We now know with certainty that President Trump regards us–those of us with disabilities, our folk and our friends–with contempt. The President’s January 30 scripted brief remarks of solace and concern for the victims of the tragic mid-air collision of the commercial airliner and the military helicopter was appropriate. But true to his inability to check the forces of his subterranean mind he launched into blaming the crash on former Presidents Obama and Biden and the FAA during their terms–blaming the hiring of people with disabilities as the cause of this air tragedy. We with disabilities and our advocates, should not be surprised at President Trump’s behavior, his disregard, his scorn, his contempt for us. His use of people with disabilities as a scapegoat for his blaming of both Presidents Obama and Biden is no shock. His behavior was foreshadowed nine years ago when then candidate Trump publicly mocked a reporter who has upper extremity paralysis. (This same reporter now works for the New York Times and you can still find this event on You Tube.)

We should be appalled at Trump’s penchant for his scapegoating of people with disabilities. Why? One, his use of a tragic accident to blame others. Two, using his widespread denunciation of DEI to single out us – including specific disabilities as his scapegoat of choice for his invective. It was deliberate that Trump used us, people with disabilities, to berate President Obama and President Biden. Clearly, to him we are the easy fodder to try – without evidence – to prove a point, a venomous point, not one of “common sense,” as he claimed.

I hope you are as angry as I am about Trump’s malevolent behavior toward us with disabilities. What are we going to do? You can’t unelect Trump. Use our hands, our voices, our dollars to end this deliberate denunciation of capable people with disabilities.

Editor’s note: Dick VanWagner is a former board member at Access Press. He is an elected delegate to the White House Conference on the Handicapped and a founding officer of the United Handicapped Federation. He’s a vocational counselor and testifying vocational expert, and has provided numerous advisements to organizations for Section 504 and the ADA.