Opinion - Trump's dementia challenge: Fear of Alzheimer's has him scrambling ( www.salon.com )

fiat_lux , 9 months ago (edited 9 months ago)

I am so sick of health condition speculation of politicians. If they have a formal dìagnosis and release it publicly, fine. But this article is just pure conjecture.

1. Not all memory issues are age-related or dementia or degenerative. While US politicians do trend extremely old and this increases the likelihood of having a disability, plenty of younger people have memory issues too that can get better or worse randomly. Covid fucked my memory hard.
2. It's ableist to require peak health 24/7 from people, even your leaders. They have teams of people around them for a reason, to collect and provide accurate information. There are briefings and reports. Redundancy is built into the system, the President isn't the only source of truth. If a President becomes unable to perform their duties in a timely manner because of these problems, like Dianna Feinstein, then we can worry about that problem.
3. Disability is an increasing issue, and climate change and future pandemics are going to increase the rates at which everyone experiences chronic health problems. 15% of all people globally self-identify as having a disability. If you live in a country with a life expectancy over 70, you can expect to spend an average of 8 years of your life with a disability. Globally, 49% of people over 60 have a disability. Protection of society from a single point of failure requires systemic change that builds in failsafes and enforces them. Build accommodations

Trump isn't dangerous because his father had Alzheimers and he's (understandably) afraid of developing it. He's dangerous because he has a habit of making absurdly malicious power-hungry selfish decisions.

hitmyspot , 9 months ago

Peak health 24/7 is unrealistic for anyone, but even with a chronic health problem of any kind, you need to be able to perform the functions of the job.

We don’t have a diagnosis for Trump, but there is clearly something deeply wrong with him. If he willfully provides misinformation about his health, all we have is conjecture.

Disability should not preclude you from work,but just like people without a disability, you seek roles you are suitable for. It’s not ableist to say someone with alzheimers and associated cognitive decline is not suitable for president.

fiat_lux , 9 months ago

perform the functions of the job

After attempts have been made for accommodations and they have failed or the job description itself cannot be altered. Yes, in that situation it's fine.

We don’t have a diagnosis for Trump, but there is clearly something deeply wrong with him

We know what is wrong with him. He's extremely selfish and greedy. That is what disqualifies him to be a leader. Our speculations about his medical situation are unnecessary.

Disability should not preclude you from work,but just like people without a disability, you seek roles you are suitable for. It’s not ableist to say someone with alzheimers and associated cognitive decline is not suitable for president.

It's not ableist to say that someone with a predictably degenerative disease which is affecting their ability to make logical decisions, that we have no workarounds or treatment for, may be unable to fulfil the job requirements.

It is ableist to suggest that any incidence of memory loss or shitty rhetoric or bad writing or family history is evidence of a degenerative disease and that they should not be eligible for a role because of it. Especially when that conjecture comes from people with no medical background or relation to the person in question.

hitmyspot , 9 months ago

Selfish and greedy is just part of it. He is unfit on many levels.

Any incidence of memory loss is not automdisqualifying, but I’d want to know the medical reasons before electing someone to such a high office. Again, in the absence of accurate information, we only have speculation.

Discussion about these topics is not ableism. Some are suggesting an upper age limit. To me, that’s just using age as an allegory for health. We should just set minimum standards for health of these offices, if we have an aging population with increasing health needs.