Comments on: Guest Post: To Whom It May Concern

By: Fish Echo

Fish Echo — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 07:03:39 +0000

I have recced this post at my reccing journal: http://community.livejournal.com/fish_recs/8881.html

By: Assiya

Assiya — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 04:08:47 +0000

I love this. I have it bookmarked so I can come back and keep reading it again.

By: Fish Echo

Fish Echo — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:48:49 +0000

Yes, this. .-= Fish Echo´s last blog ..SPN drabble: Daughter of Folklorists =-.

By: Rita

Rita — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:08:05 +0000

Can I just say, HELL YES. The minute someone is a seen as a tragedy, or a cliche, or an inspirational figure, no one’s looking at them as a PERSON any more, and that shouldn’t happen to anyone.

By: Cesy

Cesy — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:23:40 +0000

Yes, this.

By: The White Lady

The White Lady — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:41:11 +0000

Oh god THIS!

I am not your inspiration. I’m just me. Why the heck can’t people see that?

By: kaninchenzero

kaninchenzero — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:46:18 +0000

And a certain gentleman (Karl Taro Greenfield) wrote a memoir, Boy Alone, about growing up with a younger brother who had an autism spectrum disorder. I haven't read the book, so I can't speak to it directly, but I heard him being interviewed on NPR (I think it was Fresh Air) and it was pretty awful. He'd done this unique, courageous thing and put truth to paper, which is that having a sibling with autism sucks. That bastard stole his family! Hence the title. True, it wasn't your usual heartwarming "My disabled sibling's existence taught me how to shit unicorn-flavored rainbows!" story, but resenting the disabled ain't exactly new either.

By: Anna

Anna — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:23:05 +0000

The sad thing is, parents of children with disabilities do get speaking fees to come to universities and tell their “inspiring” story.

By: PharaohKatt

PharaohKatt — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:05:47 +0000

The amount of times I’ve heard “despite” or “in spite of” in that context! Just last night I was at a conference, and on a video we were shown a mother was saying “This is the story of how he became such a wonderful little boy despite his difficulties” (check out recent post for more on that… though it’s not really about that video per se…)

Actually, my most profound moment at recognising disabled people as whole came when I was 12/13 and my little brother was diagnosed with Asperger’s. My mum was showing me a leaflet about it, and explaining why he had been given the diagnosis. She was showing me which behaviours matched his.
I said, “So it’s all because of his Asperger’s? I thought it was just him.”
She replied, “It is just him. Asperger’s is part of him, and helped make him who he is.”

I’m probably not relating the story well, my memories of that time are fuzzy, but her basic premise was this isn’t a horrible condition taking away my brother, it’s just my brother’s way of thinking given a name.

“I am not your fucking cliche.” and “I’ll only be someone’s inspiration for a speaking fee with 4-5 figures. Inspiration doesn’t come cheap.” need to be made into T-shirts (with the second phrase possibly shortened somehow).
.-= PharaohKatt´s last blog ..Positive Experiences with Disability Activism =-.

By: thetroubleis

thetroubleis — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:08:09 +0000

I think we should start telling people that. It seems it would be lucrative. .-= thetroubleis´s last blog ..What It Is To Be A Monster =-.