Last week, many disabled Americans were shocked, but not surprised, as they told BTPM and described on social media, that President Donald Trump used the word “retarded” in a social media post attacking Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
The thing is, the “r-word,” despite being removed from federal laws in 2010, continues to be used by many elected officials, not just Trump. In recent years, U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer, and U.S. Representative Tony Gonzalez, among others, have been called out for using the word.
The "r-word" was once used as a medical term to describe many people with disabilities, to then institutionalize, sterilize and segregate them within the United States.
One in six eligible voters were estimated to have a disability in 2024, according to the Rutgers Program for Disability Research. That’s 40.2 million voters. Not to mention everyone who knows them.
So, is the use of this slur alienating or turning off disabled voters and their loved ones from those politicians? That's what we explore in this week's episode of the Disabilities Beat.
TRANSCRIPT
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