By Aubrey Gordon — 2020
Often, body positivity and fat activism exclude disabled people. It’s past time to change that.
Read on www.self.com
CLEAR ALL
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.
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.
Internalized ableism occurs when disabled people internalize stigmatizing messages in society, like the low expectations that are often placed on those with disabilities. These expectations usually present in two ways.
In the beginning, it was difficult to let myself rest, even with the ultimate doctor’s note. I felt like I still had to push past my (extremely limited) capabilities. I had to practice slowing down and allowing my frailties to become visible even when I had the choice to hide them.
For many people, chronic illness/disability is not a short-term inconvenience but rather a long-term, often permanent way of life.
To say that fatphobia is not connected to anti-Blackism is to not understand the deep-rooted history between the two.
Meet the model and body activist challenging beauty norms, bullies, and online trolls.
When I told my family I was trans, one of their initial reactions was, “But you’re so hairy! It’s going to be so difficult to remove all your hair to be a woman, so you should just give up.” They were zeroing in on my body hair as the barrier for me to be seen as feminine.
One of life’s paradoxes is that we are encouraged to “be ourselves,” but are often punished when we do.