John Fetterman's accommodation request revealed the bias we still have against disabled people
In his willingness to be public about his recovery, Fetterman proves he can do the job. He forces us to examine our own beliefs and biases about people with disabilities.
Connie SchultzCorrection & clarification: A prior version of this column misspelled the name of MSNBC’s Alex Wagner.
The discussion about what it means – and what it doesn’t mean – to be disabled has gained steam this week after Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman, five months after a stroke, used an app version of closed captions to help him answer a journalist's questions.
But this column isn’t just about Fetterman, and it’s certainly not limited to politics. The bigger conversation, the one we need to be having, is about why we make accommodations for people with disabilities, both visible and invisible.
As he continues to recover, Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Fetterman used Google Meets to read the spoken questions of NBC News reporter Dasha Burns because he cannot always process what is being said to him. This auditory disconnect is not an uncommon response to a stroke in the early months and does not mean he can't do the job.