We have entered a new stage of erasure of children, of the disabled, and of the vulnerable. Healthism and its sibling, eugenics, have been unapologetically espoused during the COVID pandemic by our country’s leadership.

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I believe we are watching, in real time, the development of a new system of permanently burdening people we do not value. This experience causes me to see more clearly the many inequities we have long endured as somehow normal, even though they could easily have been addressed. Why do we not have adequate ventilation in schools? Why do we allow evictions to occur without an immediate provision of social services to protect those who lose their homes? Why should a diabetic ever go without the best medicine to control their blood glucose levels? Why do we allow drinking water to be polluted? Why is our built environment so hostile to people who do not fit within our narrow norm of ability? Because this is who we are.