Thread by @AdyBarkan

Yesterday, I linked to @CharlesPPierce's piece arguing that @realDonaldTrump is exhibiting serious cognitive decline. I said he has dementia. I invited you to share your stories of loved ones with similar problems, & hundreds of you did, movingly.

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But some of you also pushed back, arguing that it was irresponsible of me to make that armchair diagnosis, because it stigmatizes people with mental illness. It's an important critique, on a crucial question in American politics, so let's talk about it now. #CripTheVote

Last year, disability rights organizers @SFdirewolf @AndrewPulrang & @GreggBeratan created the hashtag #CripTheVote to mobilize disabled voters and talk about disability issues. So we should that hashtag here.

rewire.news/article/2016/1…

Alice, Andrew, Gregg and other activists have been living with, thinking about, and working on these issues for far longer than I have. So I approach this conversation with gratitude for their leadership and perspective & with humility and a willingness to be convinced.

I will lay out my perspective here, and then I am very eager to hear from disability rights advocates, health professionals, ethicists, etc. (I've only been thinking about these particular questions for 24 hours, so please read my thoughts with a bunch of salt.) #CripTheVote

There has been a lot of discussion about the president's mental health this year. Let me try to summarize & orient.

I see a number of questions:
1.What is Trump’s mental health status?
2.Who has the right and/or obligation to ask this question publicly?
3.Is it important? Why?

On one end of the spectrum is @duty2warn, an association of mental health professionals advocating Trump be removed under the 25th Amendment as psychologically unfit. Obviously they believe we should be asking/answering this question, because Trump is a danger to the country.

On the other end are @SFdirewolf @AndrewPulrang & @GreggBeratan. I don't want to mischaracterize their arguments, so I will let them speak for themselves. But, I believe they think that discussing Trump's mental health is some combo of irresponsible, stigmatizing, & unnecessary.

Somewhere near @duty2warn on the spectrum are people like @BandyXLee, who recently published a collection of essays about Trump's mental health.

amazon.com/Dangerous-Case…

Lee argues that she has not violated the American Psychiatric Association's "Goldwater Rule" prohibiting the diagnosis of people without proper examination. It is an "assessment" of the level of danger to the American people, not a "diagnosis" of him.

I find Lee’s distinction a bit precious. I haven’t read the book yet, but the excerpts in the Post suggest to me that, although her book may not have “diagnosed” Trump in the professional sense of the word, it has done so in political/practical terms.

washingtonpost.com/news/book-part…

I think that a good thing. I think @BandyXLee has done a service to the country by moving this conversation forward in a responsible manner.