(Forbes) "Inspiration porn"

[agate]

This article in Forbes Magazine (11/29/19) makes some very important points about the ways disabled people are treated and represented--"How to Avoid 'Inspiration Porn'":

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[Mike Weins]

Ok, what word is being censored here agate? It's breaking the link

Ah, I see in your other post what is being censored. Let me see what I can do about that.

Ok I took the word porn off the censor list. We'll see if we can get by without being bombed with stuff folks don't want to see.

[agate]

Thank you! It will be nice if we can still use the word "porn" since it crops up now and then and isn't itself offensive.

[Ikoiko]

This is a very good article. These "inspirational" stories have long been a pet peeve of mine. I didn't realize that my views were so widely shared, or that other disabled people were addressing this.

[Virginia]

I share these views of seeing disabled people pictured in ways that just doesn't show the entire story behind the disabled person. I think a pet peeve of mine is the television advertising of MS drugs. The people are always cheerful, full of pep, walking and living a full life. I cringe every time one of these ads comes on T.V. It also gives non MS people the thought that MS is really nothing to be concerned about by those who have it - just a blip in the road. We just take a little drug and get on with our lives. No big deal at all.

[agate]

Yes, TV ads! I finally saw one. I think it was for Kesimpta, being promoted on CNN recently.

Rosy-cheeked smiling people relaxing on picnics aren't often people with MS. I was invited to a picnic with my kids and their dad back in 1980 and had to decline because it would have been too hot, and I knew I couldn't sit on the ground in any case without needing a lot of help getting up.

Hard to show that in a TV ad--the passage of so many years with no more possibilities of picnics? And the bewildered disappointment of family and friends who don't understand when the person with MS opts out of social gathering after social gathering?

[Virginia]

That is a hard one to take Agate - people not understanding when you have to keep saying "no" again and again to being a part of something, even a family function.

[agate]

Yes, some act as if you've personally rejected them. It's almost impossible to explain this to anyone.

[funnylegs4]

"Inspiration P*rn" is a tricky subject and is often poorly defined by even disabled people on the internet but this article did a rather decent job of explaining it so thanks for sharing. Inspiration in itself is not wrong but when it turns disabled people into objectified tokens with no agency and are implied to be living a tragic life it is. The way I tell "Inspiration P#rn" apart from regular inspiration is this: Are you admiring this thing I did because it is a skill I earned, or are you amazed I did this simply because I have cerebral palsy?" If you admire it simply because I have CP it's a kind of bigotry of low expectations because it reenforces bad ideas of disabled people having a miserable life of nothing. People who are non white tell me "role model for the race" is expressed in a similarly condensing, patronizing manner. "Inspiration P#rn" implies disabled people must do something beyond amazing like get 3 PhDs to be worthy of life. I have had people put me into situations where I was falsely given authority over a situation I had no business being in because I was the token disabled person in the room and it was a disgusting feeling because I was "Cerebral Palsy" not a person with merit or experience, and sadly it was disabled people who did this kind of manipulation on me via internalized ableism, I say manipulation because in most of these awful experiences they hoped I was naive enough to go along with something that they wanted that might even be dangerous to me physically, to keep me on as a token. I'm gonna be public speaking on this issue soon so this post got my ideas flowing following my read...sorry for rant and thanks again.

[agate]

I thought it was good that the article made this point:

6. Many stories that at first glance are about disabled people and disability themes, actually center on non-disabled people selflessly helping or including disabled people in everyday situations.

If you happen to be a disabled person reading an article like that, you end up feeling more like a burden than ever, and who wants to feel like a burden?

[funnylegs4]

I thought it was good that the article made this point:



If you happen to be a disabled person reading an article like that, you end up feeling more like a burden than ever, and who wants to feel like a burden?

Yes exactly. Everybody should feel that their life is precious and worthy rather than feeling like a burden. Many of my disabled friends tell me they feel like burdens and it completely breaks my heart. Ableism is the "burden" not the disabled person themselves. We need accessibly and resources. I'm told the idea of disabled people helping other disabled people is rare in media.