Stella young is a disabled woman who gives a Ted talk on why she is not your inspiration. In this talk she mentions how disabled people as a whole are seen as making huge achievements and being an inspiration to others when they are just living their normal lives.
Stella goes on to explain how when she was younger her community wanted to nominate her for an achievement award even though she had done nothing out of the ordinary, but just because she is in a wheelchair. It’s common to idolize images of men and women who are “beating the odds” and are doing things “despite” their disability, when in reality they are “using their body to the best of their ability” (Young, 2014)
I agree with Stella’s argument here. I think it’s very common for those
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There is also a bias against disabled people from the aspect of people think they will be entitled to win the awards because of that person’s disability. This is the most saddening part, that even the people without disability recognize the mistreatment of the disabled but still choose to hold them up as figures of inspiration regardless.
In my research I came across another Ted Talk about disability by a woman named Susan
Robinson. As someone who is legally blind she talks about her disability and how it affects her and society. Susan speaks about how important it is for everyone, not just the disabled, to figure out what their true strengths are and to use those strengths to their advantage at all times. She mentions how even though she is visually impaired she is able to process extreme volumes of information quickly and to” ‘see’ what other people don’t” (Robinson, 2016). The main point I found important from her speech is when she says “I hate the word disabled when its used to describe people. It detonates a mindset of less-than that disregards capacity, ability and potential.” (Robinson, 2016) This quote speaks volumes to the way society views the disabled.