Renee Beauregard Lute

Because Harris knows disability rights are human rights

My son is autistic. He moves his hands around when he’s excited. He moves his hands around when he’s upset. He speaks sometimes, and sometimes he makes sounds that aren’t speaking, but that are absolutely communication.

One of my daughters is autistic, too. She speaks more than anyone I know, and sometimes the world and its frustrations overwhelm her to the point of impossible, red-faced, tightfisted agony.

One of my daughters needs insulin to live. Her type 1 diabetes diagnosis is, I think, the hardest thing our family has come up against.

Years ago, after my toddler son was diagnosed with autism, I spent hours googling “autism diagnosis,” “autistic son,” “autism diagnosis will it be okay,” “parenting books autism,” and “celebrities with autistic children.” The last search is the most embarrassing, but also the most pertinent to this story, because it brought up a GQ interview with Brendan Fraser. I love Brendan Fraser, and I clicked on that article so fast. He talked about his career, he talked about his life, and he talked about his son. He said something that I have carried in my heart every single day since. “He needs extra love in the world, and he gets it.”

“Oh,” I thought. “That’s how we proceed.”

I have kids with disabilities, and they do need extra love in this world. But they also need support. They need support in their public education, and they need medical support. They need lawmakers who work hard toward an insulin cap. They need lawmakers who believe in our public school system. They need lawmakers who work to make this country better for all our children. And those lawmakers are Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.

Renee Beauregard Lute is the author of the children’s books Dinner at the Brake Fast and The Exceptional Maggie Chowder.