I often hide my accomplishments, skills and abilities because I fear I’ll be objectified, meme-ified or otherwise turned into inspiration porn by abled people. So I hide and play small. But I’m done doing that. The world needs more stories of disabled thriving, not fewer.
When “disability” is used as a neutral term, it ceases to be something to overcome. Disabled people don’t overcome their disabilities anymore than Abled people overcome their height or eye color. These are all just facts about our bodies. There’s literally nothing to overcome.
When I say my taste in music is eclectic, what I mean is that my gym playlist just went from the Teletubbies main theme in Spanish, to David Guetta, to Bach.
Dear Abled people, your proximity to disabled people does not give you permission to ask other disabled people about their disability. The only disability-related question you should ask is “What are your access needs?”, and only if you are in a position to provide accessibility.
Mental illness is disability, and mental health professionals should be adept at identifying ableism. Ableism is the source of shame and stigma around mental illness. We can’t combat a system of oppression that we aren’t naming.
@Imani_Barbarin This is me and my boyfriend. Someone SENT ME this meme shit of us that was pulled from my Instagram. It’s violence to disabled people. It’s so degrading to have people weaponize our lives and stories against us.
People will act like ableism isn’t their problem as though we’re not STILL living in a pandemic that started with people being told that “only disabled and elderly people will die” and them taking that as permission to proceed with life as usual.
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@Imani_Barbarin Honestly, I have seen more ableist bullshit from paralyzed white cis hetero men than almost anyone else. I see so much of the inspi-porn, tragic-hero vibe and I’m so sick of it. It’s so counterproductive to the visibility disabled people need.
Keep calm. Be patient. Allow local elections officials to do their jobs. What is most important isn’t the speed of the count; it’s that every eligible vote is counted. Americans made their voices heard in record numbers, and their votes must be counted. #Election2020
Think about how many million Americans are voting today peacefully standing next to people they may disagree with politically - it truly is a wonderful thing.