By Kristen Fuller — 2021
Learn about the difference between body positivity and body neutrality.
Read on www.verywellmind.com
CLEAR ALL
We’ve been taught to refer to people with disabilities using person-first language, but that might be doing more harm than good.
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What I’m hoping to do here is help portray the incapacitated form in an optimistic light and defy the labels enforced upon us by society.
Although body positivity urges acceptance of all kinds of bodies, the movement still has room for improvement. Notably, people with disabilities, who through inaccessibility and lack of representation are often made to feel “other” by non-disabled folks.
“Body positivity is all about having a good relationship with your body.” Well that’s what everyone keeps telling me. The only problem is, if I told anyone about the way my body treats me, they would tell me it’s a relationship I need to get the hell out of.
Body positivity has begun to leave behind some of the people who spoke it into existence — among them is the disabled community.
Often, body positivity and fat activism exclude disabled people. It’s past time to change that.
Alex Dacy is a strong voice on Instagram for disabled body compassion and equality.
As a woman with a physical disability, I am usually glaringly aware of how my body is the polar opposite of what is deemed the norm.
I no longer care about my body being perfect. It’s taken a long time to get here, but I’ve realized my body has been through too much to spend time and energy caring about losing that extra 10 pounds or minimizing my scars.
I always had one goal in mind, which was to be able-bodied again.