My View on 'Inspiration Porn'

At some point in most disabled people's life, they come across a little thing called 'inspiration porn'. Inspiration porn can be viewed in a number of different ways by a huge amount of people. Inspiration porn is where someone is viewed as being “inspiring” just because they're living the best life they can, or it can be when a person with a disability or illness does something that society doesn't expect a disabled person to do for one reason or another.

If they are a writer or blogger, most disabled people find themselves writing about inspiration porn at some point. I think this is because they have come across it at some point in their lives, and most of us, if not all, think that it is wrong and extremely cringe-worthy.

Although it is meant to be seen as a compliment, believe it or not, it is actually very insulting and awkward for us receiving these comments because we are just human like you, and we don't want to be seen as an inspiration just because we are living and getting on with our lives despite our disabilities.

I am willing to take compliments from others within reason, but when someone just says things like “you're an inspiration” just for the sake of it, I really don't like it at all! Last year, I wrote a blog post about being called a “hero”, and this is similar to being called an inspiration because in my eyes, I have done nothing to warrant these compliments at all. In my opinion, it is just meaningless. I am only one person who creates posts. I just do what I enjoy. If something that I write inspires you, then great, but please don't go out of your way to call me inspirational.

I suppose it depends on the type of person you are as to whether you like being seen as an inspiration or not. In my opinion, there is a very fine line for this because I like to know that what I am doing is actually making a difference, but then again, I don't want to feel awkward when someone does compliment me on my work.

In September, last year, I went to my local boxing club to see whether I would be able to do it as an activity for when I have my respite. The club asked to take a video of me when I was boxing to put on their Facebook page, I didn't think anything of it, so I agreed to this. It didn't turn out well. I soon realised that they were using the video in ways that I didn't agree to. They were using it to promote their club, and say that I was “inspiring”. They kept sharing it as if to say look how good we are! We are inclusive! I just thought that they were just going to post it once, but they shared it several times; each time with an inspirational or promotional caption, encouraging more people to join in with the comments. When I asked them to stop, they did, so that was good. I never wanted all this attention at all. This is another example of inspiration porn.

I have learned a lot about inspiration porn over the years, and personally, I don't agree with it at all. It's just wrong on so many levels, and people need to realise that most of us don't actually like all that attention. We definitely do not like being patronised! In my opinion, inspiration porn is never acceptable. People shouldn't do it at all. It isn't acceptable at all!