This has been a crushingly hard week for many people in our community. Many of us are frightened after an election cycle that has brought hatred of marginalized people to the forefront of political discourse. We are angry after reading reports that Donald Trump used the r-word to describe his political opponents and has allegedly said that people with significant disabilities “should just die.” We are exhausted, remembering how hard we worked during the last Trump administration to defend laws and programs that are lifesaving for so many of us. Whatever you’re feeling today, you’re not alone. We’re with you, and we’re not giving up the fight. In the months and years to come, ASAN will fiercely defend the rights and lives of disabled people. We hope you’ll join us however you are able.
We don’t know everything that lies ahead, but we know some of what we might face: proposed cuts to lifeline programs, attacks on reproductive rights and gender-affirming care, a resurgence of dangerous lies about vaccines and autism, and yet more attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act. This is a terrifying moment — but we are not powerless. The disability community saved the Affordable Care Act in 2017, and we can do it again. We can preserve programs like Medicaid, SNAP and TANF for the people who depend on them. We can fight misinformation about public health with plain language educational resources. We can defend our access to reproductive and gender-affirming health care in the courts, in the states, and in Congress. We can combat ableism and xenophobia in immigration policy, and stand in solidarity with the many communities under threat from the new administration.
We know we will face setbacks and injustices. We know we will not win every battle. But we will take on each of these fights and more to protect our communities. We will make progress wherever we can. If we lose ground, we will work to take it back. We have to believe that we will come out the other side of this, and once again there will be a chance to build something. There is too much at risk for us to give in to despair.
So when we look back on this moment, let’s make sure we can say that we did everything we could. We encourage you to advocate for your rights in whatever ways are most accessible to you. That might look like marching in a protest, joining a mutual aid group, contacting your members of Congress, or supporting causes you care about. Keep an eye out for action alerts from ASAN — we’ll have plenty of ways for you to get involved in the coming months. In the meantime, please take care of yourself, your loved ones, and your communities however you can. Keeping yourself alive is a victory too. We’re counting on you to stay in this fight with us — and whatever’s coming, we’ll face it together.