Stella Young: “I’m Not Your Inspiration, Thank You Very Much”

In this talk, the late Stella Young addresses ways society objectifies people with disabilities as objects of inspiration, and the social construction of disability.

“I use the term (inspiration) porn deliberately because they objectify one group of people for the benefit of another group of people. So in this case we’re objectifying disabled people for the benefit of non-disabled people.

The purpose of these images is to inspire you, to motivate you, so that we can look at them, and think well however bad my life is, it could be worse. I could be that person.

But what if you are that person?”

“The social model of disability tells us that we are more disabled by the society we live in, than by our bodies and our diagnosis.“

Also check out:

17 things Stella Young wanted you to know

Why Stella Young Was So Important For Australia

Ubuntu,

From Aspiring Humanitarian, Relando Thompkins-Jones, MSW, LLMSW

—————————————————————————————————————————

(N.A.H.) is advertisement-free and reader supported. If you enjoy my notes, consider supporting (N.A.H.) with a one-time donation or by becoming a monthly patron.

—————————————————————————————————————————