President Trump has long insulted disabled people. Since retaking office, his administration has done much more than that, cutting social programs from housing to health care, and significantly weakening the Americans With Disabilities Act, the 1990 law that creates legal protections for millions.
By contributing to the marginalization of disabled Americans, Mr. Trump and his allies have limited the ability of as many as 70 million people to pursue their own version of the American dream. These are Americans who, just like anyone, want opportunities based on merit and fair treatment before the law. The Republican Party once led the way on disability rights, embracing an approach that put personal liberty first. And they can lead on this issue again, by using government intervention to open up opportunity once more.
G.O.P. leadership was never a given; it was the result of listening to disabled Americans. In 1982, the Reagan administration announced plans to terminate two pieces of disability rights legislation. The first, enacted several years earlier, guaranteed children with disabilities the right to attend public school. The second prohibited organizations that received federal funds from discriminating against disabled people.
But the administration changed course. As Vice President George H.W. Bush met with advocates, he came to believe that the protections did not constrain Americans but rather were instrumental in empowering disabled people to live full and happy lives. For Mr. Bush, it represented a change of heart. President Ronald Reagan had deputized him to eliminate a great deal of federal spending, and he’d initially thought disability support would be on the chopping block.
By the next year, Mr. Bush announced that the administration would exempt disability rules from its broader deregulatory efforts. With time, he came to advocate government support for individuals with disabilities. Such support represented, he believed, a fulfillment of the nation’s founding principles of equality for all. Mr. Reagan seemed to agree; he declared 1983 to 1992 the decade of disabled persons, aiming to give them “what all of us want: the opportunity to contribute to our communities, to use our creativity, and to go as far as our God-given talents will take us.”
When Mr. Bush ran for president in 1988, he pledged to do “whatever it takes to make sure the disabled are included in the mainstream.” This demonstrated how an agenda focused on personal liberties needed to allow each American to take advantage of those liberties. The disabled, said Mr. Bush, hadn’t been able to access the country’s prosperity. “But they’re not going to be left out anymore,” he said.
After lengthy negotiations with Congress, Mr. Bush signed the Americans With Disabilities Act in 1990. In signing the law, he embraced what the historian Alvin S. Felzenberg has described as an “extension of liberty.” He expanded freedom and autonomy for millions, enabling them to participate more fully in an aspirational society. The legislation’s protections — blocking discrimination based upon disability in employment and promotion and making public spaces more accessible — fundamentally shifted the experience of disabled Americans. Public spaces and hiring became more equitable, allowing people to pursue opportunities previously closed to them.
Democrats and Republicans have shared in this legacy of helping people from all races and walks of life achieve the promise of America. Now, the Republican Party appears ready to abandon it. In April 2025, the Trump administration withdrew 11 guidelines that helped businesses comply with the A.D.A., including rules that made it easier for disabled people to gain access to parking lots and fitting rooms. Rules that helped make hotels more accessible were also rolled back.
Mr. Trump promised his supporters a return to American greatness. That led many disabled Americans to vote for him. His actions since his inauguration may threaten that support, but he can win it back. Mr. Trump and his allies should look to their own party’s past and extend liberty to the disabled community — something that often requires regulations. Mr. Bush often supported rolling back federal rules and regulations, but he knew government could be a vehicle for creating a place for the disadvantaged within American society.
If Mr. Trump wants all Americans to be included in the new golden age he has promised, he should not only do everything possible to strengthen the A.D.A., he should also follow the advice of the disability advocate Steven James Tingus and call for large corporations to receive tax incentives to hire people with disabilities. Mr. Trump could also re-establish the Digital Equity Act, a law that helped disabled people find and use internet resources. He ended the law’s initiatives last year; that was a step backward.
These and other initiatives would send a signal that the president wants everyone to benefit from his agenda. The Republican Party was once a leader in fighting for the disabled — and it can be again.
Mr. Jurdem is a visiting assistant professor of history at Fairfield University and the author of “41: George H.W. Bush and the End of the American Establishment.”
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