Disabled People Are Not Inspirational

Stop treating us like we’re something to aspire to be with everyday tasks

“Inspirational porn”, especially out of everyday tasks, is incredibly hurtful towards the disabled community

Quick note, when I say the word “disabled”, I am speaking about people with chronic conditions where it affects their daily life (chronic pain, neurological disorders, neurodivergent, mental illness, etc.).

Disabled and/or neurodivergent people do not exist for you to gawk at. We do not exist to be your inspiration to “try harder” or “seize the day”.

Social media is terrible about this, but LinkedIn, in particular, is terrible about sharing posts of say, an amputee buying groceries and getting in their car and then turning it into some inspirational speech about “just keep going”. It is so frustrating to see parents of disabled children turn their children into poster children for “when you put your mind to it, you can do anything”. As a person with numerous chronic health conditions, I am begging you to stop this.

This attitude is incredibly infantilizing and exploitative. It encourages people to pity us and create a weird hierarchy of “you are not disabled enough because I wasn’t exposed to a photo of it online” (a friendly reminder that “invisible” disabilities do exist). Chronic…