Officials from Paralyzed Veterans of America strongly criticized President Donald Trump for his comments this week suggesting disabled workers may have played a role in Wednesday’s aircraft collision in Washington, D.C., calling the commander-in-chief’s remarks irresponsible and premature.
“The president’s statements are shameful,” PVA Chief Executive Officer Carl Blake said in a statement Thursday. “As an Army veteran who spent many nighttime hours in a Blackhawk and who incurred a combat- spinal cord injury in service to this country, I can speak with authority when I say that veterans and all people with disabilities are dedicated, highly skilled and fully qualified to tackle the most difficult jobs possible.
“The fact that disabled veterans are now being shamed and minimized by this administration is disrespectful to their service and contributions to America’s greatness.”
A midair collision between an Army helicopter and a passenger jet near Ronald Reagan National Airport killed 67 people aboard two aircraft on Wednesday. Federal investigators are still trying to determine the reason for the tragedy and whether pilots or air traffic controllers were at fault.
On Thursday, during a press conference on the tragedy, Trump stated that he believed diversity and inclusion programs within the federal government may have played a role in the accident, despite presenting no evidence to that claim.
“Where you have many, many planes coming into one target, you need a very special talent and a very special genius to be able to do it,” he said. “Targeted disabilities … they include hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism. They all qualify for the position of a controller of airplanes. I don’t think so. I don’t think so. I think it’s just the opposite.”
The comments drew immediate condemnation from Democrats on Capitol Hill, who said they were insensitive and misleading.
“It’s one thing for internet pundits to spew off conspiracies, it’s another for the president of the United States to throw out idle speculation as bodies are still being recovered and families are still being notified,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on Thursday. “It just turns your stomach.”
PVA officials took exception to “the implication that veterans with catastrophic disabilities, like amputations and spinal cord injury, are not smart enough, not skilled enough and generally unqualified for these types of positions.”
More than 636,000 veterans worked as federal employees in fiscal 2021, the latest year for which federal hiring data is available. That’s about 30% of the total workforce.
Of that group, 53% of the veterans had some level of disability rating, and about one-third had a disability rating of 30% or greater. Veterans made up about 36% of all jobs within the Department of Transportation, which houses the Federal Aviation Administration.
Officials from the military and National Transportation Safety Board have not said when they expect to have a clear idea for the reasons behind the collision.
Leo covers Congress, Veterans Affairs and the White House for Military Times. He has covered Washington, D.C. since 2004, focusing on military personnel and veterans policies. His work has earned numerous honors, including a 2009 Polk award, a 2010 National Headliner Award, the IAVA Leadership in Journalism award and the VFW News Media award.
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