Candidate Draws Support and Critics for Talk of Disability – The New York Times

U.S.|Candidate Draws Support and Critics for Talk of Disability

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/23/us/candidate-for-texas-governor-draws-support-and-critics-for-talk-of-his-disability.html

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Candidate Draws Support and Critics for Talk of Disability

By Manny Fernandez

• July 22, 2013

HOUSTON — After opening his campaign to become the 48th governor of Texas last week, Greg Abbott went on a whirlwind 10-city tour, striking all the themes that have made him the front-runner and one of the most aggressive and conservative attorneys general in the country.

He highlighted his efforts to protect Texas from federal intrusion, boasting of suing the Obama administration 27 times. He defended a six-foot-high Ten Commandments monument on the grounds of the Texas Capitol, arguing that the display was constitutional (the United States Supreme Court agreed, in a 2005 decision). But his campaign speeches surprised many for including one aspect of Mr. Abbott’s life he has rarely emphasized publicly — the accident that left him paralyzed and in a wheelchair.

Mr. Abbott, now 55, went jogging on July 14, 1984, in the upscale [...]