Officers from Paralyzed Veterans of America strongly criticized President Donald Trump for his feedback this week suggesting disabled staff might have performed a task in Wednesday’s plane collision in Washington, D.C., calling the commander-in-chief’s remarks irresponsible and untimely.
“The president’s statements are shameful,” PVA Chief Government Officer Carl Blake mentioned in an announcement Thursday. “As an Military veteran who spent many nighttime hours in a Blackhawk and who incurred a combat-related spinal wire damage in service to this nation, I can converse with authority after I say that veterans and all folks with disabilities are devoted, extremely expert and totally certified to deal with essentially the most tough jobs doable.
“The truth that disabled veterans are actually being shamed and minimized by this administration is disrespectful to their service and contributions to America’s greatness.”
A midair collision between an Military helicopter and a passenger jet close to Ronald Reagan Nationwide Airport killed 67 folks aboard two plane on Wednesday. Federal investigators are nonetheless making an attempt to find out the rationale for the tragedy and whether or not pilots or air site visitors controllers had been at fault.
On Thursday, throughout a press convention on the tragedy, Trump acknowledged that he believed variety and inclusion packages inside the federal authorities might have performed a task within the accident, regardless of presenting no proof to that declare.
“The place you’ve gotten many, many planes coming into one goal, you want a really particular expertise and a really particular genius to have the ability to do it,” he mentioned. “Focused disabilities … they embody listening to, imaginative and prescient, lacking extremities, partial paralysis, full paralysis, epilepsy, extreme mental incapacity, psychiatric incapacity and dwarfism. All of them qualify for the place of a controller of airplanes. I don’t assume so. I don’t assume so. I believe it’s simply the other.”
The feedback drew quick condemnation from Democrats on Capitol Hill, who mentioned they had been insensitive and deceptive.
“It’s one factor for web pundits to spew off conspiracies, it’s one other for the president of the USA to throw out idle hypothesis as our bodies are nonetheless being recovered and households are nonetheless being notified,” Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., mentioned on Thursday. “It simply turns your abdomen.”
PVA officers took exception to “the implication that veterans with catastrophic disabilities, like amputations and spinal wire damage, usually are not sensible sufficient, not expert sufficient and usually unqualified for these kind of positions.”
Greater than 636,000 veterans labored as federal staff in fiscal 2021, the most recent yr for which federal hiring information is on the market. That’s about 30% of the overall workforce.
Of that group, 53% of the veterans had some degree of incapacity ranking, and about one-third had a incapacity ranking of 30% or better. Veterans made up about 36% of all jobs inside the Division of Transportation, which homes the Federal Aviation Administration.
Officers from the navy and Nationwide Transportation Security Board haven’t mentioned once they count on to have a transparent concept for the explanations behind the collision.
Leo covers Congress, Veterans Affairs and the White Home for Navy Occasions. He has lined Washington, D.C. since 2004, specializing in navy personnel and veterans insurance policies. His work has earned quite a few honors, together with a 2009 Polk award, a 2010 Nationwide Headliner Award, the IAVA Management in Journalism award and the VFW Information Media award.
