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READ THE ENTIRE APRIL 2022 EDITION OF INSIDE EQUAL ACCESS

This article originally appeared in the April 2022 edition of Inside Equal Access.  

By James Trombka, Accessibility Specialist, Student Accessibility Services   

We’ve all seen it. An image of a man with prosthetic legs running a race with the quote “the only disability in life is a bad attitude” plastered in front of him. Or a one-legged body builder flexing his muscles with the provoking question “what’s your excuse?”. Or the kicker story at the end of news broadcast about the quarterback asking the disabled girl to prom. While the intent behind such attempts at inspiration is meant to be positive, these portrayals of disabled individuals as objects of inspiration are harmful to the disabled community and have been labeled as something called inspiration porn.   

Inspiration porn, a term coined by the late Stella Young, an Australian disability activist, is the objectifying of disabled people as models of inspiration for able-bodied people simply because they are disabled. Inspiration porn reminds able-bodied people that no matter how bad your life may be, you could have it worse, implying the negative connotation that disabled people struggle through life and suffer constantly.  

As Stella explains, it’s not that those able-bodied individuals mean harm in these attempts at inspiration. In fact, they are meant to inspire. They are a product of a lie our society has unconsciously bought and taught us: the problem with a disabled person lies within the person. The truth is rather the opposite; the problem lies in the outward barriers our society unknowingly puts in place. Changing your perspective by viewing not the person as the problem, but the outside barriers is key.  

“The only disability in life is a bad attitude” implies that disability is something an individual should be able to solve on their own, as it’s their problem. It should be all our problem. As Stella puts it, “no amount of smiling at the flight of stairs has ever made it turn into a ramp. No amount of standing in the middle of a bookshelf and radiating a positive attitude is going to turn all those books into braille.” 

If the only reason the story is being broadcasted is because of the disability, then the story and recognition are inspiration porn. 

But why is the news story about the quarterback asking the disabled girl to prom bad? Thousands of students get asked to prom every year, but most if not all of them ever get on national television. If the only reason the story is being broadcasted is because of the disability, then the story and recognition are inspiration porn.

People with disabilities should not be congratulated for simply waking up and living their lives.  Most of the “achievements” our society celebrates regarding disabled individuals become unremarkable if disability is taken out of the equation. When this happens, we risk the threat of reducing disabled individuals into shallow objects of bravery and inspiration instead of what they truly are: people just like you and me.  

The next time you see a news story featuring a disabled person or scroll past the latest “inspirational” meme on Instagram, take a step back and consider how the disabled person is being portrayed. Are they being praised and recognized because they “overcame” their disability or are they truly doing an amazing feat that is worthy of recognition? In the words of Stella Young, “Disability does not make you exceptional but questioning what you think you know about it does”.