If that photo doesn’t terrify you then you don’t understand what’s going on
This photo is more threatening than the ones where they were being pulled out of their chairs and zip tied
[Tweet from ADAPT reads, “he had them sent to jail without their wheelchairs clearly senator portman doesn’t care!”
Image is a police officer pulling an empty motorized wheelchair (mobility scooter?) down the street. Another officer and empty chair are in the background.]
Imagine if they’d kept an able-bodied prisoner in a jail cell but kept their legs (and possibly their hands) bound, so they couldn’t stand up, move around in the jail cell, get out of bed or off the floor.
That would be considered inhumane, and torture, right? If that news got out, humanitarian organizations like Amnesty International would be up in arms. You know they would.
That’s what it means when you take away a person’s wheelchair. That’s why it’s terrifying. But because it’s happening to disabled people, no one except the victims is noticing.
Also note: Power mobility aids like those in the photo can cost as much as a brand-new automobile. And if they get damaged because the authorities don’t know what the hell they’re doing (or they do know, and are motivated by spite or malice), then the person will be just as helpless after they get out of jail.
And Medicare will not replace a damaged or broken wheelchair unless it’s at least five years old.
Now imagine being helpless in a jail cell, unable to move, and having that worry in the back of your mind.
And
no one except the victims is noticing.
