在…里宾夕法尼亚州的竞选为了获得美国参议院的一个席位，民主党候选人约翰·费特曼(John Fetterman)不得不不断捍卫自己的服务能力，因为他正在从危及生命的中风中康复。
“再说一次，我的医生认为我适合服役，这也是我现在的立场，”他周二晚上在辩论台上说，引用了他的主治医生的一封信，并拒绝承诺公布医疗记录。
据费特曼的医生称，这位候选人在中风五个月后有时会说话困难，并出现听觉处理问题。这引起了一些人的批评和猜测关于他扮演角色的能力然而，在参议院，神经科医生告诉ABC新闻，语言问题并不表明中风幸存者有认知障碍。
尽管如此，残疾人权益组织表示，自从费特曼中风以来，共和党候选人穆罕默德·奥兹博士的团队一直在他的竞选活动中不断向他抛出能力主义，尽管医生本人也对费特曼的状况表示同情。
Ableism指的是对残疾人的歧视。
“坦率地说，这是一种干扰，”残疾倡导组织全球健康生活基金会和CreakyJoints的联合创始人兼总裁塞思·金斯伯格说。
金斯伯格继续说，“我们每天都听到慢性病患者说，他们经历了社会偏见和机会的减少，这是基于人们对他们如何或什么可以或不可以做的假设。”
Pennsylvania's Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman speaks to supporters gathered in Dickinson Square Park in Philadelphia as he campaigns for the US Senate, Oct. 23, 2022.
克里斯顿·杰·贝瑟尔/法新社
羁绊人的中风发挥了政治剧本中的持续角色奥兹团队的成员。
当费特曼在九月份拒绝与奥兹辩论时，奥兹的团队发布了一份看似嘲讽的“让步”清单他们会让费瑟曼在辩论台上，包括:“我们将支付任何额外的医疗人员，他可能需要随时待命。”
在费特曼的社交媒体团队取笑奥兹称“蔬菜托盘”为“垃圾”后，奥兹的高级沟通顾问雷切尔·特里普回应道通过告诉内部人员:“如果约翰·费特曼在他的一生中曾经吃过一种蔬菜，那么他可能就不会有一次严重的中风，也不会处于不得不经常撒谎的境地。”
在…里NBC新闻的采访奥兹说，他对人类正在经历的苦难有“巨大的同情”。
“作为一名医生，我不仅欣赏挑战，而且我知道他的具体疾病，因为这是我的专业领域，”奥兹说。他补充说，他不会像特里普对费瑟曼那样对病人说话。
然而，奥兹批评费特曼没有公布他的医疗记录，称选民有权了解更多关于潜在的未来政治家的健康状况。当各种新闻机构的编辑委员会敦促两位候选人公开他们的医疗记录时，奥兹照办了。
Oz在一份声明中说:“为了让我自己的健康完全透明，我再次去看了我的医生，以获得对我健康状况的最新评估。”城市&州PA。“我同意，在竞选公职的候选人的健康状况方面，选民应该有充分的透明度。”
这一点，以及其他评论，引发了一波关于费瑟曼能力的讨论和猜测。
“我对中风和中风康复一无所知——直到我54岁时患了中风,”国家残疾组织主席卢克·维斯康帝说。“许多中风幸存者能够康复——就我的情况而言，显然还有费特曼中尉州长，这需要极其艰苦的努力。自从我中风后，人们告诉我我是一个更好的人。我当然知道我更有洞察力和同情心。我们不都需要更多的同理心吗?”
残疾活动人士表示，尽管费瑟曼在竞选活动中坚持不懈，但对其状况的持续不断的抨击凸显了能力主义如何将某人正在经历的状况变成一种武器，用来对付他们，对他们的能力进行假设。
“我们都知道费特尔曼是一个混乱、坚强、做事有条不紊的人，”索菲·普斯特说，她是倡导组织“残疾人网络”的项目主管。“他正在调整自己的沟通方式、工作方式和竞选方式，[所以]有一种最聪明的想法认为，因为这些调整不是‘正常的’，而是‘不自然的’。”因为他们不是非残疾人的典型，这被视为一个弱点。"
2021年，美国劳工统计局(Bureau of Labor Statistics)发现，残疾人失业率为10.1%——约为非残疾人失业率的两倍。
“大约三分之一的(全球健康生活基金会)员工患有慢性病，否则他们可能无法保住工作。坦率地说，这些人在工作中绝对表现出色，”金斯伯格说。
残疾倡导者告诉ABC新闻，这是许多人承认能力主义已经成为规范的时刻。
“当政客们在能力主义上下了双倍的赌注，然后被良好的民调数字、更多的捐款甚至选举结果所回报。这对残疾人来说只是证据...那些政客不关心残疾人群体经历的问题和障碍，更糟糕的是，他们认为我们不应该获得我们在这个国家生活甚至成功所需要的东西。”
费瑟曼不是第一个为残疾人服务的政治家。乔·拜登总统公开了他患有导致他口吃的语言障碍的经历。德克萨斯州州长格雷格·艾伯特腰部以下瘫痪。参议员谭美·达克沃斯双腿截肢。
前总统富兰克林·德拉诺·罗斯福于1921年染上小儿麻痹症，腰部以下瘫痪。
根据国家独立生活委员会的数据，数十名患有某种残疾(神经、身体或其他)的政治家目前正在竞选或正在联邦、州和地方一级的职位。
全国黑人残疾人联盟的负责人简·邓纳姆(Jane Dunhamn)说，“需要积极消除对被视为‘他人’的个人的压迫体系，无论是残疾、种族、贫困还是性别。”。“与此同时，当我们拆除压迫制度时，我们需要更多的知识、文化和亲身经历的谦逊。”
Fetterman and Oz debate highlights ableism in politics, advocates say
Inthe Pennsylvania racefor a seat in the U.S. Senate, Democratic candidate John Fetterman has had to continuously defend his ability to serve as he recovers from a life-threatening stroke.
