It's time to stop calling disabled people 'inspirational' - Dr Frances Ryan | In my opinion 

Yes. Change the narrative.

The whole video is clickbait, from content to title.

Ah, I wish you followed more disability voices as the question of patronising disabled people yet still being demanding without understanding has been around a very long time, in many permutations (it is also similar to general angst of life - hence Ace of base reference, sorry - but then there's where the objectification part comes in where people see stories of disabled people as either depressing and ugly or inspirational ciphers/challenges laying down the gauntlet to their petty frustrations; as with sexism, this is unfair): I guess i was lucky with access to a mix of identity politics including disabled peolpe and disability issues from a young age and I had enough difference to make it a reason to be obsessively interested! However, I hated being called unique as a kid - it felt like thinly veiled euphemism for ostracising dehumanisation. Muhahahahaha. Language is often difference-first and aspiration-first: by that I mean we often 'thoughtfully' introduce topics in a way that describes a contrast or dissonance in our relationship to the thing or person discussed rather than be inclusive, with equal dignity and acknowledgement from the get-go. The thing about instinct is, we're not beholden to it but we're often following it around slavishly until we realise we need to do otherwise to get our needs met: and typically we can start with naming a difference to explore it and decide what to do, but instead of forming a callous round someone or being dissolved by constantly existing in contrast to normality, we'd all benefit from finding another way to handle disabled people. As for aspiration-first language, talking about inspiration and overcoming barriers and reaching potential and whatnot, that's an abstract way of describing people by relating them to an ideal they may have no hand in forming at all, but hurts and satisfies people by turns for similar if more societal reasons, when it could indeed be more productively empathy-based and acknowledge and accept immediate realities first as a starting point to joint problem solving/co-existence and respect.

The point is there's a standard objectification, the excuse to pigeonhole without treating as human, because overcoming adversity is what we do. And anyway they're too busy being sentimental to actual interrupt their more harmful behaviours. Except there's not really a them and us. And to the extent that they allow themselves to Other certain people with certain shapes and configurations of illnesses and sensitivities as overcoming not being part of the team as well as our particular personal challenges, or not overcoming them to the extent that would grant us inspirational status because it does happen to be too difficult, well... it's all very precarious and one-sided.

Except we make it so and keep working with the people who care and asking for more from people who don't. These attitudes make us beg or fight or die; but perhaps we could all dare to dream of something else instead.

+1

really well written, not everyone will think of it like that, im mostly a disinterested person about most things, my view was they just do it for something to do, i like your view on it, i think it trumps my dumb views quite alot

I feel the same as you +Cooper Hoover.

Phoenix Furbaby if you are disabled and you are trying to overcome that disability in anyway- then you too are an inspiration.

To me, anyone running a marathon is exceptional. Disabled or not. The point is this - why is disability such a Bad Thing? I'm happy, and I have disabilities. My life isn't exceptional and I don't exist to inspire people. I'm just me.

Because it said in a specific way... I don't always clock when someone is giving me a back-handed 'compliment' - but there is such a thing. And disabled people get given a lot of play in this space, not that it's always fun.

No abled is inspirational. Ableds are just lazy

Abled bodied people are never called inspirational for being abled bodied. That's the point.

Not for doing something like going to the supermarket

Distraction argument

So true

You are clearly very unaware of the world.

You clearly are very new to the term inspiration porn.

Like disabled people have much choice in the matter of being disabled .....

No hope seems a bit strong and unfair even if you disagree with the video, feel worried about it even: I think it's okay for other disabled people to not find it worrying but to find it truthful campaigning activism, to notice that sometimes disabled people and those not displaying typical 'grade A' characteristics are objectified in their ability to overcome adversity, indeed forced into it: it bears a lot of similarity to sexism and the 'good immigrant' racism trope in that way; unless you're a superhero you're not a human being to state it in hyperbole. But the fact is that it doesn't seem all that far away, as if not even in hyperbole, from the herculean tasks living becomes when society does everything it can to disable and neglects to really focus or collaborate on meeting needs of human beings, period. It's not a validity competition - except that they make it so as gatekeepers to the public sphere. And every disabled person is entitled to an opinion.

