Part of our culture’s ongoing stigmatization of disability stems from our profound lack of understanding about the variability—and spectrum—of physical and mental challenges. Day after day, we stigmatize disabled Americans, but we also jeer at our fellow citizens who even present as disabled in some minor way. Liberals once ruthlessly mocked the halting manner in which Donald Trump descended a ramp. Because Trump did not walk normally, in their view, something was of course wrong with him—further evidence he was unfit to be president. Conservatives, for their part, continue to attack Joe Biden because he manages a stutter and does not speak “normally.” Fetterman, who has dealt with auditory-processing issues and has exhibited muddled speech since his stroke, is likewise the subject of troubled stares, jokes, and questions about his fitness to serve in the U.S. Senate.

Imagine what mental gymnastics this mongoloid had to endure to actually push this.