Disability representation: beyond charity and superhuman stories

Disability awareness. It’s a topic that seems to be more on the radar than ever before.

That’s great, but what does it mean? Given that the perception of disability in mainstream media varies so greatly, it necessarily follows that people’s understanding of disability awareness will differ just as vastly.

In my opinion, the overall perception of disability in the mainstream media boils down to two common and fundamentally opposing viewpoints. This results from two common and fundamentally opposing strategies for promoting awareness:

__The “Help the less fortunate” Strategy – __This refers to those well-meaning 20 somethings often on the front lines of disability awareness. Armed with a clipboard and a friendly smile, they interrupt your commute to work or your peaceful Saturday morning to request a monthly donation for “less than the price of your morning coffee”.

Now I don’t mean to poke fun; as far as I’m concerned, funding not-for-profit organizations is completely necessary. It’s just an unfortunate fact that disability and charity are almost always synonymous in the public eye.

The other common disability perception is…

__The “Superhuman” Strategy: __By this, I’m referring to every disability related human interest story ever! This includes TV and media campaigns based around famous people with a disability, or a person with a disability overcoming obstacles to do something miraculous, like climb a mountain!

Once again, not a bad thing at all. That kind of media is great, I love seeing it. It’s inspiring, but where’s the relatability?

I don’t honestly believe that everyone views disability in this fashion. Far from it. I just mean that these are the two perceptions we are most bombarded with. Neither of these perceptions are doing anything to bridge the social gap or truly promote any kind of social inclusion, understanding or acceptance.

There are 34,000 people in Australia with Cerebral Palsy alone, and the majority don’t fit into either of these categories. They’re not heroes of adversity, or passive entities on the fringe of society. They’re in your university lectures, they’re your work colleagues, they’re chilling in the same cafés and partying in the same clubs (clubs they often get kicked out of because security can’t tell the difference between disabled and drunk, but that’s a whole different blog post).

That’s what makes social inclusion such an important conversation. For example, integration into a mainstream classroom from an early age can mean less segregation and more education. Social inclusion means equal standing.

However, equal standing makes social inclusion a two way street. It’s not just on the shoulders of government organizations, disability services, or the education system. It falls on those feeling excluded as well.

When I was just a young chap (I’m talking ten or eleven years old), I was the shyest most self-conscious kid you could ever meet. I had arm splints, leg braces, even an eye patch! And as if that wasn’t enough, I was head and shoulders the shortest kid in my year!

I had a couple of friends, sure, but I wasn’t winning any popularity contests. I came to realise later that this probably had less to do with how other people saw my disability, and more to do with how I perceived myself and my disability.

All I ever wanted to do as a kid was perform but for a long time I just didn’t have the nerve. The day I finally stepped up and auditioned for a school talent show at the age of fourteen was perhaps one of the biggest milestones of my life. That was the day I started to include myself. I joined a band, found people with similar interests, and realized that people are inherently willing to give you a chance if you let them.

To my disabled brethren reading this, or in fact anyone who feels a little excluded from the norm, remember this. By just turning to someone you don’t know and saying “Hi”, you’re making a change. By finding what you’re passionate about and pursuing it wholeheartedly, you’re doing more to include yourself and further your cause than anyone else can.

Just by showing the world you’re no different to anyone else, you’re changing the stigma.

One person at a time.