So, can we now question Sen. John Fetterman's health
(D-PA)? An NBC News reporter tried to raise a warning when she felt the
then-Democratic candidate struggled with small talk. This remark was
considered an “ableist” smear—it wasn’t. Fetterman nearly died in 2022
during the primary season, suffering a severe stroke that brought
evident impairments concerning mental cognition. And yet, he won the
race, beating Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz. It didn’t take long for him to
be hospitalized after feeling light-headed during his party’s retreat in
Washington.
It wasn’t another stroke, but there are now serious concerns about
whether the Pennsylvania Democrat can serve as a U.S. Senator. The
latest development not just brings us news that the man might have
permanent brain damage, but the basic responsibilities of serving
constituents might be too taxing on Fetterman. To start, he reportedly
hears voices of others like the adults in the ‘Peanuts’ cartoons (via NYT):
Mr.
Fetterman, 53, the 6-foot-8, tattooed and goateed Democrat from
Pennsylvania who suffered a near-fatal stroke last May and went on to
win one of the most competitive seats in November’s midterm elections,
was never going to blend in seamlessly in the marbled corridors of
Congress.
But his adjustment to serving in the Senate has been
made vastly more difficult by the strains of his recovery, which left
him with a physical impairment and serious mental health challenges that
have rendered the transition extraordinarily challenging — even with
the accommodations that have been made to help him adapt.
[…]
Mr.
Fetterman declined to be interviewed for this story. But aides and
confidantes describe his introduction to the Senate as a difficult
period, filled with unfamiliar duties that are taxing for someone still
in recovery: meetings with constituents, attending caucus and committee
meetings, appearing in public at White House events and at the State of
the Union address, as well as making appearances in Pennsylvania.
The
most evident disability is a neurological condition that impairs his
hearing. Mr. Fetterman suffers from auditory processing issues, forcing
him to rely primarily on a tablet to transcribe what is being said to
him. The hearing issues are inconsistent; they often get worse when he
is in a stressful or unfamiliar situation. When it’s bad, Mr. Fetterman
has described it as trying to make out the muffled voice of the teacher
in the “Peanuts” cartoon, whose words could never be deciphered.
The
stroke — after which he had a pacemaker and defibrillator implanted —
also took a less apparent but very real psychological toll on Mr.
Fetterman. It has been less than a year since the stroke transformed him
from someone with a large stature that suggested machismo — a central
part of his political identity — into a physically altered version of
himself, and he is frustrated at times that he is not yet back to the
man he once was. He has had to come to terms with the fact that he may
have set himself back permanently by not taking the recommended amount
of rest during the campaign. And he continues to push himself in ways
that people close to him worry are detrimental.
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Yet, initial reports were that this recent hospital stint
didn’t set back Mr. Fetterman cognitively. That was obviously fake news
because hearing voices like those unseen adult characters from the
Peanuts isn’t a good sign, nor is it encouraging that public appearances
are herculean tasks. The voters of the Keystone State put this guy in
there, but we all saw who would fill his shoes if he fell short: his
wife.
Does anyone think Fetterman can serve a full six-year
term with these handicaps? No—and that’s not ableist to say; that’s a
fact.
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