From a FB post, September 2020

I just got really uncomfortable reading someone’s brag post in a group I’m in that verged on disability/inspiration porn. ‘Inspiration porn’, for those not in the know, is the **amazing story** of how one person overcame their disabilities and went on to achieve greatness despite the way the deck was stacked against them. It functions in our society in much the same way that Horatio Alger stories do for capitalism—it soothes us into thinking that in a pinch, we, too, could be the exceptional success story—not the person struggling to get accommodations, not the one who ends up in dire poverty, not the one whose health continues to deteriorate, or who can’t access health care… but the one who overcomes.

Well, look. We all know that these feel-good stories feel good. That’s why they get passed around so much. But honestly, they don’t feel so great to anyone who thanks to their own situation with health and resources is **never going to overcome** no matter how much effort they put in. Where are the stories about someone who rested a lot and got better? Where are the stirring tales of, I lost the use of a limb and eventually I got used to it but it’s still pretty hecking inconvenient, and I wish it hadn’t happened? And why should people with chronic illnesses and disabilities be made to feel bad, and like if they wanted it enough, and worked hard enough, then surely they would be better by now? I mean, that’s a steaming pile, if you stop to think it through. People, by and large, are already doing their best—in the context of their present situation, mental and physical capacity, and resources.

Anyway. For my able friends, please don’t pass those kinds of stories around. And for my spoonie friends, chin up, loves. You’re already doing enough, and the state of your body was only ever partly up to you. Nobody is guaranteed health–and that’s just part of life with a body.