CW: Cancer & Ableism
In our culture, people focus on the palatable aspects of disability. They want the feel‑good stories and shy away from anything that makes them uncomfortable. They love the heartwarming scenes, the smiling faces of disabled children in an ad, the child with prosthetic legs who is an athlete, or the viral videos of a disabled teenager going to prom.
What they don’t want to see are the difficult realities of disability. They don’t want to hear about behavioral challenges, medical crises, insurance appeals, twenty‑four‑hour care, or the fact that disabled people are still abused in schools, hospitals, and care facilities. People want a heartwarming video, or story, not the difficult reality of what it takes to keep disabled people safe, supported, and alive.
This is what drives inspiration porn. These stories are never about policy failures or budget cuts. They aren’t about bureaucratic decisions that can erase essential support with a single mistake. Many people assume disabled people have their medical needs fully covered, or that everyone receives disability benefits.
Some even think being a caregiver is an easy way to make a living, as if the job involved just cooking or driving. I once had a friend who thought he wanted to be my PCA (Personal care assistant). He assumed the work involved errands and transportation. When he learned he would have to help me shower and use the bathroom, he lost interest, which was understandable.
But after I explained more about the job, he began to understand why caregiving is essential. The discomfort people feel towards the intimate parts of disability often reveals how little they understand about the support disabled people need to survive.
Feel‑good stories about medical care follow the same pattern. They highlight individual acts of generosity while ignoring the systems that force disabled or chronically ill people to rely on charity in the first place.
Tanner Wilson, a teenager from Arkansas, saved for two years to buy his classmate, Brandon Qualls, a power wheelchair. Brandon had been using a manual wheelchair that left him in pain and exhausted.
Tanner’s gift made national news. While Tanner’s gift was generous, a teenager should not have to save his own money to provide another teenager with essential medical equipment. These stories let people celebrate kindness while avoiding a harsh reality: disabled people often go without critical equipment because insurance won’t cover it.
In 2021, I created a GoFundMe page for the iLevel technology on my power chair. I am eternally grateful that my community raised the money for me. However, I was also saddened that my health insurance wouldn’t pay for iLevel.
The same dynamic appears when people face medical crises. In Florida, a history teacher named Robert Goodman was undergoing treatment for cancer when he ran out of sick days. He was faced with a heartbreaking situation: returning to work during chemotherapy or taking unpaid leave.
His colleagues donated their own sick days to keep him afloat. People were generous. But a man fighting cancer should not have to rely on generosity to survive.
Inspiration porn creates a painful contradiction. Disabled people who achieve something are celebrated, while those who cannot work or rely on others are treated as burdens. The same culture that applauds the disabled person who climbs a mountain or runs a marathon shames the person who can’t.
We need a culture that sees disability as human, not a lesson, not a symbol, not something meant to inspire everyone else. Real progress won’t come from more feel-good stories. It will come from ensuring every disabled person lives with dignity and has the care and support they need.
Sources:
Patterson, Thom. “A Teen Saves for 2 Years to Buy His Friend an Electric Wheelchair.” CNN, 5 Mar. 2019, https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/05/us/teen-gives-friend-electric-wheelchair-trnd/index.html.
Price, Lilly. “A Florida Teacher Didn’t Have Enough Sick Days During Chemotherapy, So His Fellow Educators Donated Theirs.” USA Today, 15 Aug. 2018, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/humankind/2018/08/15/florida-teachers-step-up-help-fellow-educator-cancer/996653002/.
Perry, David M. “Opinion: Inspiration Porn Further Disables the Disabled.” Al Jazeera America, 2 June 2015, http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2015/6/inspiration-porn-further-disables-the-disabled.html.