DEIA in the Age of Trump

As a person with multiple disabilities in America right now, I am scared. More scared than I’ve ever been, in fact. I left my last accessibility job after enduring over a year of harassment from my direct manager and their direct manager because, despite being granted reasonable accommodations for extra time and flexible deadlines to complete assignments “on paper”, in practice, they showed me that I was nothing more than a liability (and what do you know, it happened again recently). I know that I have value. I know that I have a lot to offer. I know that my disability is part of my value, but I also need to financially support myself. To do that consistently and effectively, I need others to see that value. I’m unclear how related losing my most recent job is to the second Trump administration’s anti-DEI executive order, but the timing is certainly curious. These recent work experiences are contributing to an important, profound realization I’m having about my disability and related limitations, and I’m in the process of making a career pivot, but it’s a terrifying time to be having this realization and to be making a pivot like this. 

The Disability Pride flag. A diagonal band of rainbow colors "cutting across" the walls and barriers that separate disabled people from society.

Based on my recent experiences and multiple conversations I’ve had with various DEI professionals, it’s clear to me that most of the largest, most prominent businesses, at least, don’t actually care about practicing true diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA). They care more about getting attention and accolades by appearing to care about and practice DEIA. Ultimately, their priority seems to be extracting as much profit as possible, even at the expense of individuals’ livelihoods. This became vividly clear to me after I went to my former employer’s HR department twice and they showed me that their true intention was to protect the company. This is why capitalism is fundamentally flawed. It is designed specifically to generate as much profit as possible for the few people at the top of the proverbial food chain, who tend to be wealthy, white, and male, at the expense of the people at the bottom. And those people at the bottom? They tend to be from historically excluded communities such as members of BIPOC, LGBTQ+, disability, and or low income. This is very deliberate. Capitalism is a mechanism of power and control designed specifically to assert dominance over these historically excluded communities that threaten wealthy white peoples’ sense of authority.

I’ve spent the past 10 years building a career in disability inclusion, accessibility, and diversity, but what is someone deeply passionate about diversity and disability inclusion supposed to do at a time when the words “diversity”, “disability”, “accessibility”, and many others are being politically weaponized by the current US President? If a company whose mission claims to be accessibility won’t even acknowledge my value in the form of an accommodation, what am I supposed to think? How is that supposed to make me feel?

Now, this is personal. I am quite literally collateral damage, a liability. We all are. I feel helpless and quite nearly hopeless. This sense of fear, confusion, and chaos that I’m feeling, and I’m sure some of you are too, is precisely the point. The onslaught of executive orders and inflammatory language is meant to overwhelm, distract, and divert us as they continue to chip away at services we pay into with our tax money, funnel more money to their self-serving pet projects, and work towards the privatization of essential social services. The idea that social services should function like a business is absurd. Among the essential services Trump and his regime are seeking to gut is Medicaid, which provides an essential health insurance lifeline to over 72 million people in the United States, including myself, as of October 2024. This is all being done so the ruling class can consolidate more wealth and power.  Not every service needs to generate a profit.

in conclusion.

As the cultural and political attitude towards DEIA becomes increasingly hostile, this work becomes even more important. There is too much at stake for us to stay silent and not have these conversations. Whether you know it or not, this affects everyone. Anyone can become disabled anytime, anywhere, and the rights of everyone have always been dictated by what happens to historically excluded communities.

We will not be erased. We matter purely by virtue of our existence.