Republicans Can’t Understand Why Kamala Harris Would Self-Describe During a Meeting With Disability Advocates

Kamala Harris met with a number of disability rights leaders Tuesday, on the 32nd anniversary of the signing of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). She began the meeting by listing her name, her pronouns, and a self-description. “I am Kamala Harris. My pronouns are she and her. I am a woman sitting at the table wearing a blue suit,” she told the group gathered.

A video of that moment was posted Tuesday afternoon by the Twitter account for “RNC Research.” They presented it without comment but given that their bio says their mission is “Exposing the lies, hypocrisy, and failed far-left policies of Joe Biden and the Democrat Party,” I think it’s safe to assume they’re not praising the choice.

This isn’t some fringe troll group. The account’s bio also states it’s “managed by the Republican National Committee.” So this is an arm of the official RNC, mocking the Vice President’s decision to make this meeting—which, again, was centered around disability rights issues—as accessible as possible.

A lot of disability rights advocates have been calling for this sort of self-descriptive language for quite some time. The UK-based organization VocalEyes writes: “Giving a description of yourself for the benefit of blind or visually impaired people – when meeting a group of people for the first time; when speaking at a conference or seminar – is good practice, and part of your professional responsibilities.”

That a Republican group would put their ignorance on display so proudly by mocking a very simple statement of barely more than a few words, which could benefit the people Harris is speaking to at that moment and asks nothing at all of anyone else, is extremely telling of what they stand for.

(image: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

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Vivian Kane

Vivian Kane (she/her) is the Senior News Editor at The Mary Sue, where she's been writing about politics and entertainment (and all the ways in which the two overlap) since the dark days of late 2016. Born in San Francisco and radicalized in Los Angeles, she now lives in Kansas City, Missouri, where she gets to put her MFA to use covering the local theatre scene. She is the co-owner of The Pitch, Kansas City’s alt news and culture magazine, alongside her husband, Brock Wilbur, with whom she also shares many cats.

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