My Personal Experience with Disabilities

My Personal Experience: Family & The Media

Prior to beginning this class, I never took the time to think about my experience with disabilities because I don't and have never encountered them in my daily life. Two of my family members, both in their late 60s, have disabilities. However, since we live almost two hours away, I do not get to experience their daily life often. The only time I ever experienced it was when I went to the store with one of them and they parked in the handicapped space, as their disability affects how they walk. 

Most of my personal experience with disabilities has come from the media, a place where facts get twisted quite a lot. However, on tiktok, I follow many creators with disabilities, some of whose content is based on their disability and others whose content is not based on their disability. Each person has different views and opinions on their disability, how they perceive them, and how they want others to perceive them. One of the most important things that I have learned through following different creators with different disabilities is how the perception of disabilities is different for everyone.

My Lack of Experience

I think it is more important that I acknowledge my lack of experience with disabilities. I went to a public school where students with disabilities were separated from non-disabled students in classes, free periods, and lunch. Most days I never even saw those students. Occasionally, I would see them in the hallways between classes or at school events that all students attended, like pep rallies.     

As most of my experience comes from the media, it is easy for things to become twisted and changed. Even though I try to educate myself by listening directly to people with disabilities, I have seen many different representations, both positive and negative, of disabilities in the media. I have most likely read false narratives and incorrect information on disabilities. There are also many different opinions on things such as TV shows about disabilities, representation in television and movies, and correct language in regards to disabilities.

Disabilities as Inspiration

As Stella Young mentioned, the media plays a large part in making people believe it is acceptable to see people with disabilities as inspiration. I have seen posts like the ones she showed since I first got social media as a pre-teen. I used to believe those posts that say I should be grateful for my life compared to those with disabilities or that I should use them for motivation. As I grew up and I began to learn more about life in general, I realized that those posts are harmful, though I still never saw a problem with seeing people with disabilities as inspiration until this class. 

Something that stood out to me while watching Stella Young’s TED Talk and reading Jessica Kellgren-Fozard’s article is society’s contradiction between seeing people with disabilities as inspiration and also treating them as lesser then so-called “normal people.” Stella Young discusses how she was nominated a community achievement award even though she didn’t do anything. Jessica Kellgren-Fozard experienced how differently she was treated when she got diagnosed with a genetic disability. They both were seen as special and something to celebrate, even though they were doing what everyone else was. On the other hand, there are so many negative connotations with having a disability. Even Jessica Kellgren-Fozard saw this when people said they would “kill themselves” if they had the same disability. There are many derogatory terms that are used to put down those with disabilities.

Has anyone else noticed this contradiction?