Via blog entries, my pal Kim and I have been exchanging ideas on those designer wheelchairs that I mentioned the other day. There are some who may think we are reading more into all this than is necessary, or that we are entirely too sensitive, and Higher knows that overly-sensitive people with disabilities (hereafter "PWDs", in lieu of "gimp", so as not to imply something else to my favorite Brit ::grin::) piss me off.
The problem here is different than the faux pas committed by ABs trying to help PWDs but rather an image being perpetuated by people who should know better. Each and every one of their models is a recent PWD and thus still looks "normal" -- unlike me, Kim, Suz, Nay, Gina, P, or anyone else who has lived a majority of her/his life with a disability and looks "not normal." This isn't all that dissimilar to the argument I have about models in general implying an ideal body that is not seen on a majority of people off the runway.
If you go to Discovery Through Design's website, you'll notice their tagline on the left -- "If you can't stand up, STAND OUT." Which stands out more: the beautiful, picture perfect "roll models" (whose wheelchairs do not show at all in any of the pics on the "Meet the Roll Models" page), or the 65 lb., 29-year-old guy with thighs as big around as most men's ankles? Or the woman with a spine curved by scoliosis? Or what about the man or woman who doesn't have arms or legs at all? Are they trying to raise awareness of disability or pretty it up to make it more palatable for the ABs?
I'm realizing more and more I've gotten spoiled by WSU's superior accessibility compared to UNO and by being close to other PWDs. In NOLA, accessibility is a joke, I rarely see another PWD, and the attempts actually being made toward accessibility are minimal unless forcibly demonstrated that they are inadequate. All I want is to do my research, but instead I'm having to push for my right to enter and leave my apartment any damned time I want to. I'm having to think about tracking down the chancellor to see if he'll meet with me to discuss accessibility issues. I have to call ahead to any restaurant at which I want to eat to make sure I can even get in before driving there. I have to deal with uneven sidewalks and few curb cuts and scary bus lifts and a city and university that just don't give a shit.
Then I see a program that is supposedly trying to raise awareness about disability, but it is just reinforcing that I should be ashamed of how I look because I'm misshapen and not normal. How am I supposed to be able to work on my lousy self image? How am I supposed to believe Kender and Psi and Lynlee and Edie when they tell me I'm beautiful?
Kim, we most certainly should work on those letters. Please email me with your days off so I can know when to call you, and maybe we can get the other girls involved.
6 comments:
"If you can't stand up, STAND OUT."
I think I just threw up a little in my mouth.
Furthermore, I am the fashionably disabled.
This doesn't seem shocking to me and I am surprised anybody finds it shocking! The ideal in this country is super skinny, and perfect looks. If you don't have a perfect body and face, you can't be on a magazine cover, in a commercial or a movie. It should be expected that if the industry can't accept a girl who weighs 130 lbs or with a birthmark on her face, that they couldn't handle wheelchair models who looked less than perfect. It is ridiculous, but right in line with our society! The media wants perfection--and lets face it none of us meet their standards, and I don't really want to. I don't wear Prada shoes, because I am not willing to pay the price, and I imagine that these designer wheelchairs are kinda like that--so expensive that nobody could afford them--except the small crowd these people are trying to win over! I am sorry that this hits so close to home and hurts you! Def write a letter and see what happens, but try and put this into perspective. It is kinda like a Vogue event for PWD's. This is their laughable way to try and be more politically correct while trying to live up to their own standards of perfection and beauty! I see it as being another fashion show, with wheelchairs instead of size 2 designer gowns. It is a bunch of crap, just like all the fashion shows or fashion magazines--that's my opinion! Let me know what you think!
Ooh! I have another thought! This is along the same lines, but is about heavy people. When shopping for my husband, I have noticed that the big & tall catalogs do not use heavy people to model the clothing. I don't like this, because I want to see a person with a similar build wearing the shirt I want to buy. I can't tell how it will look on my heavy husband by seeing a man with a perfect body wearing it. It isn't wheelchairs, but on the same lines, because it doesn't show the type of person that is supposed to be using the product, and another example of the industrys refusal to show real people using the product they are promoting!
I looked thru the website and even watched the trailer Only 2 of the 4 "roll models" (I don't much like this term either, but guess its a play on words... roll=role) have spinal cord injuries, while 1 has MS the other with MD. I do agree that people (media) needs to see the more realistic PWDs, not just the picture perfect ones. I did not like the photos of the 4 models either, but the trailer at least provides a better pic of the real model.
Hey girl! People just really piss me off these days! Our society is just getting out of control with what they find "acceptable" and it just really frustrates the crap out of me!! I haven't checked out this website and doubt I will from what you have said in your blog. Or maybe I will and leave them a nasty email. I'm getting pretty dang good at those!...lol!! By the way, I don't think you're "too sensitive"...I think people are way too INSENSITIVE and will NEVER have a clue about a disability unless it happens to them!!
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