Disability Pride Month NOT Inspirational Porn Month

It’s July which means it’s one of the greatest months of the year – DISABILITY PRIDE MONTH!! So whilst we all soak up the disabled joy this month I wanted to remind those outside of the disabled community that this month is about CELEBRATING disability, not PITYING disability. I mean why would, you want to pity the disabled community also known as one of the most joyful communities on the planet? 

The phrase inspirational porn was first used by Stella Young in her famous must-watch Ted Talk ‘I’m not your inspiration thank you very much’. Stella’s talk explains how pitiful and hurtful the dreaded ‘I’ word can be and I do say dreaded ‘I’ word because to many people it is!!

Not, everyone knows how to talk to disabled people and some are often scared, I mean I’m not scary, my wheelchair could potentially cause damage but I’ll never resort to that (famous last words). Yet, I understand to some extent that if you’ve never been around disabled people it can be daunting however, the way forward is not by calling me an inspiration because I have a career like a fairly big percentage of the population. 

But, why? 

The first reason is what I’ve just said ‘like a fairly big percentage of the population’. Yes, my career is centred around my lived experience and I post a lot of career-related content on social media but that’s just because it’s my job too – I’m a content creator and freelancer. Alright, I’m not going to lie and say when I achieve something I don’t get a buzz out of what I post because I love what I do, but it’s still part and parcel of my work. 

The second reason is that non-disabled people call disabled people an inspiration after they’ve achieved something quite huge. But, have you ever stopped to think about the energy it took that non-disabled person to climb the Eiffel Tower? Potentially the same as the energy it took another disabled person to get out of bed.

This is why inspirational porn is so damaging and perpetuates ableism because it yet again forces the comparison of disabled and non-disabled people. When my colleagues call me inspiring for giving a talk that they know was a sensitive topic for me to discuss and after listening to what I have to say has made them question their practice. I can absolutely take that comment on board and be proud that I’ve made an impact. But when a random stranger comes up to me in a bar and calls me an inspiration for going on a night out and having a boogie then absolutely not. 

Do you see the difference here? Most non-disabled people think disabled people resent being called an inspiration because we are humble and don’t like the glory – hey, if I’ve made an impact and made you question your practice I’ll take the compliment. However, I will not take the applause for just getting up and doing my job! Yes, I’ve slightly contradicted myself here, maybe on purpose. So, if we work in the same area of practice then yeah, absolutely you can be inspired by my work, not me, my work. But if we don’t and our lives don’t relate in any way then it’s very unlikely that my work will inspire you. I mean, if it does that’s great, but if you can’t relate to me or my lifestyle then my work can’t inspire you.

So, a word to the wise as this is Disability Pride Month, don’t commend the disability community by calling us an inspiration because that’s not a compliment, but instead, learn from us. Listen to us, learn how to become a better ally to disabled people (through us and your own research) and then at the end of the month come back and read this post again and it might make a bit more sense.

With this in mind, please let me what is your goal for Disability Pride Month 2023? 

Thank you for reading,

Georgia x