Inspiration Porn: How “Feel-Good” Imagery Demeans the Disabled Community and Perpetuates Harmful Stereotypes
What Is Inspiration Porn?
You know that grossly saccharine quote from Scott Hamilton? “The only disability in life is a bad attitude.” You probably saw it on countless posters in school hallways growing up. There was always an adorable child with a visible disability, grinning ear to ear, often with Down’s Syndrome or missing limbs. If not, they used a wheelchair. If it didn’t have this particular caption, it likely said one of several other barf-worthy clichés such as “What’s your excuse?” or “Your excuse is invalid.” If you have seen any such imaging, then you have been exposed to inspiration porn.
Now with memes readily available and easily modifiable, you’ve probably viewed one at some point which read something like, “Never ignore somebody with a disability. You don’t realize how much they can inspire you!” Well, damn. Apparently, the reason to pay attention to other humans is not that they are living beings with thoughts, feelings, ideas, and inherent worth. Nope! They are here for you to be inspired.
Guess I didn’t get that memo…
Stella Young, an Australian disability activist, and general badass coined the term ‘inspiration porn’ to refer to this kind of…
