Vote or Die
My vote was accepted on October 6th, due to Vermont’s universal mail-in voting, so I’m a little late to the #ivoted party.
Why vote? A tremendous amount of reasons: climate change, livable wages, equity and equality for BIPOC and queer folx, valuing human beings over profit, the right to choose, the list goes on.
Something that I will talk about if it comes up but don’t volunteer is the topic of my sister. I even did a whole photo series on her, battling the urge to tell her story but not exploit her for her disability. But here I am using it to make a point.
Jessie is 41, has CP (cerebral palsy) and is my lovely sister -now wanting to be only referred to as “aunt, no Jessie” upon the birth of my daughter. CP comes in many forms, each individual varies by physical and/or mental disability severity. My sister’s CP takes the form of a lack of balance, lack of muscle dexterity and strength in her legs, and pretty significant cognitive disabilities. To explain it better as a kid (and even now) I would say she never progressed past a 5 year old’s mental capacity, but that’s an oversimplification. She seesaws between knowing the odd reality we now experience with COVID - a virus makes it so she can’t go to work, but then still having to verify that I live in Vermont, not Boston any longer.
Like many people with CP, Jessie was besieged with this disease due to a lack of oxygen to the brain. The doctor delivering her didn’t think he needed to rush getting her out, leaving her with inadequate oxygen for over 3 hours. My parents sued of course, getting “money for life” for my sister, money that would pay for the extra care, PT, speech therapy, walkers, strollers, diapers, vehicles, that my sister will have to to utilize for the rest of her life. This is more than many more families we have met over the years got, but still doesn’t begin to outweigh the stupidity of that man 41 years ago.
But my parents could sue, because of malpractice laws that exist in our country. My sister was able to get actual schooling because of special ed reforms, not having to live in an institution to get the care she needs. Because of the Americans with Disabilities Act, she can go into businesses and doctors’ offices and malls and restaurants with ramps and curb cutouts, and handles in the bathrooms. Now because of Medicaid she can still exist well, even though her “money for life” is spent, she can have care for the rest of her life, and my parents can take a break and enjoy their lives.
I could never vote for the man leading our country, and will never. Again, there are as many reasons as to why I wouldn’t vote for him as there are reasons to vote in general, but one sticks out for me, because he hasn’t changed since then. Something my family and friends and acquaintances that are voting for him don’t seem to mind, or can reason away that he “shoots from the cuff” or “I don’t agree with him about everything” or “I don’t know enough about that to comment” is an incident at one of this rallies before he was elected president. In 2015, Trump brought up an article from 2001 written by a NY Times reporter, Serge Kovaleski, and upon describing the journalist, he used the “classic retard” gesture of 90s adolescence: banging your wrist against your chest while making some grunting/deep throated mumbling. Trump in a classic non-apology said “he had no idea what the guy looked like so how could he know that the guy was disabled, if he had known, then he wouldn’t have done it.”
The man hasn’t changed, he hasn’t done anything to learn, hasn’t done anything to listen, hasn’t done anything except grandstand and point accusatory fingers at everyone else but himself.
When he made the gesture he mocked my sister.
When he said “there were good people on both sides” after someone was run over at the Unite the Right rally, he mocked that woman who was killed.
When he said that “doctors are inflating COVID numbers” to make more money, he mocked the wonderful doctors and nurses that delivered my daughter.
When he was given the chance to condemn white supremacy on live tv, he mocked my grandfathers who both fought in WW2, one who liberated Dachau.
That is his greatest asset, his greatest skill, his greatest contribution to our country: mockery.
That’s why I voted.