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We talk about inspiration porn a lot in the disability community, but we need to talk more about the incredible financial and social pressure to be an inspiration porn star. https://twitter.com/noamgershony/status/1275725441211543554
There’s a whole culture telling us that our job is to be *inspiring* and to make non-disabled people feel good about themselves. We are trained to see ourselves as objects.
Oftentimes, the only way to get paid is inspiration porn.
When I got started in disability community advocacy and later disability-oriented journalism, I made some inspiration porn. It made me feel dirty as hell. But I needed to pay bills. This is the case for a lot of disabled people with outward facing roles.
There are many disabled inspirational speakers and few disabled journalists, because that’s where the money is.
I try not to be bitter about reality. My entire career has been dedicated to pushing back against inspiration porn — Writing disability stories that are serious. Writing disability stories that matter.
I got so much more positive feedback for “telling my story” in a way that didn’t force non-disabled people to think about systemic injustices.
