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Michelle Friedman
Inspiration porn objectifies people with disabilities. I’m all for celebrating the accomplishments of disabled people just like I’m all in on celebrating the accomplishments of non-disabled people. But that’s the thing – the accomplishment itself is what should be celebrated, not the fact that even a person with a disability can make it happen. And the message given either overtly or subliminally to able-bodied people to just try harder really just uses disabled people as a tool.
I hate the term “special needs.” There, I said it. I know that statement is going to raise the ire of some people, but I have good reasons for my antipathy.
Let’s start with the term “special.” When I looked up the word “special” in the dictionary, the definitions were “better,” “greater,” or “otherwise different from what is considered usual.” Does that mean that the term “special needs” refers to needs that are better? Probably not. Needs that are “greater?” Quite possibly. Needs that are “otherwise different from usual”? Also, quite possibly and most likely.
It’s not a bad thing. It is simply part of who I am. I have been blind for the last 28 years of my life and visually impaired for 28 years before that. I have also been-in no particular order of priority-- a Jewish woman, a life coach, a Zionist, wife, mother, grandmother, aunt, friend, daughter, sister, disability advocate and community leader. My son accepts all these aspects of my identity as well as my blindness because that is all he has ever known. He doesn’t think of my disability any more than my being his mom, being Jewish or any other of my identities.
Words matter. I’ve been hearing that phrase a lot lately in the context of today’s social climate, referring to race, religion, ethnicity--any aspect of human interaction. It is true. It’s true because words have power--they can make us cringe when they are ugly and demeaning. They can uplift us when they are empowering and kind. As citizens of the world, when we become educated about issues that affect others and ourselves, our choice of language evolves as does our social consciousness.
