I am a millennial with a disability voting for the first time on November 8. The election is only a month away and there is still the feeling of being unsure, even as I write this. The feeling of being unsure comes from the behaviors of the presidential candidates. Donald Trump is a Republican and he wants to “make America great again,” but there is a part of him that makes him appear egomaniac. Hillary Clinton is a Democrat who has been vying for the presidential nomination since 2008, but there are issues surrounding her considering her actions in the past. Even if I am registered to a specific party, there is the feeling of being unsure because of not knowing how to trust someone.
Being a person with a disability, and continuously attempting to learn every day, I still struggle with placing my own feelings before voting at the ballot on Election day. I was of age for the election in 2012, but hurricane Sandy had just happened and I did not know too much to go out to vote. This time around, I will be voting and it has been a very confusing year with many attempts for me to vote for Donald Trump. I do not like Donald Trump at all, and it is not just because he mocked a disabled journalist; it is more because of the way he reacts. When the presidential candidate should have been making concrete plans during the election, it seems like Trump does not focus on that but throwing out random thoughts and making misogynic comments towards women.
Hillary Clinton is the opposite of Donald Trump. As the majority of the people I know are Republicans, there are a lot of criticism against Hillary because of what she has done in the past and what she has been doing. There can definitely be a lot of suspicion on Hillary’s part, but she has plans for what to do in the next four years. While I do not really agree with the stance about making college free (I know, it’s crazy expensive), there is some favor in Hillary regarding plans for the disability community. Ever since the campaign for the election began, a lot of concern surrounded Clinton because of the emails from years ago and there were questions about whether she could be trusted. Recently, there was an issue that came up regarding Clinton having pneumonia and illnesses, and as a person with a disability, I am shocked at how there are judgments against someone because they are feeling sick/they have reactions at certain times. If Franklin D. Roosevelt managed to be president while dealing with polio, then there should not be any issue in having a president dealing with an illness.
There are issues with both candidates, but there are also bigger issues with the way Americans are reacting to this election. Eventually, when the election is over and someone is sworn in as president, we won’t forget how disastrous the election was. We are also going to have to learn how to manage with how America is going to be with whoever our next president will be. We are also going to have to move on to focus on our issues instead of the president's issues because we know what we are dealing with on a daily basis. We have to continue living our life instead of worrying about our president’s life, no matter what the news or media shows us.