I just saw another one of those inspirational posts, with the theme of never give up. I say this as someone who was also once told I could not do things, and then I managed to do them. I was told my spinal injury would keep me from dancing and that it would keep me from bicycling. But, Im doing it, anyway. That doesnt mean that I want people to use me as an example. Me succeeding has nothing to do with other peoples success. Theres another set of realities in life that dont match up to my own. I know some people who are also seriously disabled. I know people with spinal injuries or deformities that will keep them away from the things that I managed to make my way back to. By holding up successes and telling others they should use them as inspiration, youre also sending the message that those who either dont have access to that success or who try but dont make it that they are somehow flawed. You are telling them that by accepting themselves because they gave up on something that didnt work for them, that they are less than the people in your inspirational message. Sure, there are people out there that recover from really horrible injuries. Sure, some people overcome really difficult things. But, their success is not something we should measure others or ourselves by. These inspirational messages are not really as helpful as people think. Many of the disabled people I know also refer to these inspirational stories as degrading because it implies that disabled people are a scale to measure others by if you measure them by how they deal with their disability. It says that disabled people are essentially the sum of their disability and how they cope, rather than valuing the disabled person by other traits. So, there are multiple reasons to *not* use those inspirational posters, videos and commentaries. Maybe rethink them the next time you see one.
Posted on: Mon, 21 Jul 2014 05:49:19 +0000