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Man with dwarfism from Massachusetts outraged over President Trump blaming D.C. plane crash on DEI

Man with dwarfism calls President Trump's comments on DEI wrong and not based on fact
Man with dwarfism calls President Trump's comments on DEI wrong and not based on fact 02:23

SOUTH HAMILTON - A Massachusetts man with dwarfism is criticizing President Donald Trump after the president placed the blame on a deadly plane crash near Washington, D.C. on the FAA's DEI hiring initiative.

People with disabilities offended

"I'm outraged and I'm also worried about other people with other disabilities," said John Young, a math teacher in South Hamilton who's also an accomplished athlete.

Mr. Trump listed a number of disabilities during Thursday's press conference, including Young's.

"They include hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism, all qualify for the position of a controller of airplanes," said the president.

Young said the president's comments about DEI enabling hires that may have played a role in the deadly mid-air collision without a full investigation in egregious.

"He named dwarfism. And he said that, basically, because somebody has dwarfism they shouldn't be an air traffic controller and I think that's absolutely ridiculous," said Young. "It was extremely hurtful because unfortunately, dwarfism specifically is still a disability that a lot of society thinks is one to be made fun of. So the fact that the president will come out and say something like that, there are certain people that support him that will probably agree with him. And I think the fact that none of it is based on fact, it was only based on opinion."

"It is deeply offensive and dangerous"

Speaking at a neighborhood health community center on Friday, Rep. Ayanna Pressley also blasted the president's comments.

"Which is to blame diversity, equity and inclusion, it is deeply offensive and it is dangerous," said Pressley. "Diversity, equity and inclusion is the law, discrimination is illegal."

WBZ-TV reached out to the Massachusetts Republican Party for comment and they said they have no comment at this time.

"The families of the victims deserve an apology because it took away from what is a really hard time for them, grieving, and basically turned it into a political issue," said Young.

The cause of the plane crash remains under investigation.

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