Few days ago I was discussing this issue at work. Specifically, we were talking about the emotionally loaded media campaigns that would portray a disabled person as "inspiring". At the time, I was definitely one of those that didn't like the idea to raise disability issues awareness this way. Rationale is that disabled people are objectified in these communication pieces for the inspiration and amusement of the non-disabled (or able-bodied if you will). Some of the disable folks in this group felt this didn't do any good to disability related causes. Quite the opposite: it would put us at this hero-like position, who for this very reason cannot afford to be a regular human being, thus remaining as excluded as he/she has always been.
Well, while I still think this portrait isn't something disabled people should support, I must say that the reading able-bodied people make from this is actually pretty accurate, even if not for the reasons they believe it is. The almost super natural ability disabled people need to have is not persistence and indefinitely sustaining extra effort for performing ordinary life tasks. If this was the only issue at hand, probably disabled people could be admired as the athletes usually are.
The skill these folks need to possess to survive is much greater than that. Disabled people need to live with chronic and increasing disadvantages in every aspect of their lives. And they need to do it very gracefully, otherwise besides excluded from regular social participation to several degrees, they will also be labelled as lazy complainers.
So the equation is quite simple (and this gets more and more clear the more qualified the person succeeds to be against all the accessibility odds). When disabled people don't get qualified enough (again, not because they are lazy complainers but because they couldn't, even if they almost killed themselves in the process of trying) it's quite easy for the employers of the world to justify their exclusion by that. And in a purely logical way, they are correct.
It gets more interesting as the disabled person achieves greater levels of qualification and therefore has the ultimate luck to be hired and to have some income. But then another purely logical excuse usually works quite well for justifying why person doesn't get promoted and also why there is hardly any disabled person at a reasonably high leadership position at any large corporation. Common statement is "He/she is not delivering". And now this gets really tricky. Because there are some different cases to be analyzed here:
1- Person is really not delivering. And then you can subdivide this case in two: she's not delivering because of lack of environmental conditions or he's not delivering because of individual reasons. Since these people are really few and rethinking the organization would require a lot of hard work, the latter is very much preferred. Person hasn't adapted because of some intrinsic personality trace, nothing to do with disability in the employer expert opinion.
2- Person is delivering, but the way she's able to do it doesn't quite show in the corporate radar, which kind of equals that to "not delivering". Or this person is clearly delivering, but so is everybody else to a certain extent. And then the different manner in which this person works prevents her to be recognized for it.
Now, before someone says both interpretations are very convenient for me personally, let's add some spice to the discussion. If from equally qualified people, the ones with a disability make systematically less money (which is a measurable fact), how likely it is that all these people have a common behavioral problem? Unless one believes disabled people are more prone to be lazy, what would be a suitable explanation for this phenomenon?
And if you haven't got the link of all that with inspirational porn, this is time for me to bring the issue back. Because the problem with portraying disabled people as heroes the way it's usually done is not to consider them as such. The more I live with a disability, the more I feel what's demanded from me is totally unreasonable for a normal human being. But not because I drive, I speak 5 languages, I take care of my own house and I work my ass off for my employer. Actually it's because for doing so under able-bodied conditions takes significantly more effort and energy. And for keeping up with this extra load I need to give up my own free time, because none of this is taken into account when I'm judged by the able bodied fellows.
However, the best is still to come: as mentioned before, even doing all that and having all the credentials, able-bodied folks still think disabled employee is not good enough, which explains the income deficit despite the lack of qualification deficit in my specific case. So again, I'm not a hero for doing all that, because in the end life sucks now, but it would be much worse for me to be completely left out, as it would probably have happened 50 years ago. I must be a hero because I must face all that gracefully and try my best not to let all this nonsense disguised as logical status quo drive me insane, or loose all hope in some of my effort being recognized with financial independence with decent life standards at some point in my life.
So yes, I guess all that really qualify me as a true hero. Especially if like most of them, I die doing my best to get to experience some dignity, without any honor that would make my struggle a bit more personally meaningful.
