This post is brought to you by the book I'll review for next week, but it's been an issue for years. It crops up in local newspapers, in social media, even by word of mouth.
Defining
What is it? It's typically images, videos, articles, and memes of disabled people accomplishing something, used to motivate or shame abled people. The gist is basically "well if this disabled person can do it, of course you (an abled person) can!" There's a variant where the disabled person is the prop by which an abled person shows how nice/noble a person they are.
Inspiration porn is called this because it is objectifying just like regular porn. No sex is involved, but it reduces our personalities, loves, hates, and quirks down to our disabilities, as if "autism spectrum disorder" or "cerebral palsy" or "sacral agenesis" tells you anything at all about the human involved. It erases us and our struggles for the sake of the comfort and happiness of abled people.
The Problem
I shouldn't have to tell most parents of autistic people that not all autistic people are the same. My life's trajectory, as mainly a highly verbal loner without a community to support me, but successful in academia (though not outside it, really), is one possible route of many for autistic people.
There are also autistic people that are raised by proverbial villages, and have massive support networks and people looking out for them. There are autistic people with intellectual disability and autistic people with average intelligence. There are autistic people who are savants, and autistic people without "special interests" or favorite hobbies they love intensely. There are brilliant wordsmiths and nonspeaking people who are still incredibly gifted, thoughtful, intelligent humans. It is, after all, a spectrum.
Yet my life, if I were to get famous suddenly, would be boiled down to "autism spectrum disorder." Maybe "Asperger's Syndrome" to dissociate me from nonspeaking autistic people, as if I haven't spent several points in my adult life nearly or totally unable to communicate verbally. And as if I don't share any traits with nonspeaking autistics, despite sensory sensitivities being very common, as well as depression and anxiety.
It also demands that disabled people always be inspirational, for the benefit of abled people's pleasure and comfort. It makes the sum total of our disability "a burden to be overcome" and refuses to acknowledge the social barriers that so often stand in our way. And finally, it reinforces the stereotype that disabled people are less competent and capable than abled people.
An Example
This is probably the first example I ran into, years and years ago, on Facebook.
The text says "Your excuse is invalid" and the unwritten subtext is "if this small child with prosthetic legs can get out there on a racetrack and enjoy running despite having no legs below the knee, you have no excuse for not doing whatever it is you're not doing."
We know nothing at all about the child. He is simply "small white boy with prosthetic legs" and his image is being used to guilt trip people for supposedly not accomplishing enough.
I did some searching. This child is now old enough to drive (and soon drink, too). His name is Cody McCasland, a resident of Texas, and he's a serious athlete, but not a runner. Running is a hobby. He's a swimmer, with hopes of competing in the 2020 Paralympics. And according to his bio on a website, he also wants to be an anesthesiologist, in part due to all the time he's spent in the hospital (30ish surgeries).
Looking at the information from the media, it seems Cody has leaned into the publicity to some extent. I sifted through a dozen or so articles, and all they typically wanted to do was rehash what amazing odds Cody beat, his promise as an athlete, and how wonderful that all is.
Nothing is said about the difficulties inherent in affording, using, and cleaning prosthetic limbs. Nothing about how many types of limbs he has, or why you can't just have one set for everything. Nothing is asked about Cody's high school experience, his home life, any siblings... Nothing about the stares he inevitably gets from strangers, nor the invasive questions. Nothing about him is of interest except his "overcoming" of his disability.
In summary, Cody McCasland is reduced down to his disability, his struggles are omitted, and he is merely a prop in this picture. His triumph is reduced to a bludgeon that, in the best case, might be used positively to elbow an abled person into starting to be healthier. It might also be used to guilt trip someone with an invisible disability, because "well you have both legs, so get out there!" (left unsaid: "I neither understand nor care that you have chronic back pain or some weird allergy that makes you utterly miserable when you do moderate to high intensity exercise").
Let's look at an article from a prosthetic arm user. Let's see, it's titled, "I have one of those most advanced prosthetic arms in the world -- and I hate it." Hmm, can we guess how this is going to go? The article is worth your read, by the way. Real talk from someone whose life is unfamiliar to you often is. She's even included short videos of her using the limbs.
Generalizing Disabilities
There's one more issue with generalizing Cody's story to every possible situation, sitting back, and saying, "well if he can do it, anyone can!"
Let's start by noting the obvious: Cody's disability is physical. His legs from above the knee are flesh and blood, and below that do not exist due to a major difference in his DNA. To move around at a normal height, he uses prosthetic legs. This is a visible, physical disability.
Visible disabilities mean you get stares and invasive questions. This is typically unwanted. However, because your difference is obvious, no one questions whether it is real. An invisible disability, like mental illness or autism, can be disbelieved. A person can decide, after looking at you, that your struggles are not real. Seeing, as they say, is believing.
Physical disabilities tend to be visible, but they don't need to be. Chronic joint pain, fibromyalgia, and blindness without the person carrying a white cane or some other identifier are all physical disabilities, but not simple ones to notice in a second or two.
Invisible disabilities include a spectrum of things people don't necessarily notice or care about, including depression, anxiety disorders, chronic back pain, chronic dizziness, diabetes, sleep disorders, chronic fatigue, and agoraphobia. Because no apparent disability is noticed, the effects of these disabilities may be blamed on the sufferer's innate qualities.
Instead of recognizing the very reasonable tiredness and reduced performance of a sufferer of insomnia, people might instead decide she simply isn't trying hard enough, or that her sleepiness is because she's too busy partying to adhere to a normal sleep schedule. In reality, she may have spent hours lying in bed, fruitlessly trying everything in her power (from podcasts to boring textbooks to exercise to adult coloring books) to get to sleep, all as the clock mercilessly ticks onward towards the next work day.
So while Cody's disability is clear, obvious, and the path to addressing the disability is clear... that is not the case for other disabilities.
One need really only look at autism for a demonstration of this. Some autistic people can find sensory relief in small perfume jars, swatches of fabric, or particular blankets. Others would find those things ineffective or torturous. Some autistic people suffer from gut dysbiosis or allergies, and need to eat according to special diets. Choosing the wrong diet can be terribly painful. Still others benefit from basic lessons in the mechanics of conversations. I, however, would find such lessons irritating at best.
What works for one autistic person does not necessarily work for another. This is pretty common knowledge, immortalized in the saying, "If you've met one person with autism, you've met one person with autism."
Saying, "well this kid with a clear disability has a harder life than you, and still is doing this thing, so why aren't you doing this thing?" is insulting not only to him, but to the person you're talking to, who may have struggles you don't know anything about.
For further reading, please consult this article, which also links to an excellent TEDx talk.
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