Words can cause great harm. The case of Springfield, Ohio.

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Words, especially in the mouth of leaders and influential people, can cause great harm. People who cause great harm should be held accountable, and those who do not speak out to debunk lies and harmful language are also complicit in the harm.

Over this past week, Springfield, Ohio has been in the news, and not in a good way. Just one person starting a rumor and then supposed leaders latching onto a false narrative specifically to demonize a group of fellow human beings caused irreparable harm to a community.

How did this sad story unfold? It started by one person posting on social media that “illegal immigrants from Haiti were eating people’s pets” in Springfield, Ohio. Springfield is a city of about 60,000 people near Dayton, Ohio with around 20,000 Haitian immigrants settled legally settled through an amnesty program.

No Donald Trump, immigrants in Springfield, Ohio are not eating pets.

Presidential candidate Donald Trump and vice-presidential candidate JD Vance then propagated this unsubstantiated rumor as fact, and Trump even spoke about this during the September 10th presidential debate with Kamala Harris. He stated, “”In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in (illegal Haitian immigrants),” Trump said. “They’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people that live there. This is what’s happening in our country, and it’s a shame.”

So what was the result of Trump’s words?
• Two days in a row, city offices and schools were closed due to bomb threats
• Haitians in Springfield are facing physical threats and hateful rhetoric
• A small city is trust into national news causing disruption to daily life.

All Springfield public officials have spoken out and clarified that these pet eating allegations are false. Two of the people who took photos and started the rumor are now seeing the huge negative ramifications of their actions and expressing remorse. And yes, several years ago a woman was arrested for cooking a cat, but she was an American and it was in a different Ohio city.

Do read the newspaper story from the Columbus Dispatch as well as listen to this video that includes the words of Springfield mayor Jeffrey Mims.

My concluding key messages:
• Inflammatory words and falsehoods can cause great harm, especially when amplified by people in leadership or powerful positions.
• It is the responsibility of everyone to debunk hateful and untrue language, and do what we can to mitigate the harm and support those in the crossfire.
• Standing by and doing nothing makes us complicit in the hate and partially responsible for the damage it causes.
• And even worse, supporting those who spout hateful and untrue lies by voting for them or excusing their actions is directly contributing to the negative impacts.

Let us all unite and commit to never supporting those who harm others with their words, and that includes at the ballot box.

Yikes! I am now a person with a disability requesting an accommodation

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Diversity is intersectional; each one of us is a unique combination of all the attributes that form our diverse selves. Some of our attributes give us privilege and power in our society since it is an attribute that is part of the majority population and/or highly desired, and some of our attributes may marginalize us. For example, being an able-bodied white male born in this country provides me some form of privilege. Being an out gay man does provide a degree of marginalization since LGBTQ+ people are still often looked down upon and even demonized by segments of our population. Being a senior citizen (I turn 70 next year) is a mixed bag – in some places age is respected and valued, and in others discounted.

I have always been in great health, fully mobile and able-bodied with no disabilities. This makes is far easier to navigate daily life. I did live for seven weeks with a fractured hip and crutches, so that was a very short-term disability. I got a handicap parking placard and received great assistance when traveling through airports.

Being able-bodied and never needing to “swallow my pride” and request an accommodation has been a source of pride in a sense. But now something has changed and I needed to ask for an accommodation, and now I realize like many others, anyone can have a disability and it is fine to ask for an accommodation.

Here is my story.

I am a competitive adult figure skater, and one of the categories I complete in is called “emotional showcase.” The idea is to skate a program that evokes a wide range of emotions. A new rule is that you should display emotion through body movement and facial expression without lip syncing. At the 2024 US Adult Nationals, I was given the huge penalty of being awarded with the lowest possible score for my program for lip syncing. Because of bad allergies and sinus issues, I do need to open and close my mouth to breath which could look like lip syncing, but admittedly, I did mouth 3 words (“you and me”) within the program.

I actually won my first US Adult Nationals gold medal in 2022 for my emotional program before the new lip synching rule was effect. Link to my gold medal program.

After this virtual disqualification, I practiced my emotional program without mouthing a single word. But it my next competition, I was penalized again! One judge explained that I was opening and closing my mouth (to breathe) but it looked like I may have been lip syncing, so they penalized me. She was a very helpful judge, so I asked her what I could do. I even suggested wearing a mask, but she said judges want to see my full facial expression. She then told me about the US Figure Skating Adaptive Skating Committee and that I may be able to apply for an accommodation through them under the mandates of federal disability legislation.

I submitted my accommodation request along with documentation from my allergist. And now I have received the accommodation that I can share with competition referees, that when they see me opening and closing my mouth to breath during an emotional showcase program, that they will not assume I am lip synching and penalize me.

Two learning points for all of us:

1. We should not be ashamed or hesitate to ask for an accommodation when warranted.

2. We should not look down on others for needing an accommodation, nor assume they are 100% healthy and able-bodied when they may have an invisible disability.