Name: Cate Boddington
Comment: I am a 62 year old woman, a liberal Democrat who voted for HRC, with SLE Lupus, Mollarets Meningitis and prednisone induced severe spinal osteoporosis and scoliosis. I am in severe chronic pain and can walk only about one hundred yards . I am very sad that I can’t march with my friends in DC at the Women’s March. I made signs for them to carry and plan to watch on the internet.

Name: Jessica Scott
Why I Am Joining The March : I suffer from multiple disabilities, some visible and some invisible. I am only 35 years old and my mobility is affected. I always use a cane and on occasions where my symptoms are worse I need to use my walker. I am entirely unable to work. I rely on SSDI and government services and agencies to survive. I’m teetering on the edge right now. Even with SSDI and Food Stamps my current “income” is over $5,000 below the poverty level. If Trump cuts any of my services or supports it could very easily result in me becoming homeless and/or suffering major ill effects to my health. The very disabilities that prevent me from physically participating in the march are the same ones that give me reason to march. Thank you for this opportunity to speak up for myself and the thousands of others in my position.

Nancy:
Why I Am Joining The March : Bad knees – I live in DC but I can’t stand for long or walk far. Getting to the march is out of the question, let alone marching, sadly. Before knees went bad I marched in pretty much every important protest since 1980. There’s nothing like the feeling of being among people working for the same thing.

Debbie Grossman:
Why I Am Joining The March : I turned 65 this year and have been on Social Security Disability (SSD) since 2013. My health insurance is through Medicare and I’m concerned about the GOPs plans for Social Security/Medicare /Medicaid & ACA. I recently learned about a provision in the ACA that helps Medicare recipients regarding prescription drug costs.
Aside from how Trump’s presidency might affect me personally, I’m fearful of what is happening and will happen to so many people who are vulnerable to the Trump/GOP agenda.

Name: Carrie Smigla-Didier
Why I Am Joining The March : I’m joining the March because I stand against injustice wherever I see it and I have definitely been seeing injustice during and after the presidential election. When the president stated that he could “shoot someone in the middle of the road and people would still love him and still vote for him, I was shocked at the honesty of this remark. When he made fun of the reporter with special needs ,I couldn’t sit by. When Trump confessed, ìn his own words, to rape and sexual assault,I knew I would not quietly stand by! As Trump stole the election by using every underhanded deal-making, bribery,and treason-soaked contact to Russia, I knew I could stay silent no longer. I will not stand quietly by while the rich rob from the poor while blaming the poor for being victims of the theft.

Susan Purvis:
Why I Am Joining The March : Because the new President is a hate mongering racist who cannot tell the truth. He is a disgrace.

Denise Payne: Why I Am Joining The March : Im an advocate for people with Disabilities. I was born with cerebral palsy. Ive investigated hotels and businesses that are not compliant with the ADA. Under the trump administration we are all on edge as to what will happen with our housing and medical care funding.

Kara Wexler: Why I Am Joining The March : I am joining the March because I believe that We The People includes all of us. I also believe that giving up hope is not an option – we must fight for our future.

Pam Tooley: Why I Am Joining The March : I have a special needs child and I worry about his future and the special needs children of many friends.

Carla Bolte: I had a kidney transplant as a result of a genetic condition. Side effects from the antirejection medications have rendered me physically unable to join the march.
I believe that the new president is unworthy and unfit to serve this nation.
I believe his cabinet nominees indicate the policies he may follow.
These policies threaten so many Americans, and indeed, the world.
We need civil rights for all. We need clean water and air for all. We need health care for all. We need food and housing for all. We need good public education for our children. We need intelligent and nuanced foreign policy.
And we need full women’s reproductive rights, protection from violence and sexual abuse, and equality in all spheres of life.
Women’s rights are human rights. All our rights are threatened by this new president. I protest against all he represents, and I join with the marchers demanding that we continue our advances toward full and robust human rights for all our citizens.

Sue Raymond: Why I Am Joining The March : Unable to participate in person.

Haley Greer Dellinger: Why I Am Joining The March : I’m joining the march because I do not want to enter the era of Trump’s presidency in fear. To get rid of dear, we must band together and support each other, and this is the only way I can.

Belinda Beller: Why I Am Joining The March : So many reasons. There are so many people who are going to lose during this presidency and I do not want to see that happen. Between people losing healthcare; children losing a chance at a decent education; and the industry power play through corporations, Wall Street, insurance companies, agri-chem companies; as well as the huge chance that we will be forced into another war of some sort; and the lack of support for women, the LGBQTA community in this administration and within Congress.
In the end, I am Marching for myself and the next generation. They don’t deserve to have to pay for the mistakes of our generation.

Alicen Keeffe: Why I Am Joining The March : No-one in this world should be treated as inferior to other people. Everyone should be equal regardless of disability, gender, sexuality race or religion.

Kayleigh:
Why I Am Joining The March : My physical limitations keep me from marching with you, but not my ideals, not the hopes I have left for this country, this planet.

Joan Enoch: Why I Am Joining The March : I am 76 and cannot walk easily. I hope to at least try in Prescott, Az. We are going to get a lot of snow, I’m told. If so, I must stay home. I’m a psychiatrist. I believe that narcissistic sociopaths shouldn’t be allowed near women, people of color, immigrants, LGBT folks, the Oval Office, or Nuclear Codes. I’m bereft for my country. I can’t sleep. If I had a banner, it would say ” Persevere and May We Prevail.”

Warren Woodge: Why I Am Joining The March : We can’t allow this imbecile to try to “act” like a President! We needed a REAL PRESIDENT, like Bernie Sanders. And I’m not totally ‘qualified’ to participate in this march, because I don’t have a vagina. I’m a man. But I’m NOT going to let THAT ‘DISABILITY’ stop me!

Norma Ritter: Why I Am Joining The March : I wish I could join one of the local marches but I can only walk, painfully, a short way at a time, due to arthritis. I am concerned that everything that was gained in terms of health care will be lost under the new administration. I am concerned that the people who are being appointed have no interest in protecting us, but will look upon this as an opportunity to advance their own agendas. I just heard Martin Luther King’s words, at the Inauguration, subverted to support programmes he would have decried. I am running out of words to express my grief and my anger.

Laura Gallegos:
Why I Am Joining The March : Diversity, disability, inclusion supporter

Name: Sophia-Louisa Michalatos
Comment: I was born with a disability at a time when the Americans with Disabilities Act
was decades away. There were few rights and fewer opportunities for people with physical and intellectual disabilities.
We must always remember the value of each human being. Every person has a place in our country and society. This makes America the special
country we know it is. Still great. always great!
I symbolically march to support those who feel powerless because they have a harder road to travel and feel invisible as you go forward.
Keep on keeping on!