Inspiration and Disabilities

    When viewing people with disabilities, many people automatically feel sorry for them and view them as an inspiration to society. I too am guilty of this. Though I have taken many college level disability courses, I find myself thinking about how great they may be doing in life while living with a disability. Being that I work in a physical therapy office, I often work with people who have disabilities. The thought of how motivating and inspiring they are for doing what they do, has most definitely crossed my mind. There are moments when you feel proud of them, however you should not be viewing their life as an inspiration. 

    The connection between disability and inspiration needs to be done away with because living with a disability is not a bad thing. It then creates a view that having a disability is not "normal," and that they are superhumans. When seeing the posters of disabled people with inspirational quotes, it is allowing the viewpoint of others to think that your life could be worse. These types of pictures are referred to as "inspiration porn." One may think that they are motivating and uplifting, however it is actually shedding negative light on those with disabilities. It begins to set low expectations for the disabled community and tries to convince you that those who are disabled were born to motivate and inspire others, when they are only just living their life. Having a disability may have challenges, but it is "normal" to them. Everyone in life faces challenges at one point or another, but they are not doing anything out of the ordinary, then just using their bodies to their fullest capacity.

      

     Having a disability is not a choice, so you cannot attribute braveness with disabilities. Waking up and going about your day is not inspiring, it is just living. Just because you have a disability, does not mean your life is bad, and people need to feel sorry for you. Society puts such a stigma on people living with disabilities and tries to "fix" them when there is no fixing to be done. This stigma can lead to internal issues that form within, resulting in feelings of worthlessness and low self-esteem. 

    According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, there is such a barrier between those with disabilities and health care. We need to improve and construct more inclusive health care programs so that they are able to get the proper treatments and check-ups. Cost has such an impact on why people do not seek doctors, which ultimately leads to people not attending their follow-up appointments. Being that there are approximately 61 million people who have a disability, it is important that they have access to medical professionals to reduce the possibility of any health issues that are common in those with disabilities such as, obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. 

CDC Website:

https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/infographic-disability-impacts-all.html

Pictures:

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