Kamala Harris' Supporters Come To Her Defense After She Was Accused Of Mocking Disabled People
Kamala Harris‘ supporters are coming to her defense after her critics accused her of degrading disabled people. The controversy started when the vice president delivered a speech at a roundtable discussion with disability rights activists on Tuesday, MSNBC reports.
Harris tried to accommodate the disabled people in the room, stating her pronouns when she introduced herself and giving a visual description of what she was wearing.
“I am Kamala Harris, my pronouns are she and her, and I am a woman sitting at the table wearing a blue suit,” she said.
Harris was later met with backlash from critics such as Sen. Ted Cruz, who viewed her gesture as a mockery.
But what is a woman? https://t.co/nN6aIgJ2pf
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) July 26, 2022
Harris, however, has many more people who are applauding the way she accommodated the disabled. One Twitter user shared a screenshot of a Facebook post from her mother, who said the vice president did exactly what she was supposed to do.
“You tell people your name, what you do, what your pronouns are, what you look like, what you are wearing,” the mother wrote. “It’s called empathy.”
The mother called out Republicans and Democrats who “tweeted their disgust at the vice president.”
“Who the hell do you think you are?” she wrote. “I know who you are. The people who make life really hard for people with disabilities who work their asses off to be working members of a society who treats them like dirt.”
My mom posted this in response to the Kamala Harris story and it about sums it up. pic.twitter.com/aGoO0xfz5Q
— Pro-Choice Now and Forever (@Johanna_Ann) July 28, 2022
Several other social media users agreed with the mother.
As a teenager I volunteered at a place where we transcribed books for visually-impaired people (this was before internet accessibility and scanners which could identify text), and yeah. When you met someone who couldn't see you, you gave them a brief description of who you were.
— Hrafnkat (@hrafnkat) July 28, 2022
Thanks for sharing this post! I am ASL Interpreter and MOST people don't understand the real scope of what we do and our individual consumers varying needs/requirements. Repubs don't WANT people who are different from them around so they don't bother to learn about their lives!
— Darren Blaylock 🇺🇦 (@DarrenBlaylock) July 28, 2022
Yes, most people don’t understand the range of needs within a disability group. Autism is not the only disability that has a broad spectrum of needs.
— Gary Blandina (@Garilia) July 28, 2022
According to MSNBC, RNC research director Zach Parkinson tried to clarify the criticism against Harris. Parkinson said the critics were making fun of Harris because she “chooses to infantilize the people she’s talking with by announcing her pronouns.”
