“What is so harmful about seeing what's happened to John Fetterman is that he's actually experiencing what many disabled people experience every day when we ask for accommodations,” Maria Town, President and CEO of American Association of People with Disabilities added, “which is an instant doubt of our competence and a questioning about whether, you know, ‘Can you really do this job?’”
-David Mack, BuzzFeed
Watching John Fetterman’s interview with Dasha Burns of NBC News highlighted in real-time how pervasive ableism is in our culture. In a tight senate race that should be focused on issues, Burns chose instead to emphasize Fetterman’s need for accommodations, questioning his fitness for office over a chance to spotlight policy during a prime-time interview Tuesday night.
For his part, Lester Holt introduced the segment calling it, “Not your typical candidate interview,” placing additional focus on Fetterman’s disability.
NBC is clearly gunning for the #NDEAM Awards.
Burns has since backtracked saying, “Our reporting did not and should not comment on fitness for office. This is for voters to decide.” Voters are persuaded by news coverage, and as a journalist, her coverage irresponsibly perpetuated myths surrounding the competence of disabled people seeking employment, particularly when reasonable accommodations are involved.
Adding fuel to the fire were Burns’ additional queries surrounding Fetterman’s health, implying the medical documentation supplied by his team was outdated and asking, “Don't voters deserve to know your status now?” While voters have become accustomed to candidates running for high political office releasing medical records, there are no established norms concerning what those records should include. The one constant for disabled job seekers is that we are routinely asked to provide information and documentation far above that of our non-disabled colleagues simply to prove fitness, both for the job and any related accommodations.
Barriers are constantly placed in front of us to to earn our place at the table. Those barriers are difficult to overcome with Implicit biases about disabled people being incredibly pervasive. A 2007 study led by Brian Nosek, a Professor of Psychology at University of Virginia found "[p]reference for people without disability compared to people with disabilities was among the strongest implicit and explicit effects across the social group domains" with only age showing more implicit bias. Significantly, 76 percent of respondents showed an implicit preference for people without disabilities, compared to nine percent for people with disabilities." NBC put those biases front and center for a national audience.
Thankfully media personalities like Comedy Central/The Daily Show host Trevor N. aren’t afraid to call out ableism. We need more allies like him. His impending departure leaves big shoes to fill.
#disability #politics #employment