What is perhaps more shocking than Trump’s actions are the stories the disabled community has to share about incidents when their disability has been mocked.
“Someone once shouted ‘Bet you have fun with that on at night, don’t you, lad?’ as my [boyfriend] pushed me in my wheelchair,” one woman told me.
“People mock me for having a funny walk and for using crutches, to make their mates laugh,” said another, whose joints dislocate as they walk.
One man who uses crutches recalled a drunk “ranting I should have a parrot on my shoulder”. Another spoke of a shop owner who “went all am-dram in front of whole shop, saying: ‘Look, she’s tried to kill herself!’ pointing to my scars.”
This doesn’t include the accounts when “mocking” turned into outright physical abuse. For instance: “I was called a scrounger and spat at just because I use a wheelchair.” Perhaps the most telling – and depressing – comment was from the disabled woman who noted insults “tend to bounce off me” now.
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