This presentation explores the concerns of the disability community regarding Project 2025, a 900-page authoritarian playbook for a far-right presidential administration, as expressed through Reddit comments. Using social media analysis and qualitative content analysis, I identify key themes in discussions among users engaging in two subreddits, r/disability and r/disabled. The findings highlight concerns about policy implications, particularly regarding threats to healthcare access, social safety net programs, and housing, and questions about President Trump’s connection to the Project 2025 agenda. By examining online discourse, this study sheds light on the primary concerns and questions members of the disability community have about Project 2025. While Project 2025’s proponents argue that the plan will create a more efficient and limited government, its potential impact on marginalized groups, including the disability community, raises significant concerns. Disabled people in the United States rely on robust government programs and civil rights protections to ensure their health, economic security, and equal participation in society. As the disability community continues to grow due to an aging population, Long COVID, and other factors, it is critical that we understand how Project 2025’s policies would specifically affect the disability community, who comprise at least 28.7 percent of the U.S. population. I read, coded, and analyzed 1,118 comments to understand what conversations
the disability community was having on Reddit about Project 2025 in the lead up to and immediate aftermath of the 2024 presidential election. I approached the Reddit data asking: what are the disability community’s thoughts, concerns, and questions about Project 2025 policies? Which policies are mentioned most often?

My 18 codes are listed below.
Trump/Vance connection or not
Health
Education
Employment
Social safety net
Immigration
Housing
Economy
Courts
Veterans
Energy/climate change
Transportation
Voting rights
Civil rights
LGBTQIA+ rights
Consumer protections
ADA
Trade

The top three policy areas of concern were health, social safety net programs, and housing. The topic mentioned most often (approximately 12% of all comments) was whether Trump or Vance were connected to Project 2025, and whether they will carry out Project 2025’s policy agenda (N=134). The Reddit threads revealed various discussion topics, beyond the policy areas I identified. They include mobilization to vote, resource sharing, momentum to leave the United States, Trump’s connection to fascism, and the fear disabled people are facing as Project 2025 targets them. In this preliminary analysis, I focused on broad trends such as frequency of comments about policy areas, conclusions about Trump’s connection to Project 2025, and resources shared in the comments. In further studies I plan to analyze correlations between categories to understand if, for example, a commenter mentioning health makes them more likely to also mention education. A companion research piece will study the disability community’s comments in the early days of the Trump administration. A TIME analysis found that nearly two-thirds of the executive actions Trump issued in his first week mirror or partially mirror Project 2025 proposals.