This is a Tumblr post of a screenshot of a tweet that’s a screenshot of someone copying and pasting words from a tumblr post onto notepad we’ve come full circle
I think it’s common across many forms of bias for people to blame their discomfort on the object of the discomfort instead of taking responsibility for it
“Gay couples holding hands… are rubbing it in my face”
“She’s wearing that, so obviously she wants me to react to her body”
This is something I’ve been trying to articulate with regard to ~cringe~ culture.
Secondhand embarrassment is a normal human thing that we all feel sometimes. But it’s on you to deal with your emotions. It’s not the responsibility of the person you’re embarrassed for to alter their behavior to your liking.
[Picture: a tweet by Kayla Whaley (@punkinOnWheels) that says “PSA: if you ever in any context describe me as “overcoming my disability” I will overcome your face with my wheels. Thank you for your time.”]
I absolutely love this tweet. I too have experienced this kind of treatment in both my brief stint as a wheelchair basketball player and in my current career as a software engineer.
The thing that really amazed me the most about this tweet, however, were some of the responses. Most of them were positive but some people reacted to this tweet with a kind of defensiveness; shocked that their “compliment” could be taken as an insult. One person went so far as to encourage here to “overcome” her “bigotry”. What?
Here’s thing thing, able-bodied people: when you praise a disabled person for living a healthy, normal life (just like you!) “despite their disability” you are reminding us just how low your expectations of us are to begin with. I would be fucking furious if my boss or coworker’s positive feedback on my work was couched in terms of my disability:
“Wow, Urban. This new UI you put together is great. You really didn’t let your wheelchair get in the way of this. Great work”.
“Man, Urban not only made this algorithm 30% faster, he did so despite being in a wheelchair”.
Starting to see the picture now?
When you couch everything we do within the context of our disability, it obscures and diminishes the true nature and value of our accomplishments.
The Florida Cracker is one of the oldest breeds of sheep in North America. It is believed that these sheep developed from sheep that the Spanish first brought to the southeastern United States in the 1500’s. These sheep developed largely through natural selection under humid semitropical range conditions in Florida. The Florida Cracker sheep is a dual purpose breed for meat and wool. Wool covers the back, rear and sides of these sheep but less on the face and usually none on the belly or legs. Eye color is normally a dark brown; however they may also lighter eyes ranging from orange to blue. Being a Landrace breed, there is a lot of variation within the breed. The length of the tail varies and may be docked or left natural. Usually, areas with less wool are protected by a coat of coarse hair. The wool tends to be colored white, reddish brown or tan.
So as a division officer to nearly 60 sailors over 3 years. I asked every single one. “What made you join the Navy?” Here is the breakdown. 80% – To pay for college 10% – To get out of a bad family situation 5% – Family Tradition 5% – Because of 9/11.
Urocyon's Jaunts 2.0 
You must be logged in to post a comment.