healthcare for all.

Journalist Says Why ‘I Can No Longer Work With Reuters’

A photojournalist says why it is impossible for her to maintain a relationship with Reuters "given its role in justifying and enabling the systematic assassination of 245 journalists in Gaza."

More from the People's Tribune