A shortish thread on The Disability Paradox by @chrislynchfilm that was on BBC4 last night. With the excellent @samrenke as a contributor, it was a thought provoking very personal exploration of being disabled. It's on iPlayer now: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000pdjz/true-north-series-13-1-the-disability-paradox
#Disability

It was refreshing to watch a documentary made by a disabled person about their experience of being disabled. Chris's honesty was also refreshing. I just wish there had been more time to explore the issues raised in the documentary more thoroughly.

Isn't it time we had a whole series dedicated to disability history and what it means to be disabled in the UK in 2020 @BBCFOUR ? I really wanted to explore one of the other disability paradox within the disability paradox explored in the programme.

So if the original paradox is that the general public think that being disabled is a terrible and tragic thing and so disabled people must all be miserable and feel useless but in fact disabled people report higher happiness levels than non disabled people.

The paradox I am talking about is the one disabled people feel trapped in. If we express unhappiness and misery about being disabled we are compounding that myth and are letting other disabled people down.

But if we express our general satisfaction or happiness we are down playing the real discrimination and exclusion we face. We are then also often accused of "faking it" (even accusing ourselves of it) surely we should be miserable?

It's a no win situation and this is where I felt The Disability Paradox could have benefitted from breaking down the difference between feeling frustrated and angry at a world that excludes you but being happy about who you are.

It's a really tough one to untangle but it's at the heart of the social model of disability but also just human experience. When you live in a world that constantly excludes you or makes it more difficult for you to do every day stuff that is exhausting.

When you live in a world where people's attitudes towards you are hostile or you are constantly underestimated or you are ignored, or the opposite and ridiculed then that is exhausting and dehumanising.

But it is possible to still be content within yourself, though it's hard. It's another struggle to add to the ones listed above. To continually remind yourself that it's the world at fault not you is exhausting. It is easier to just give in and blame yourself.

So how do we as disabled people make it clear that we can be happy, creative, joyful and productive whilst, and in spite of living in a world that by its very design and nature excludes us.

Whilst also making it clear that because we face such exclusion it can be really hard to remain happy, creative, joyful and productive. Sometimes it just sucks being disabled and we need to be able to express all of these things without judgement.