Wingnut conspiracy alert!!!!!!!!!
Apparently President Obama has secretly declared diabetes a disability!
That seems to be the message from the White House, which is apparently a little desperate to make the case that Barack Obama has proven his historical and diversity mettle in judicial nominations. In a new infographic for the website, the Obama administration now argues that it appointed the first confirmed Supreme Court justice “with a disability” (via Twitchy):
President Obama has only nominated two Supreme Court justices, both of whom were confirmed by the Senate — Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor. The only unusual medical or physical condition known about either of them is Sotomayor’s diabetes, which is presumably the basis for this claim. My wife had Type I diabetes for almost all of her life (until her 2007 pancreas transplant), which eventually caused her blindness and kidney failure. She is classified as disabled because of her blindness, but no one ever suggested that her diabetes was a disability — it’s a medical condition that can be managed and doesn’t physically disable anyone from anything on its own, except perhaps eating sugar.
Apparently Ed missed the ADA Amendments Act of 2008, which was so popular that it passed the Senate with unanimous consent and the House on a voice vote and was signed into law on September 28th, 2008 by then President George W. Bush. In the ADAAA Diabetes was listed as a disability.
Now I’m not going to blast Ed’s experience of living with someone that suffers from diabetes, but I will call him dishonest at least, especially the “it’s a medical condition that can be managed and doesn’t physically disable anyone from anything on its own, except perhaps eating sugar”. Ed should be more forthcoming and explain what else it means, like having to monitor blood glucose levels and taking insulin injections.
So does this mean that people with diabetes can’t work? Absolutely not, but before the ADAAA employers were able to discriminate against people with the disease. That’s why it is now considered a disability, but one people can work through. These individuals needed the law to protect them from the greed/misunderstanding of the corporate world.
I would think someone who has a spouse that has suffered from this disease would welcome that kind of law. As a diabetic myself, I know I do. But we are talking politics, where family and real life experience doesn’t mean jack when it comes to trying to slam the other side. Those are such great values right there!