Pretty much yeah.

No kidding.

why do clever people always think there can find ways to please everyone, it's not possible

Exactly!

Basically inspiring people is not a problem. Feeling sorry for yourself and believing you deserve more for BEING than ACHIEVING is a problem. Stop pity.

+ugaaa5 caring is not pity. No, caring does not make you a bad person.

+ugaaa5 my child is differently abled (disabled). Pity is standing there saying "omg, that persons life must suck, because if it was me, I would hate myself." "Wow look at what a hard time that person has doing simple tasks, they must be embarrassed of themselves having to be different." Pity is assuming someone's life is not full of meaning because they are not like you and should be happy if you were to talk to them. I could help you understand better if you give me an example of what it is you are concerned about. But, tbh I'm sure you don't really care about what I have to say. I'm sure you were just looking to bash someone with a different opinion then yours. For better answers go to pity.org yes there is an entire organization that stands for what I'm saying.

Um, actually, us disabled people aren't supposed to inspire you. We don't exist just to make y'all feel warm and fuzzy. I mean, more than half the time you don't even treat us as human.

Everyone, please read “Disabled people are not your feel-good back pats.” by Lydia X.Z. Brown.

Read what I wrote a few comments up. I'd like your opinion to see if we are on the same page. BTW I'm a mother to a differently abled child and I appreciate your comment.

Shannon please just say disabled. We aren’t “differently abled” we are disabled. Disabled isn’t a bad word. Unless you already have prejudice in your head, you should know there’s nothing wrong with using the word disabled.

Wow you’re SO BRAVE for sharing your opinion! I’m sure your opinion must be ignored a lot by the people around you and I just want you to know the fact you have existed has made me feel better about myself. Do you see the problem now? Saying someone is inspirational by merely existing is in disguise telling them “you make me glad I’m able bodied because if I was disabled and miserable like you I’d kill myself so I’m so inspired you haven’t” we aren’t inspirational. I’m not a one dimensional saint. If it happened to you, you’d survive. You’d adapt. And you’d hate being called inspirational.

Good point - there s a relationship to catcalling and sexual harassment: objectification of people through seeing disabled people primarily as ciphers for the difficulties and aspirations of abled people, meeting their needs whilst disabled people have to get on with it and be grateful, but forget about cooperation or boundaries or requests for respect!!! Honestly, how ridiculous of people to be fed up of back-handed compliments or unwanted and awkward attention that's both patronising and limiting and often dangerous! Pfft - women and dsabled people eh- they can't hold a candle to you - even surfing or body-building with no limbs, or being autistic or having Ehlers Danlos syndrome and being happy. Pressure to be exceptional and overcome being confused with identity and personal needs is not a good thing. Neither internally in terms of how you feel about yourself, nor externally in terms of how much responsibility others take for bigoted or unhelpful attitudes, not removing barriers or not placing them in the way.

How radical to want to be normalised and existence be a unremarkable first cause for life's fullest range of challenges and have that seen as always ostensibly a good thing to maintain in the way it's supposed to be for everybody else: inspirational by just existing - a caricature of what people say that's not too far off what they actually say - comes with shadow of "euthenasia" and eugenics - terms both popular in the 1930s. Not just in Germany. But it was the ideal of 'racial hygiene' and of selectively breeding the classes for their roles and disregarding the lumpen, as well as austerity ideas about the extra cost - which lay behind a lot of the wrongs of the early 20th century right across the board, as enabled by technology and institutions that had no concept of do no harm, or thought of it only in their individualistic supremacist conceptions of the greater good. Rather than an egalitarian one.

Stop trying to speak for the experiences of disabled people.

