The Pervasive Harms Of “Ableism” and “Inspiration Porn” in Storytelling
Issue Seventeen
Hello! Howdy? I’m Priti Salian, an independent journalist, editor, researcher, media trainer and the author of this fortnightly newsletter which simplifies disability inclusion for content creators.
In this issue, hear from people with disabilities around the world about ableism in the media and how it impacts their rights and progress. Tips to avoid ableism in storytelling follow. Find more about media representation, disability data, recommendations and an opportunity.
“People are surprised because I don’t ‘look’ disabled”
Earlier this week, I conducted a webinar, “Writing disability stories for a global audience” for the Disability Justice Media Network. DJMN is a WhatsApp group by the Disability Justice Project I manage. Disabled and non-disabled journalists, writers and media creators interested in disability-inclusive approaches from all parts of the world make up our group. Hit reply if you’d like to join.
As we discussed the criticality of getting rid of “ableism” and “inspiration porn” in writing, reporting and other media, during the webinar, we discovered how unanimously they impact the opportunities, hinder access and therefore, the progress of persons with disabilities across the world.
In short, ableism is the discrimination against disabled people in favour of non-disabled people.
Inspiration porn is a term coined by ABC journalist Stella Young, who was a wheelchair user. She left us a very important explanation and vocabulary for the objectification of disabled people.
Don’t applaud people with disabilities to simply exist, Stella said. Why should the everyday lives of people with disabilities in which they do exactly the same things as non-disabled people be “inspiring” to others? Because it’s ‘extraordinary’ for a non-disabled person? Stella said. Read more about Stella’s inspiration porn in the eleventh issue of Reframing Disability.
As we step into Disability Pride Month in July, it’s a good time to share the rich discussion I had with the webinar participants from around the world to give a picture of how far we are from recognising disability as anything close to pride.
Kinanty Andini, a filmmaker, graphic designer and disability activist from Indonesia said that she has to prove herself before she can reveal her psychosocial disability. She does this to make people believe that a person with a disability is capable of doing the same things as non-disabled people.
“When I show them my skills, they say, I'm smart and clever,” she said. When they learn about her disability, they are so surprised that they almost can't believe she has a psychosocial disability. “People are surprised because I don’t ‘look’ disabled,” Kinanty said. “They are unable to believe that I can speak English, do digital art or edit videos as someone with a psychosocial disability.”
Alexander Ogheneruemu, a deaf writer from Nigeria has had similar experiences.
“Just yesterday, an authorised government official was at my office for levy payment. He tried talking with me and on noticing I'm deaf, summoned a junior official to do the conversation,” said Alexander. “I come across these regularly in everyday life,” he rued.
Parita Dholakia, a deaf communications professional from Mumbai has found that the lack of awareness about deafness being a spectrum results in a lot of assumptions among the hearing community.
“As a late-deafened adult, I do not know sign language. But a large part of the world ‘assumes’ that I do, or they are surprised when I talk ‘normally’,” she said. “There is a subtle surprise hidden in their behaviour to find someone who is deaf but not ‘dumb’.” [Dumb is a stigmatising term used for someone who can’t speak. In place of ‘dumb’, it is preferable to state how a person who can’t speak communicates. For example, X is deaf and an Indian Sign Language user].
“To amplify their surprise, when I introduce myself, I have stopped identifying as someone who cannot hear before I begin to speak – but announce it after a few sentences,” Parita said.
She finds ableist attitudes a huge barrier in her life. “Sometimes, not hearing a sound feels like a smaller problem in front of the challenges I face due to the ecosystem around me.”
Maya Misikir, an independent journalist from Addis Ababa gave another example of how ableism diminishes a disabled person’s achievements. She shared the case of a disabled student who graduated recently from a university. “After the ceremony, instead of praising the kid, the entire focus was on how much the mother had sacrificed to educate her son and that she deserves a degree as well,” she said.
Rwandan journalist Francine Uwayisaba said that disabled expectant mothers in Rwanda are often asked in hospitals, “Who made you pregnant?” Instead of offering service and care, the hospital staff ask them ableist questions, doubting that disabled women can be sexually active and reproduce.
“Media tends to infantilise persons with disabilities,” said one participant. We need to get to the point where people with disabilities are treated as equals, on the same level as everyone else.
Avoiding ableism in storytelling
Below is a non-exhaustive checklist for non-ableist storytelling that we discussed in detail during the webinar.
Address the causes of a disabled person’s challenges and the systemic changes needed when telling their story.
Note how many other people could be in a similar situation and need those systemic changes.
Give a realistic picture without over-dramatising a disabled person’s story.
Show the tools and the support a person with a disability uses every day to go about their everyday life.
Don’t use the “overcome the disability” narrative.
Sympathy or pity towards a person’s disability in the narrative? Nah.
Disabled people are not a problem to be fixed and they don’t need to hear that in the media.
Persons with disabilities have the same rights as non-disabled people. Frame stories to reflect those rights.
Include disabled people in telling their stories.
Look who’s got media representation right!
Netflix series
Bridgerton fans have been swooning over the third season of the period drama, but people with disabilities are thrilled about the representation. In the first episode, the character of Lady Stowell uses British Sign Language to communicate with her daughter Dolores Stowell. In one scene, Dolores bows to the unimpressed Queen Charlotte, and then signs to her mum that the queen hates her. To which, Lady Stowell replies, “Impossible, you were perfect!”
