Thursday, April 25, 2013
Beyond Disability Porn ( with a correction from Red Sox to Cincinnati Reds)
I was happy to read Bill Peace's blog post today titled Hard to Believe, Sports Illustrated, Teddy Kremer and Feel Good Stories. As a passionate disability advocate, Bill has opened my eyes on many occasions, and in this post he addresses the trouble the media has -- and the propensity of our culture -- with depicting those with disability in a seeming attempt to highlight or inspire but rather demeans them. We call it disability porn, and I know that we're all guilty of it, at some point or another, even those of us who fight the stereotypes daily.
What's so unusual about the referenced story in Sports Illustrated is that it not only tells the inspiring story of a Cincinnati Reds bat-boy who also has Down Syndrome, but it actually calls for more progress. In fact, the article by Paul Daugherty is titled Reds Bat boy with Down Syndrome a Great Story, But it Shouldn't End.
I urge you to read both Bill's post and the Sports Illustrated article. Educate yourself and then pass along what you've learned.
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One of the things I love about our regional grocery store chain, Publix, is its hiring of all sorts of people. There are students, of course, and people like my daughter and son-in-law who are looking to make enough money to live on and have health insurance, and there are also people in their sixties, seventies, EIGHTIES who work there and there are folks with what we would call disabilities, too. They are all just part of the team and they do their jobs with pride, all of them, and it reminds me, when I go there, that all of us need to feel productive and to be rewarded for our efforts with a salary as well as the opportunity to do a job to the best of one's ability. I could say a lot more but it seems to me to be a place where there is no subtle discrimination. I could be wrong. But it feels balanced. It feels real.
ReplyDeleteI love this! The fact that a major mainstream magazine (one that puts out a yearly 'swimsuit issue' exploiting female athletes as "hot," no less) would run a piece like this warms my heart. I love the author and hope he knows what a wonderful thing he has done by explaining why this young man, and so many others like him, deserve to be humanized, not treated as mascots. Thank you, Elizabeth, for bringing this to my attention because I never would have seen it otherwise.
ReplyDelete(BTW, I love the phrase "disability porn.")
I liked his article. And yes, it would be incredible.
ReplyDeleteSomeday we are going to actually meet for coffee (or something stronger) and talk about this for four hours straight. For now I will keep it to a simple "Amen."
ReplyDeleteLoved, loved, loved this article. So rare to find a news article about Ds that doesn't make me cringe & die a little inside. I'd seen the video floating around fb but hadn't clicked because, yes, inspiration porn - but this made my day.
ReplyDeletePost read, point taken, greets from Switzerland
ReplyDeletea