Looking at Disability Positively

When we flip through a magazine, or the channels on our TV we are blinded by "perfect people". People with hair that falls perfectly down their back, people with long legs and a tiny waist, and people that can walk without having to push a button forward. It's hard to believe that such a large part of our human race wasn't included in that part of life. The media is supposed to involve EVERYONE... and it does, sort of. I'm not saying the media is portraying the disabled fairly but compared to a decade ago, we have come a far way.

American Horror Story - This show had an entire season dedicated to disabled people! Rose Siggins played Legless Suzy on American Horror Stories fourth season. Rose had a rare genetic disorder that affected her lower spine called sacral agenesis. Rose has no legs which results into her mostly using her upper arms. When Rose talks about her illness this is what she has to say, "People stare at something they don’t understand. We’re just like you, we just come in different forms. I kind of like the way I am. I would never change it. This is my normal."

Speechless - On September 21, 2016, about 500,000 Americans with cerebral palsy saw themselves portrayed by Micah Fowler on the sitcom Speechless. This show became one of the most important and talked about shows when it aired on ABC. Speechless is very unique because there's not just one “very special episode” feel to it, viewers can just watch the show and see that people with disabilities are just like everyone else. When PEOPLE sat him down for an interview Micah said, "Actors with disabilities face typecasting and a lack of auditioning opportunities, but I don’t let [it] define me, I see those things as challenges and not barriers.”

New York Fashion Week - When NY Fashion Week teamed up with Fondazione Vertical and Models of Diversity, they created a show featuring disabled models. They did this to show that wheelchairs don't take away from ones beauty and elegance. Jamie Brewer was one of the many who walked the catwalk and she said, "We're role models, not just runaway models."

"Achieving this integration, for disabled and able-bodied people alike, requires that we insert disability daily into our field of vision: quietly naturally, in the small and common scenes of our ordinary lives" - Nancy Maris