Crowd Sourcing Counter-Arguments: You’re Easily Offended and People with Disabilities Can’t Act Anyway

From the comments

Gentle Commenters & Readers of FWD:

I am tired. I am so completely and utterly out of spoons today I cannot even tell you. And thus, I turn to you, gentle folk, and ask for your assistance.

One of the more popular places to leave drive-by comments on FWD is And if this keeps up, there won’t be any, a post which is about the difficulties that performers with disabilities have in getting jobs, compared to the Oscar Bait that is non-disabled people playing the same role. At the time, I referred to it as “Crip Drag”, although having been gently corrected on that, I would now call it “Crip Face”.

The drive-by comments are usually all variations of the one that I have just approved there. I won’t copy the whole thing, but here is a small section of it:

So when your ultimate goal is to make a good film or play, and you’re taking into account physical characteristics, PR, talent, experience, chemistry (both in the role and with the other performers), and myriad other incidental considerations, and THEN you say you’re only going to choose from the very, very small pool of disabled actors, the end result is you’re going to get an actor far less suitable to the role than if you just chose for the good of the performance.

If you have the time/energy/inclination to do so, please join in the comments there to counter these arguments. I ask because I hope, sincerely, that if there is a discussion right there that takes on this oft-repeated belief that disabled people are just not able to act or perform in any way, or that what we are is “easily offended” rather than pointing out a problematic form of discrimination, maybe drive-by comments repeating it over and over will stop.

My only request in this is that commenters be polite. I know: tone shouldn’t matter. And I think anyone who isn’t willing to listen simply because You’re Too Angry is probably not anyone who is going to listen when you’re being polite. But, please do so, for me, because I’m tired, and angry is not something I can deal with today.

Again, here is the comment in full.

Your attention to this matter is greatly appreciated.

With affection,
Anna

3 thoughts on “Crowd Sourcing Counter-Arguments: You’re Easily Offended and People with Disabilities Can’t Act Anyway”

  1. this is my new favorite feature! Thanks so much to everyone taking this on in the older thread. It’s hard for us to make these same arguments over and over and to see commenters pitching in with gusto is amazing!

  2. I am shocked, SHOCKED, I say, that Lucy was not engaging in a good faith on that other thread, and in fact deemed the commenters coming to discuss her comment with her in good faith as an “army.”

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