Another appearance in the later episodes is of Lord Remington in a wheelchair, played by Zak Ford-Williams who is a wheelchair user in real life. Lord Remington chats with the heroine of the season, Penelope Featherington, and also seen participating in an event with other men of the nobility.
Shondaland is known for its inclusion and sensitive portrayal of marginalised communities. What I love in this season is that both characters are part of the nobility and fit seamlessly into the story, not as afterthoughts.
Cricket World Cup
Indians love cricket. Yes, even disabled Indians. And yet, until earlier this year, we didn’t have an inclusive telecast of matches. Recently, the ICC Men’s T-20 World Cup tournament in partnership with ISH News and Disney+ Hotstar provided Indian Sign Language (ISL) interpretation, making the matches accessible to millions of ISL users, and was appreciated for accurate interpretation. However, not every deaf person communicates using sign language and we have about 63 million people with hearing loss in India. Next time, captions must be available with the telecast for deaf caption users. It’s a mandate by law.
Assistive Technology Awareness Day
The first World Day for Assistive Technology was celebrated on 4th June. This campaign video is a great portrayal of how assistive devices give persons with disabilities a level playing field. Sorry folx, if you need audio descriptions to enjoy this video. Sadly, the campaigners forgot about accessibility and the video is without audio description.
Disability Data
Factsheet on Indian elections
Nipman Foundation in association with Young Leaders for Active Citizenship (YLAC) collated facts about the Lok Sabha Election 2024, using data available on the ECI website and publicly available media reports, and put together a comprehensive factsheet.
Voters With Disabilities in Elections 2024
88.4 lakh persons with disabilities were registered to vote in India’s 2024 General Elections – a significant demographic, which is 1.45 times the population of Singapore. Additionally, 4 in every 10 voters with disabilities are women.
Disability Rights in Party Manifestos
CPI (M) released its manifesto in sign language, making it accessible for deaf voters.
Sadhan Chandra Gupta was the first blind parliamentarian in independent India in 1953 and later served as the Advocate General of West Bengal.
Hari Dev Joshi, a left-hand amputee and an Indian National Congress politician, served as Rajasthan's Chief Minister thrice.
Candidates with Disability in the 2024 Elections
Electoral procedures in India do not mandate the disclosure of disabilities, resulting in a significant gap in information and representation of candidates with disabilities. A special mention is given to "Paralympian Gold Medalist turned Parliamentary Candidate" Devendra Jhajharia, who contested from Churu Constituency, Rajasthan.
Limited Political Representation of persons with disabilities
Prominent political figures with disabilities.
Jaipal Reddy | INC
Simon Britto Rodrigues | CPI (M)
Yamuna Prasad Shastri | Janata Party
Voter Turnout of persons with disabilities
The ECI has not yet released voter turnout data for persons with disabilities (PwDs) for the 2024 elections. Disability-based disaggregated data was also not made available in the 2019 general election.
ECI Initiatives for Accessible Elections
Vote from Home
Saksham Accessibility App
Braille-enabled EVMs
ECI named Sheetal Devi, a para archer and Arjuna awardee, as its national disability icon. The ECI also appointed distinguished persons with disabilities as state icons.
To know about election accessibility in the 2024 general election, read my report for the Disability Justice Project.
Another business case for disability inclusion
In a piece on why accessibility makes dollar and sense, Mark Demontis writes how the Canadian consumer base of persons with disabilities is more than a third of the country’s population with an estimated disposable income exceeding $311 billion, based on 2020 statistics. As the projection for the disabled population is 40% of the total population, the business case will only get stronger.
Recommendations
A group for non-speaking autistics
Aditi Sowmyanarayan, a teenage author and a friend of Reframing Disability, manages, along with Aniket Kadam and Tarun Paul Mathew, Silent Expressions, a group envisioned as a safe space for non-speaking autistics older than 16. If you are a non-speaking autistic or a neurodivergent person from anywhere in the world, use WhatsApp, and would like to exchange thoughts and ideas with others from the community, fill out this Google Form to join the group.
Webinar
Join the webinar "Countdown to Enforcement 2025: Navigating the European Accessibility Act" on the European Accessibility Act on June 25th from 4pm to 5pm CEST.
Book
The Ha-Ha: A feel-good comedy of friends reunited
Author: English sociologist, bioethicist, and standup comedian, Tom Shakespeare.
“Representations of disabled characters tend to be tragic but plucky, the Tiny Tim type figure, or very sinister and evil, like Richard III,” he says. “I wanted to write about an ordinary disabled character who, yes, uses a wheelchair. But most of the time, it’s not a big issue,” said Tom about his book in a Guardian interview.
Opportunity
Inevitable Foundation’s Visionary Fellowship
A new program, exclusively supported by Netflix, the Visionary Fellowship, “invests in disabled filmmakers with the funding, mentorship, and community they need to create short films and leverage them into their first features.
The Visionary Fellowship is uniquely designed to cover the transition between making a short film and preparing and packaging a debut feature, and provides fellows with $55,000 in funding over the course of the program.”
Application deadline: 31 July 2024
Thank you for reading this issue of Reframing Disability! Reply to this email with your thoughts on today’s content and connect with me on LinkedIn and Twitter! Share Reframing Disability widely to support my work. You’ll find me in your inbox again in two weeks. Until then, stay safe and healthy!
Warmly,
Priti