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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Sara Nović

The US right is coming for disabled people. Here’s why that threatens everyone

United States Donald Trump Disability Adolf Hitler Christopher Rufo
A collage of black and white photos of disabled people protesting for their rights, including a wheelchair sit-in at the US Capitol, over a light blue backdrop
‘Historically, the way a government treats disabled people can be an early indicator of its broader social policy intentions.’ Composite: Angelica Alzona/Guardian Design

Twelve days before Donald Trump took office, Charlie Kirk, media personality and rightwing activist, complained on his eponymous show about the presence of American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters at emergency press briefings for the Los Angeles fires. Another rightwing activist, Christopher Rufo, took his cue on X, calling interpreters “wild human gesticulators” who turned briefings into a “farce”. The rightwing theorist and Origins of Woke author Richard Hanania, quote-tweeting Rufo, declared ASL interpretation an “absurdity”.

Around this time, Elon Musk was skulking around the platform, campaigning to bring back the R-word. Use of the slur tripled on X after his post.

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