The Stream

Why are disability clichés so destructive for the community?

Viral Twitter thread exposes common tropes around disability.

On Tuesday, February 11 at 1930 GMT:

“Disabled people are lazy and just need to get off their self-indulgent butts and do some hard work.” That’s just one of eleven tropes on disability that author Cindy Baldwin listed in a Twitter thread exploring old-fashioned narratives of disability and how they make people with disabilities feel.

“We are also so shaped with these narratives in a very ablest society and people don’t recognise these tropes are harmful. They have active real life connections to the way people are treated,” Baldwin told The Stream.

In this episode, we will use Baldwin’s Twitter thread as the basis for a discussion on how these tropes are used in the media, pop culture, literature, politics and more. And we will explore why accurate representation and authenticity are so important.

Have you been affected by disability tropes? Join the conversation.

 

On this episode of The Stream, we speak with:
 

Cindy Baldwin, @beingcindy
Author of “Where the Watermelons Grow”
cindybaldwinbooks.com

 

Lawrence Carter Long, @LCarterLong
Director of communications at the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund
dredf.org

 

Maryangel Garcia-Ramos, @maryangel_
Disability and diversity activist

Read more: 
‘Forrest Gump’ at 25: Disability representation (for better and worse) – Forbes
‘Joker’ and when physical disability is the punchline – The Hollywood Reporter