#it saddens me that there are still so many horrible stories about disability being spread on tv

[majaurukalo]

Disabled people who shit talk their disability (and other disabilities) and think less of themselves if they don’t overcome their disability and are so full of self-hate and even go to social media or television to spread that kind of thought always raise in me some mix feelings.

The first reaction is anger. I’m angry at them for spreading such an abysmal view on disability and other disabled people and basically downgrading all the amazing work real disabled activists do everyday to make us see as humans and for having such horrible thoughts of a community they belong to.

They also trigger a very sensitive spot inside of me and I think they shouldn’t be given a platform to talk in such a way.

But then I try to calm down and rationalise and remind myself that I was in their shoes once.

That is basically internalised ableism which I, as many other disabled people, suffered from for a very long time.

Throughout my childhood and teenage years I would shiver at the idea of ending up in a wheelchair, I prayed that I would be healed and “fixed”, I would cry myself to sleep just to be normal. I hated myself.

I didn’t know any better. My parents didn’t teach me a better view because they didn’t know any better either.

You know what helped me accept and love myself? The disabled community.

All the amazing disabled creators, who talk about this topic in a healthy, empowering way.

So what I think is… disabled people who still suffer from internalised ableism are not our enemies. They are just people who haven’t found this community, who are still processing this difficult reality (and maybe they are newly disabled so that’s even more understandable). They are traumatised, they are suffering from the toxic views the able-bodied society puts on us. They probably don’t have a healthy support system, maybe just family and friends who are pushing them to get fixed, who are telling them to not give up to that kind of life. They think they are unlovable.

So let’s not shit on them. Let’s not insult them because that’s not how they will feel welcome into the community.

Instead, let’s encourage them to change view. Give them positive and empowering disability resources and examples.