"She didn’t treat me like a nuisance like the Bernie campaign did but rather an asset."

[Content Note: Disablism.]

This is an extraordinary piece by a former fervent Bernie Sanders supporter, whose attempts to reach out to his campaign on disability rights and policy were met with indifference and condescension, and whose experience with the Team Hillary were very different.

The feeling of devastating disappointment and betrayal sank in. The thought of considering Clinton felt hypocritical of me. I told myself, "How can I support someone who probably cares more about Wall Street than me?" But I certainly couldn't consider Donald Trump, who mocks disabled people and assumes we're stupid enough to think that's not what he was doing. So, begrudgingly, I told a Hillary supporter with a disability that I was now considering supporting Hillary. He immediately introduced me via email to a blind Clinton staffer. Within literally minutes, she emailed me at 9 p.m. saying she would like to speak to me about the campaign. I was so encouraged by how quickly they responded, after the months I was ignored by Bernie.

She didn't treat me like a nuisance like the Bernie campaign did but rather an asset. She wanted to know my legal and advocacy opinion on disability policy. She explained in detail how Hillary planned to initiate change for us with sophisticated, legal political strategy. And, then she asked me to come on board and help the campaign best meet the needs of the disability community through, inter alia, writing for the campaign after they were able to officially vet my credentials. I soon realized that the Clinton campaign didn't just care about the disability community; they hired us and treated us like the intelligent people we are.

My conversation with the Clinton campaign regained my hopefulness but also made me incensed that Bernie is maliciously lying to democrats about Clinton's uncaring regard for the 99%, while destroying the party from within. Bernie is adamant that Hillary only cares about corporate interests and not the typical marginalized American. But, in fact, the opposite is true.

...Coming to terms with these realizations was very difficult for me. I literally grieved and cried when I discovered that I had been so maliciously misled by someone I believed to possess such a high moral compass.

I feel so badly, and such great sympathy, that she was so terribly disillusioned by a candidate in whom she believed, and also I'm really glad, for her and for us all, that Hillary Clinton's team was so responsive, took her concerns seriously, and recognized she had something important to contribute.

Over the past few days, I've read a number of pieces written by people who were once enthusiastic Sanders supporters, and who are now expressing disappointment with him, for various reasons. Many of these people feel betrayed.

It quite genuinely makes me sad. And very angry at Sanders.

I hope many of them will share the experience of the author of this piece, and discover that Clinton is not the monster they were led to believe, but is a candidate about whom they can be excited, once they get to know more about her.

[H/T to Aphra_Behn.]