Disability & Pity: A Documentary

[trouble]

Via a friend in a locked post: Five Things You Can Learn From Ventilator Assisted Children, or the latest round of "G-d created people with disabilities so that Good Christians could learn about piety".

(And seriously, the message is often not religious right anymore, but so much of the pity and "I learned so much from these sightless children!" is still present. One day, we'll be beyond Victorian stereotypes of disability and on that day, my friends, on that day... I will probably be dead already.)

What can you, gentle reader (because, of course, none of you are Ventilator Assisted, because people with disabilities exist only as empty vessels, not as people who surf the web), learn from Ventilator Assisted Children?

Poll #6409 Very Special Lessons!

Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: Just the Poll Creator, participants: 39

What of the many stereotypical lessons one can learn from disabled children did the author learn? Pick no more than 5!

Patience!
10 (31.2%)

Humility!
12 (37.5%)

It's weird to be the only non-disabled person in a group!
12 (37.5%)

Disability is hard, but gosh darn it, disabled kids are cute! (There are no disabled adults)
24 (75.0%)

That Someone or Something has a Higher Plan for us!
15 (46.9%)

Some people really do care about something other than themselves!
13 (40.6%)

That life can be so much worse!
17 (53.1%)

When life throws you lemons, make lemonade!
7 (21.9%)

Don't stop believin' -- no, wait, that's Glee. Be a little engine that could!
7 (21.9%)

Volunteering makes you feel good about yourself!
18 (56.2%)

That one should enjoy the little things in life!
9 (28.1%)

Some other life lesson that non-disabled people learn from PWD all the time!
6 (18.8%)

What other life lessons do non-disabled people learn from disabled children all the time!

What life lessons do you wish non-disabled people would learn from people with disabilities?

My life/the lives of people with disabilities is/are not a tragedy.
26 (76.5%)

My life/the lives of disabled people is/are not a pity pr0n for your tears.
28 (82.4%)

I am not/disabled people are not (a) poster child(ren).
21 (61.8%)

There are disabled adults in the world, and they need accessibility as much as disabled children do.
29 (85.3%)

The lives of PWD are not very special lessons at all so stop making overwrought metaphors about it!
30 (88.2%)

Something else
6 (17.6%)

What other life lessons do you wish non-disabled people would *actually* learn from the lives of people with disabilities?

On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is "not very" and 10 is "Oh deary my, quite", how sarcastic is this entry?

Mean: 8.59 Median: 9 Std. Dev 1.85

1	0 (0.0%)
2	0 (0.0%)
3	2 (5.4%)
4	0 (0.0%)
5	1 (2.7%)
6	0 (0.0%)
7	5 (13.5%)
8	7 (18.9%)
9	4 (10.8%)
10	18 (48.6%)

Pick only one! (Or none at all)

Coffee
3 (7.7%)

Tea
12 (30.8%)

Hot Chocolate
12 (30.8%)

Hot Water
1 (2.6%)

Steamed/Warmed up Milk
0 (0.0%)

So, it's kinda cold in your house, huh?
11 (28.2%)

This dude is a film maker. I wonder if it would blow his mind to learn how many films about their own experiences people with disabilities have made?

I would, if I may, recommend against engaging with the author, because he seems to have made several of these pity-pr0n movies and will no doubt wish to inform you about how incredibly brave he is or threaten to take his toys and go home or, even better, have people tell you how they won't care about disability anymore if you're not nice to him, so, you know. Leave that be. There are other uses of our time! Good uses! Like going out to tea with a book, which is what I am going to do right now.

Comments

[terajk]

I have learned that the author's definition of "five" is very different from mine. Because I see only THREE things he learned from PWD, and two things he learned from non-disabled people who do Nice Things for PWD.

I have also learned that the author extrapolates like woah. How does he know that Maylan's goal of being a psychiatrist is "what keeps [her] going; gives [her] a reason to get through another day; gives [her] the strength to look life in the face and say, 'You’ll never get the best of me until I’m done with these things.'” How does he know it's not, like, because she wants to be a psychiatrist? Or because she wants to help people with their problems, like she said?

[meloukhia]

Well, personally, my goal to be an incredibly patronising documentarian who makes 'inspiring' films about oppressed groups I don't belong to to provide learning experiences for people is that keeps ME going.

[terajk]

This is a fascinating "view from the inside" of the life of an incredibly patronising documentarian. /lol

I also don't understand the assumption that PWD never have mundane, sometimes petty, problems. Am I a bad PWD for getting annoyed with my cat when he *eats my lettuce even though he is a carnivore, you goofus.* (Gives cat the side-eye).

[allies_person]

If so, I'm a bad PWD as well, because I have the same problem. Only my cat tries to eat just about everything, not just lettuce, regardless of whether it contains meat. It's annoying, even though he is a perfect cat in (virtually) every other way.

But we all know that PWD are saints who are never bothered by the small stuff, thus teaching a Special Lesson to TABs.

The poll is hilarious.

[wordweaverlynn]

The poll IS hilarious, but I want to read the comments others have posted about Speshul Lessons we can learn from each other. They're not showing up, at least in Firefox.

[ironed_orchid]

That's because the answers are viewable by none.

[slave2tehtink]

Wait, can we make an inspiring film about people who are NOT in oppressed groups? See jackandahat's comment below. I am picturing a film on the special, special lessons that PWD can learn from the non-disabled!