Next Sunday KosAbility’s meeting will be an open thread discussing the unsanctioned maybe ridiculous but often effective measures we take to benefit our health. Kitty purrs, weighted blankets, sunlight, Reiki, aromatherapy — anything outside AMA standards. As usual, KosAbility also welcomes whatever members wish to discuss as long as everyone is considerate of each other.
Scoffers and sneerers stay away!
Living with disabilities is hard enough but society adds difficulties by excluding people with disabilities (PwD) from public view in the media except for plot gimmicks or inspiration porn (see below). CBS has begun a diversity initative to find performers and off-camera talent who are not able-bodied heterosexual white men. The announcement for casting diversity describes applicants they seek as follows.
...that have traditionally been under-represented, including African American, Asian American, Latino, Native American, Pacific Islander, LGBTQ actors and performers with disabilities.
Casting PwD isn’t enough. Scripts and shows must include us as regular people, not as amazingly successful due to living our lives. Stella Young defined this as inspiration porn in a TED Talk in 2014.
… we're objectifying disabled people for the benefit of nondisabled people. The purpose of these images is to inspire you, to motivate you, so that we can look at them and think, "Well, however bad my life is, it could be worse. I could be that person." [...]
I've lost count of the number of times that I've been approached by strangers wanting to tell me that they think I'm brave or inspirational . . . They were just kind of congratulating me for managing to get up in the morning and remember my own name [...]
Disability doesn't make you exceptional, but questioning what you think you know about it does.
Do we benefit from being considered remarkable for living with disabilities? One in five Americans has a disability, according to the 2010 US Census. The survey also found that PwD don’t have the same opportunities as others. We are normal but unequal.
The report shows that 41 percent of those age 21 to 64 with any disability were employed, compared with 79 percent of those with no disability. Along with the lower likelihood of having a job came the higher likelihood of experiencing persistent poverty; that is, continuous poverty over a 24-month period. Among people age 15 to 64 with severe disabilities, 10.8 percent experienced persistent poverty; the same was true for 4.9 percent of those with a nonsevere disability and 3.8 percent of those with no disability.
England promoted the ParaOlympics this year using the term superhuman for athletes, building on their 2012 program to bring PwD to public attention. The UK has been criticized for glamorizing PwD as superhuman while failing to provide suitable support in programs and policies.
This summer India Prime Minister Narenda Modi renamed the government agency dealing with disabilities to incorporate a new term for PwD. People with disabilities previously were referred to as viklang (Hindi for disabled) and the new term is divyang (divine bodied). A friend crippled from childhood polio who heads a non-profit helping children with disabilities in India equates this term to the caste system that classified some people as harijan (untouchables). Instead of the new divine bodied label, she wants improved accessibility and other programs similar to what the United States provides under the ADA.
What PwD need are equal opportunities, appropriate support, and the right to be viewed as normal people. Not exceptional, not divine, not superhuman, but a normal human variation.
- Not your token.
- Not your inspiration.
- Not your omg I’m so lucky to not have X comparison.
- Not the gimmick character who reveals the lead character’s noblity.
The first video describes what is inspiration porn. The second is RJ Mitte, an actor who happens also to have cerebral palsy.
KosAbility is a volunteer diarist community meeting the last Sunday of each month at 4pm PT/7pm ET. We embrace people living with disabilities, who love someone with a disability, or who want to know more about the issues. Our use of "disability" includes temporary as well as permanent health/medical conditions, and small, gnawing problems as well as major, life-threatening ones. Our use of "love someone" extends to cherished members of other species. Our discussions are open threads in the context of this community. Feel free to comment on the diary topic, ask questions of the diarist or generally to everyone, share something you've learned, tell bad jokes, post photos, or rage about your situation. If you are interested in contributing a diary, contact Besame, wilderness voice, or Steven Park.
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Our only rule is to be kind; trolls will be spayed or neutered.