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Under the Trump administration, ableism has reached new heights in the United States.  

One of the biggest peddlers of discrimination against people based on perceived health and abilities is Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who continues to spread false information about autism. In just one recent example, he described it as an “epidemic” and a “plague” to society. 

Prominent disability organizations like The Arc of the United States, the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network, and the Autism Society have all criticized the way Kennedy and President Donald Trump stigmatize autistic people and their parents. But this is just a continuation of the Trump administration’s use of ableism to spread fear and eugenic ideology.

More than 1 in 4 adults in the U.S. has some type of disability, and over the past five years, that population has only grown. As aging baby boomers contribute to an increasing senior population, the number of Americans with disabilities has increased as well. Every person knows and loves someone with a disability. Yet we have political “leaders” such as Kennedy who ignore scientists and advocates by proposing reckless policies that will have devastating consequences.

But Kennedy represents a symptom of a larger problem in this country. 

America is stymied by ableism. Today’s policies echo what are known as the ugly laws that lasted from the 1860s to the 1970s, through which local governments created ordinances targeting Black and brown people, unhoused people, and disabled people. These laws forced people into institutions where they were neglected, sterilized, electrocuted, and sexually abused. Beginning in the 1940s, the disability rights movement helped eliminate these archaic and discriminatory laws, leading to the passage of the Rehabilitation Act in 1973. The last ugly law was repealed in Chicago in 1974. 

Eugenic policies and laws return time and time again like poison ivy, infecting our policymaking so much that our leaders no longer understand or care to nurture the full potential that disabled people bring to communities.

Eugenic policies and laws return time and time again like poison ivy, infecting our policymaking so much that our leaders no longer understand or care to nurture the full potential that disabled people bring to communities. This inability to embrace the full spectrum of human experiences has resulted in the continued devaluing and othering of too many Americans.

Kennedy isn’t the only one utilizing the ableist ideology that undergirded the ugly laws of decades past. We’ve seen a resurgence of this ideology with politicians across the political spectrum, from Trump to San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, pushing to institutionalize unhoused people and those with mental health disabilities. Rather than supporting evidence-based practices, politicians from coast to coast have prioritized policing bodies over committing money and resources to provide community-based services.

Bipartisan support from politicians and business leaders across the country attempted to defang the disability civil rights law known as the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). In large part, it’s because these leaders allege that the law is too burdensome to ensure disabled people can access businesses and services. 

In 2017, the House of Representatives introduced the ADA Education and Reform Act, which required disabled people to inform businesses of the law before they could submit a formal complaint to the federal government. The proposed law put all the onus on the disabled person to educate a business about their rights before being able to access their civil rights. That means that some disabled people would have to wait extended periods of time to obtain access to medical services, go grocery shopping, or even get a haircut. The legislation was passed in the House in 2018, but did not advance in the Senate due to the leadership of Illinois Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth. Unfortunately, Oklahoma Republican Sen. Jim Lankford reintroduced the bill in January.

Neither the Trump administration nor these recent efforts from lawmakers bodes well for disabled people, as they’ve seen politicians vote to cut their benefits and attempt to reverse their civil rights protections. Horrifically, Kennedy even suggested sending certain disabled people to labor camps. It’s time for us to value every individual not for what they can produce, but for their human existence on this planet. 

But until the U.S. faces and truly contends with its ableist ideologies, disabled people will continue to be subject to the kind of hateful rhetoric and deadly policies that inevitably lead us back to institutionalization and eugenics. 

Editorial Team:
Tina Vasquez, Lead Editor
Carolyn Copeland, Top Editor
Rashmee Kumar, Copy Editor