“Again, my doctor believes that I’m fit to be serving, and that’s what I believe where I’m standing,” he said on the debate stage Tuesday night, citing a letter from his primary care doctor and declining to commit to releasing medical records.
According to Fetterman’s doctors, the candidate sometimes has difficulty speaking and experiences auditory processing issues five months after his stroke. This prompted criticism and speculation by someabout his ability to take on a rolein the Senate – however,neurologistshave told ABC News that language issues do not indicate cognitive impairment for stroke survivors.
Still, disability advocacy groups say ableism has been continuously thrown at Fetterman throughout his campaign since his stroke by Republican candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz's team, though the doctor himself has expressed empathy toward Fetterman's condition.
Ableism refers to discrimination against people with disabilities.
"It's been, frankly, a distraction," said Seth Ginsberg, president and co-founder of disability advocacy groups Global Healthy Living Foundation and CreakyJoints.
Ginsberg continued, "We hear daily, from people with chronic diseases that they've experienced social prejudice and diminished opportunities based on people's assumptions about how or what they can or cannot do with their conditions."
Fetterman’s stroke has played anongoing role in the political playbookof Oz's team.
When Fetterman declined to debate Oz in September, Oz’s team released aseemingly mocking list of “concessions”they would make to get Fetterman on the debate stage, including: “We will pay for any additional medical personnel he might need to have on standby.”
After Fetterman’s social media team made fun of Oz for calling a “veggie tray,” “crudité,” Oz's senior communications advisor Rachel Tripp respondedby telling Insider: "If John Fetterman had ever eaten a vegetable in his life, then maybe he wouldn't have had a major stroke and wouldn't be in the position of having to lie about it constantly.”
Inan interview with NBC News, Oz said he had "tremendous compassion" for what Fetterman is going through.
"Not only do I, as a doctor, appreciate the challenges, but I know his specific ailment, because it's a specialty area of mine," said Oz. He added that he would not speak to a patient the way Tripp had spoken about Fetterman.
However, Oz has criticized Fetterman for not releasing his medical records, saying that voters deserve to know more about the health of a potential incoming politician. When the editorial boards of various news organizations urged both candidates to release their medical records, Oz obliged.
"In the interest of full transparency over my own health, I saw my doctor again to get the most current appraisal of my health status," said Oz in a statement toCity& State PA. "I agree that voters should have full transparency when it comes to the health status of candidates running for office."
This, and other commentary, has prompted a wave of conversation and speculation about Fetterman's abilities.
"I was completely ignorant about strokes and stroke recovery - until I had one at age 54," said Luke Visconti, a chairman of the National Organization on Disability. "Many stroke survivors are able to recover - in my case and apparently with Lt. Governor Fetterman, it takes brutally hard work. People have told me that I'm a nicer person since my stroke. I certainly know I'm more perceptive and empathetic. Don't we all need more empathy?"
Disabled activists say persistent, ongoing jabs about Fetterman's condition despite his perseverance on the campaign trail highlight the ways in which ableism turns a condition someone is experiencing into a weapon to be used against them to make assumptions about their abilities.
"We all know Fetterman has this rough-and-tumble, strong, get-things-done persona," said Sophie Poost, the program director at the advocacy group Disability EmpowHer Network. "He's adjusting the way he communicates, how he works, how he campaigns, [so] there's this ablest thinking that says that because these adjustments aren't 'normal,' they're 'unnatural.' Because they aren't typical to non-disabled people, it's seen as a weakness."
In 2021, the Bureau of Labor Statistics found the unemployment rate for disabled people was 10.1% – which is about twice as high as the rate for those without a disability.
"Roughly a third of [Global Healthy Living Foundation] staff has a chronic disease that might otherwise prevent them from holding a job. And, frankly, these people absolutely excel at their jobs," said Ginsberg.
Disability advocates told ABC News that this is a moment for many to acknowledge the ways in which ableism has become the norm.
"When politicians double down on ableism and then are rewarded by good polling numbers, more donations, or election results, even. It's just evidence to people with disabilities ... that those politicians don't care about the issues and barriers that the disability community experiences, and at worse, they do not think we deserve to have access to what we need to live or even succeed in this country."
Fetterman wouldn’t be the first politician to serve with a disability. President Joe Biden has been open about his experiences with speech impediment that causes him to stutter. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is paralyzed from the waist down. Senator Tammy Duckworth is a double amputee.
Former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who contracted polio in 1921, was paralyzed from the waist down.
According to the National Council on Independent Living, dozens of other politicians with some kind of disability -- neurological, physical or otherwise -- are currently running for or are currently in office on the federal, state and local level.
"Systems of oppression for individuals who are considered 'the other,' be it, disability, race, poverty and gender, need to be actively dismantled," said Jane Dunhamn, the director of the National Black Disability Coalition. "At the same time when we are dismantling systems of oppression we need more intellectual, cultural and lived-experience humility."
