Wednesday, December 23, 2015

#CrippingTheMighty

It is hard being autistic when the public perception is against us. As an autistic, I am disabled. It is hard being disabled when the public perception is against us. It is hard when I see vast amounts of information and resources aimed at caregivers. And that is not always bad, when the stories are respectful and have insight from disabled people! Caregivers need to know how to caregive respectfully and responsibly! But so much of it is told from their perspective, and many of the stories are not respectful. The media matters and though the media reflects society, society also picks up things from the media.

What should we ask for?

  • They need to pay the disabled writers who still are willing to publish with them.

A fair wage, not just scraps, too.

  • They must make at least 50% of their editorial staff be disabled editors.

They must have real power and a real say.
  • Signal boost and amplify writing by disabled writers as the majority of their pieces.

No more inspiration and pity parade stories, please.

  • Stop using this as a purely money making platform and actually post things that support
    disabled people

The best way to do that is bullet point three. Admittedly some disabled people inspire me. Not because they're disabled, but because they are awesome. But post stories by disabled people that are not just inspiration porn, but practical. Life narratives are fine and we could all use role models, but we disabled people also need more practicality and things that give us tips on how to get around in day to day life.

-----
More posts: 



No comments:

Post a Comment