The phrase is meant to be a strong but not entirely literal one: there are a specific group people who get a sexual thrill out of disability that is fetishizing usually, however this term refers to objectification of peole through seeing disabled people primarily as ciphers for the difficulties and aspirations of abled people, both patronising and limiting and often dangerous. Pressure to be exceptional and overcome being confused with identity and personal needs is not a good thing. Neither internally in terms of how you feel about yourself, nor externally in terms of how much responsibility others take for bigoted or unhelpful attitudes, not removing barriers or not placing them in the way.

I agree

Speaking over a disabled person? Rude is it not. Whatta you know abled

We don't want to embrace that we're different because we're disabled. We're different anyway because everyone is different.

are the words we're using emotionally hurtful or like calling slow people slow that massive hammer blow to the head feeling fall to the ground clutching your head when you hear the words they dont like? if it's an emotional attachment to wording, wont this crop up with changing words for other ones, you know if you just replace words with other words, those words will become the problem ones too, also, is someone making money out of telling people to be emotionally hurt by words that they used to be able to handle? you know theres people who make money actually making people into emotional wrecks over words, because it's their money spinner, they actually want people to overly feel about what once was offense they could deal with, they make money from encouraging them. Just to check if this isn't another money spinner for the psycho's who make things up. I have a brother with a range of mental illnesses that he only believes he has because it makes the person who told him lots of money to sell the fake ideas, no real medical test can prove anything, only thing that is real is the guys pockets filling up constantly, the more he convinces people they have medical conditions that cannot be proven ( unlike most disabled conditions, can MRI, Xray, etc see, etc, blood test) I have reason to be cautious, if theres no way to prove something, surely it's illogical to simply say, the rich man who makes money saying it exists, is the right person knows what he's saying surely? only real thing is he gets insane salary and bonus cheques constantly, no evidence will ever exist on the funny sounding illnesses he's used anagram creater to invent and promote. ( speaking in pure logic ? nobody just says random things and we MUST go along with them without any reason than they tell us to, logically? ) off topic now, sorry to the ppl who dont have too many fingers like me, doesn't seem to do me much good, I can type a thousand paragraphs a day, but mostly just as annoying, sorry sorry sorry, as for can I invent my own illness yeah I know ppl dont want to read my nonsense, but I get this angry drive to just keep typing away, dreaming the day will end, time for sleep, only thing worth living for, and my dream pills for vivid dreams form ebya, work amazing, fly every night, alternate world as mist, lovely dreams, dont forget WE ALL SHARE THAT NONE OF US ARE HAPPY WITH THIS WORLD, THAT FRUSTRATION YOU FEEL but attribute to your circumstances IS SAME WE ALL FEEL THAT THIS WORLD IS A SILLY WORLD, nobody is as happy as like on TV, mostly waiting, nothing ever really happens really, decades seem to pass faster and faster, still I had a Nintendo once, nice memory, a few nice days once, few more empty decades left, how time flies when you're just not really doing anything, some days I wish TV was like the old days, where it was really fun to watch with good plots and stuff, instead of pretending to enjoy it until so bored pass out wake later make bed go bed, rinse repeat until another decades gone without any content, like the last few,

What does that even mean??

Yes because somehow when we get a driver's license that for some reason inspires others.

Maybe stop trying to speak for the experiences for disabled people?

Most disabled people would agree with the video. Please try to learn from us.

@@eaglesandowls I'm pretty sure that most disabled people would love to be called inspirational

@@barackputin I am disabled myself. Not true.

@@eaglesandowls Oh wow so one disabled person represents the whole community?

@@barackputin I never said I did. But a majority feels the same I do.

Unless you're disabled yourself, I don't think you get to say what IS and IS NOT objectifying us disabled people. Because inspiration porn is, honey.

Brilliant so if I somehow think positive Im somehow supposed to regain use of my legs?

@@Aura-vv2dlobviously you are disabled