A 12-year-old with cerebral palsy and his mother were booted from a Donald Trump rally in Florida this weekend, after protesting the presidential candidate’s treatment of people with disabilities.
J.J. Holmes asked his mother, Alison, to accompany him to the Tampa rally and when the pair began chanting Clinton’s name, “the crowd started chanting ‘U-S-A’ and pushing his wheelchair,” according to Alison. Then Trump yelled, “Get them out.”
Witness Kimberly DeFalco also wrote about the incident on Facebook. “Alison said the family was kicked by Trump supporters and had to shield JJ’s wheelchair as Trump supporters gathered to push JJ’s wheelchair out of their space. Alison was called a child abuser and a murderer,” she wrote.
The story has a nice ending though, as DeFalco said the Holmeses were going to Kissimmee, Florida, to see Obama on Sunday, and she asked if anyone could help arrange a meeting with the president. It worked, and Obama took a moment after his speech to meet Holmes.
Yesterday, this young man was kicked out of a Trump rally. As he was leaving, people kicked at his wheelchair. Today, he met his President. pic.twitter.com/VI4g2tKANG
— Steve Schale (@steveschale) November 6, 2016
While Trump’s site has no specifics about his stance on disability benefits and issues, he has said he would repeal the Affordable Care Act and implement a new system that would follow “free market principles.”
