Page 1 of 1 [ 10 posts ] 

d057
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 26 Nov 2008
Age: 31
Gender: Male
Posts: 504
Location: Pittsburgh, PA

23 Nov 2014, 9:01 pm

I recently watched a YouTube video by Stella Young. She is an Australian comedian, journalist and Disability Rights activist.

I wrote a blog post in response to her talk on TED. It covers some of her points about "inspiration porn" and how society has this tendency to objectify people with disabilities and use them as objects of inspiration. I will provide the link to the video and my post below.

Do you agree with the points she made or that I made? Why or why not?

http://dwarren57.wordpress.com/2014/11/ ... spiration/


_________________
Living my life one day at a time.


vermontsavant
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 7 Dec 2010
Gender: Male
Posts: 6,110
Location: Left WP forever

24 Nov 2014, 3:44 am

its a hot topic on twitter as well


_________________
Forever gone
Sorry I ever joined


24 Nov 2014, 10:23 am

I really don't care if someone wants to use me and my relatively normal life as an object of inspiration. OK, whatever. I realize that people seem to need a lot of inspiration just to keep getting out of bed in the morning.

I can use THAT comment as a springboard to make some nasty comments about our current society, but that's beside the point.

Yeah, I don't really care if they want to make me an object of inspiration. We all inspire each other. Glad I could be of service. My uniform is proud to serve.

I'd just like to stop being an object of scorn, fear, and wild suppositions.



Orangez
Deinonychus
Deinonychus

User avatar

Joined: 15 Nov 2014
Age: 30
Gender: Male
Posts: 320
Location: British Columbia

24 Nov 2014, 12:39 pm

They just want their own lives to feel better by saying at least I am not as worst off as that guy. It sickens me and it leads to disabled people feeling like their are a victim and are special for being disabled. However, they are actual treated as a being with less value them a human being.



PlainsAspie
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 25 Jul 2014
Gender: Male
Posts: 518
Location: USA

24 Nov 2014, 2:27 pm

Calling a disabled person inspiring for doing something virtually anyone can do is insulting, I agree with everything she said. At the same time, I don't think it's wrong for disabled people to have other similarly disabled people as role models.

Also, it's okay to be inspired when a disabled person does something truly amazing. For example, a pianist could be inspired by Ray Charles not because he's blind, but because he's so good with the piano.



BuyerBeware
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 28 Sep 2011
Gender: Female
Posts: 3,476
Location: PA, USA

24 Nov 2014, 4:05 pm

Guest wrote:
I really don't care if someone wants to use me and my relatively normal life as an object of inspiration. OK, whatever. I realize that people seem to need a lot of inspiration just to keep getting out of bed in the morning.

I can use THAT comment as a springboard to make some nasty comments about our current society, but that's beside the point.

Yeah, I don't really care if they want to make me an object of inspiration. We all inspire each other. Glad I could be of service. My uniform is proud to serve.

I'd just like to stop being an object of scorn, fear, and wild suppositions.


That was me, for the record. Dunno how I got logged out.

No, I'm not offended by normal people being inspired by normal "disabled" people. Doesn't bother me. As they see it, overcoming additional odds to accomplish what they themselves, with every advantage, struggle with is inspiring. "Well, she did it with her autism/blindness/deafness/wheelchair/MS/whatever. So get up and do it yourself."

I am regularly inspired by my dyslexic friend. No one knew. They told him he was stupid. He knew better, and persisted, and learned to read (and has read copious volumes of books for his own enjoyment and enlightenment). I find that inspiring. It's not meant to be a made-up medal, or "rah-rah-retard," or anything like that-- I think of his persistence when I want to give up, and then I get up and try again.

By the end of April, I get mildly annoyed with being my NT friend's Token Spectrum Friend on Facebook...

...but hey what the hell. She's my friend all year. If I inspire her to try to be less judgmental and more human, and to feel less need to be perfect in everyone else's eyes and more comfort in just being who she is, then I've done my Homo sapiens contribution for today. Now what do I have to do to inspire her to stop hoarding cut-price high-end clothing and clean out her basement????


_________________
"Alas, our dried voices when we whisper together are quiet and meaningless, as wind in dry grass, or rats' feet over broken glass in our dry cellar." --TS Eliot, "The Hollow Men"


d057
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 26 Nov 2008
Age: 31
Gender: Male
Posts: 504
Location: Pittsburgh, PA

24 Nov 2014, 4:16 pm

I agree. It is very insulting to call a disabled person inspiring for doing nothing out of the ordinary. In my blog post, I said that it allows people to use disability as a way to define who they are as human beings. I am not a gay man with Asperger's Syndrome, I am a man who happens to be gay and live with Asperger's Syndrome!

PlainsAspie wrote:
Calling a disabled person inspiring for doing something virtually anyone can do is insulting, I agree with everything she said. At the same time, I don't think it's wrong for disabled people to have other similarly disabled people as role models.

Also, it's okay to be inspired when a disabled person does something truly amazing. For example, a pianist could be inspired by Ray Charles not because he's blind, but because he's so good with the piano.


_________________
Living my life one day at a time.


d057
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 26 Nov 2008
Age: 31
Gender: Male
Posts: 504
Location: Pittsburgh, PA

24 Nov 2014, 4:21 pm

I will only be of inspiration to "normal" folks if they are willing to help me live up to the belief that I am "exceptional" or "extraordinary." I don't need to be reminded that I am different, I already know that!

It does not go without saying that scorn, fear and wild suppositions can cause many people to lose the motivation to even get out of bed in the morning.

Guest wrote:
I really don't care if someone wants to use me and my relatively normal life as an object of inspiration. OK, whatever. I realize that people seem to need a lot of inspiration just to keep getting out of bed in the morning.

I can use THAT comment as a springboard to make some nasty comments about our current society, but that's beside the point.

Yeah, I don't really care if they want to make me an object of inspiration. We all inspire each other. Glad I could be of service. My uniform is proud to serve.

I'd just like to stop being an object of scorn, fear, and wild suppositions.


_________________
Living my life one day at a time.


PlainsAspie
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 25 Jul 2014
Gender: Male
Posts: 518
Location: USA

08 Dec 2014, 6:03 pm

Stella Young passed away yesterday.

viewtopic.php?t=272188



d057
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 26 Nov 2008
Age: 31
Gender: Male
Posts: 504
Location: Pittsburgh, PA

22 Dec 2014, 8:15 pm

Sorry I did not notice this until today. I was informed about that about a day after she passed away. It certainly is sad to see her go, but her legacy will continue to live on. I will forever admire the fact that she did not pull any punches and bluntly stated her opinion on disability issues.

PlainsAspie wrote:
Stella Young passed away yesterday.

viewtopic.php?t=272188


_________________
Living my life one day at a time.