After September 11, when war was first declared against Afghanistan and the Bush administration warned that anthrax and other chemical warfare was being used against innocent Americans, I began wearing a homemade badge on the back of my wheelchair that said, “The U.S. Military and Its Garbage Made Me Disabled.” I wore it as a way of protesting, a way of resisting the fear-mongering that enabled the United States to invade other countries, a way of saying, “Let’s look at how our own country is poisoning people.” Other people read it differently, telling me things like “I’m sorry to hear that”
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