“The strength that we each have is to lift one another up, not to push people down.” Vice President Kamala Harris spoke these words to a young man with Down syndrome when she visited him and his coworkers at a facility in New Hampshire. He mentioned that her opponent had made remarks that insulted people with disabilities. She didn’t respond with an accusation. She just looked this young man in the eye and said,
“The strength that we each have is to lift one another up, not to push people down.”
If there’s anything I’ve learned from being around kids and adults with disabilities, and typical kids and adults too, it’s that focusing on our strengths and on how we can lift one another up is the lifegiving, meaning-making work of creating communities of belonging and hope.
I’m grateful that Harris chose to visit this workplace and highlight a small business offering meaningful employment to people with disabilities. They are helping to shape our imagination about what’s possible.
We all can be people who seek to lift others up.
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MORE WITH AMY JULIA:
- Workshop: Reimagining Family Life with Disability
- FREE RESOURCE: 10 Way to Move Toward a Good Future (especially for families affected by disability)
- The Problem with Calling Kamala Harris “Mentally Disabled”
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