Yes, calling someone ‘mentally disabled’ causes real harm

Donald Trump at an Erie, Pa., rally on Sept. 29, 2024, at which he said Democratic rival Kamala Harris was ‘mentally impaired.’ Dustin Franz/AFP/Getty Images by Kathleen Béres Rogers, College of Charleston In a recent speech, Donald Trump used the language of intelligence, or intellectual impairment, as a weapon against Kamala Harris. And he used similar language about vice presidential candidate Tim Walz in a TV appearance. In a rally on Sept. 29, 2024, in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, Trump told supporters that “Joe Biden became mentally impaired. Kamala was born that way. She was born that way. And if you think about it, only a mentally disabled person could have allowed this to happen to our country.” He made similar comments at a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, over the same weekend. Disability rights advocates were quick to point out that Trump’s language is what is called “ableist,” meaning that it assumes people with disabilities are somehow less valuable than those without. In an attempt to fire back, “Saturday Night Live” Weekend Update host Colin Jost quipped that “I cannot believe Trump admitted he lost the debate to a mentally disabled person,” repeating the same ableist premise. And on a...