There’s a long and ugly history of driving the disabled into shadows, into isolation and out of public life. Today I was able to say a few words about how that long arc of discrimination shows up as voter suppression on behalf of @MOVE_texas.

These bills, SB 7 and HB 6, took aim at disabled voters explicitly, requiring extra proof and paperwork of those who assist the disabled. And of the disabled themselves, the bills sought proof of disability in the first place.

Special, unique obligations on the disabled means more work on us to have the same rights as the non-disabled. We call that inequality. And it’s layered inequality. The disabled are disproportionately poor, which means you can count them among the uninsured, transit insecure, etc

So those extra steps? This is what’s meant by the phrase “poverty is expensive.” Count among the disabled the tired and the busy. Tired of extra steps and busy with them too. As Cornel West says, “justice is what love looks like in public.” These bills don’t love disabled people.

These bills look at the helpers and find only misanthropy, not the solidarity of helping others exercise their rights as equal people. These bills look at the disabled and find mistrust, as if our lives and our hardships are in the service of some big con on democracy.

No. The truth is that no one is “disabled” in a world with safety nets and strong caring institutions.
Disability is a social relationship. How impactful impairment is on quality of life is a mirror of what kind of laws we’ve written and what kind of institutions we have.

We’re a long way from that world. Everything is means tested, everything is austerity. Everything is paperwork. But if we’re ever to get to that other world, we have to defeat laws that would run counter to that definition of justice I offered. Love in public.

We’ll know we’re practicing that justice when you see more wheelchairs out at the polls. More crutches out at the polls. More scooters out at the polls. These bills are building blocks of a past world fighting to keep power. Only white, only rich, only privileged.

It was an honor to be among everyone today who fights for the disabled in a plural, multiracial democracy. I might look tired (I am) but I’m in it for the long haul until we realize what we’re struggling for once and for all. #txlege