By Karina Morales-Pineda
In this blog post, I am reacting to a viral moment and the reactions following congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, calling Governor Greg Abbott “Governor Hot Wheels,” and the contradictions of Abott holding both anti-DEI and anti-LGBTQ policies. My thoughts are in conversation with the introduction to Crip Theory: Cultural Signs of Queerness and Disability by Robert McRuer. Representative Crockett received much backlash and controversy following her comment.
However, this viral moment highlighted how this comment caused more outrage among some voters than the contradictory policies of Governor Abbott.
Tweets reacting to Greg Abbott, a disabled governor, dismantling DEI efforts, while accessibility and combating discrimination due to ableism is part of DEI. Governor Abbott is allowing and facilitating discrimination against queer and trans bodies by dictating what is conforming and what is non-conforming. Compulsory able-bodiedness, also allows able-bodiedness to the standard/default/conforming and valued bodies in a capitalist society.
Disabilities and death from COVID, and Greg Abbott’s dismissal of mask and vaccine mandates, is another example of compulsory able-bodiedness. Curfews and adjustments to the pandemic economically impacted Texas, yet there was no hesitation to return to the demands of capitalism at the expense of fatalities and disabled bodies. McRuer connects the demands of capitalism and globalism to how disabled bodies are valued, taken advantage of, and created.
One reply on ““Governor Hot Wheels”, Ableism, and Anti-DEI”
This post is well written. I like how you connected Abbott’s policies to McRuer’s idea of compulsory able-bodiedness, the idea that able-bodiedness is the norm that one should strive towards. I agree that it seems paradoxical that Abbott is revoking the DEI policies that he has benefitted from. I wonder if he will feel the effects of these policies being removed, or if he is too detached from the experiences of working/middle class disabled people given his whiteness, wealth and power. If the wealthy, conservative senators and congressmen supporting such exclusionary policies felt the effects on their lives, would they change their minds?