Inspiration Porn
Inspiration porn was first identified and coined by Australian disability activist Stella Young. Sometimes in the media, disabled people are depicted as inspirational for doing ordinary activities. You might see a meme on social media showing a disabled person along with a motivational quote suggesting that if a disabled person can do it, you have no excuse. The idea behind the term ‘inspiration porn’ is that depictions like these memes objectify the disabled person to make non-disabled people feel better about their own lives. We aren’t told what the disabled person thinks, and the disabled person is portrayed as an individual who has overcome tragedy rather than someone facing social oppression and injustice.
defined by Lysette Chaproniere
Lysette Chaproniere - she/her
Lysette Chaproniere
Lysette Chaproniere has a PhD in philosophy from the University of Glasgow. In her thesis, she explored the relationship between disability and human enhancement technology, that is, the sorts of technologies we might use to significantly increase our physical, cognitive and other abilities, or lengthen the human lifespan. After her PhD, she worked as part of a research group that produced a policy paper on the use of virtual reality in education, where she was involved in researching the challenges and opportunities of VR for disabled students.