CW: Transphobia & Ableism
I know what it is like to realize that the world has noticed your disability before it has noticed you. Josh Turek talked about the bullying he faced growing up in a wheelchair. He said something that should be simple: “No Iowan should face discrimination.” That is why I paused. Disabled people know the difference between being told we belong and discovering all the exceptions to that promise.
I wanted his words to linger longer than they did. Instead, Turek shifted from his own experience of exclusion to discussing transgender Iowans, citing his Paralympian background while opposing transgender women in women’s sports and taxpayer-funded gender-affirming care. Ever since, I have found myself returning to that word “no.” Because if “no Iowan should face discrimination” is meaningful transgender Iowans cannot be excluded.
That is what bothers me most. “No discrimination” cannot come with an asterisk. Once we begin deciding which people qualify for protection and which people can be treated as exceptions, we are discriminating against people.
The healthcare piece makes that contradiction even harder for me to ignore. As a disabled person, there is something deeply uncomfortable about how easily another person’s healthcare can be transformed into a political debate. So much of disabled life already exists inside systems where someone else has the power to determine whether our needs are reasonable, and whether our care is necessary.
That does not mean being disabled and being transgender are the same. They are not. However, they do not need to be for solidarity to matter.
One detail from the story has stayed with me. Turek previously opposed legislation restricting transgender students’ restroom use. His campaign cited concerns about what such restrictions could mean for disabled people who enter restrooms with caregivers of another gender. There is something painfully familiar there. A rule can sound simple until a disabled person’s life does not fit neatly into the box lawmakers imagined.
Perhaps that is one of the things disability has taught me most deeply: the world forgets to imagine people. We often find ourselves in the space between the person a policy was written for and the person who actually shows up. I would hope that experience makes us wonder who else has been forgotten rather than feel relieved when, this time, the exclusion belongs to somebody else.
That is why I keep returning to Turek’s words. No Iowan should face discrimination. I believe that. The child being bullied because he uses a wheelchair belongs inside that promise. The disabled adult entering a restroom with a caregiver belongs inside it. Transgender Iowans belong inside it, too.
Disabled people have spent too much of our history discovering the fine print in other people’s promises of equality. I do not want us writing the fine print for someone else.
Sources:
Gruber-Miller, Stephen. “Meet Josh Turek, the Paralympian Who Just Became Iowa’s Next Senator.” Des Moines Register, 3 Nov. 2026, www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/elections/2026/11/03/who-is-ashley-hinson-josh-turek-iowa-senate-race-midterm-election-results-2026/92444415007/.
Métraux, Julia. “Josh Turek Flips Iowa Senate Seat.” Mother Jones, 4 Nov. 2026, www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/11/josh-turek-hinson-iowa-senate-election-congress-democrats-flip/.
Opsahl, Robin. “Josh Turek Ad on Transgender Issues Draws Bipartisan Criticism.” Iowa Capital Dispatch, 26 Oct. 2026, iowacapitaldispatch.com/2026/10/26/josh-turek-ad-on-transgender-issues-draws-bipartisan-criticism/.
Opsahl, Robin. “Lines of Attack Solidify against Iowa Candidates for the General Election.” Iowa Capital Dispatch, 5 June 2026, iowacapitaldispatch.com/2026/06/05/lines-of-attack-solidify-against-iowa-candidates-for-the-general-election/.
Warren, Isabella. “Iowa Legislator Criticizes Turek Campaign Ad on Transgender Issues.” KTIV, 26 Oct. 2026, https://www.ktiv.com/2026/10/27/iowa-legislator-criticizes-turek-campaign-ad-transgender-issues/.