Off to Tesco to Be An Inspiration

July 25, 2023 12:27 PM

A Note to My Younger Disabled Self From Gem Turner. Growing into a disabled identity, the power of disabled community, and learning to be proud. Talking about the effects of internalized ableism.

Bonus: on my way to Tesco to be an Inspiration

posted by Bottlecap (3 comments total)

Wow, this is all great.

I hadn't known about Gem Turner before, and I'm glad to have her site in my bookmarks now.

(This reminds me of that great post you made a while back, I’m Deaf and have “perfect” speech. And I want to stop speaking., which was so wonderfully striking for her simple choice to stop letting people impose their expectation that SHE accommodate THEM all the time. I've thought about that a lot in the past few weeks, and even though I'm not Deaf, I am so joyous and encouraged to read her story of simply honoring herself on an equal footing with the rest of the world. It's hard for a lot of us to do that, and it's wonderful to read her experience.)

Turner IS an inspiration to me, because everyone who grapples with how society has distorted their view of themselves and shares that to help others is hugely inspiring (like that video I saw yesterday of Wil Wheaton responding to a girl's question about being called a nerd). Turner shouldn't be faced with nonsense like being objectified as an Inspiring Disabled Person, or being talked to, and about, like she doesn't know what she wants for herself. It's incredibly generous of her to let other people hear parts of her journey, so people living with more disabilities can more easily move toward the understanding she's building of her own internalized ableism and learn some ways to remind others that they have their own opinions and agency, thank you very much; and so people living with fewer disabilities can better understand how to be a little more thoughtful and mindful toward their friends and family members.

I mean, this is -

... Every person is so valuable, and every person is so special, and I am so glad she is learning, more and more, to fully be herself - FOR herself, not for us; but when she does that, when any of us do that, we are making the world a better place by sharing the gift of our selves.



She is great. This is great. Thank you so much for sharing this, Bottlecap!
posted by kristi at 1:29 PM on July 25, 2023 [1 favorite]

I loved this. The piece about her journey to accepting her place in the disabled community kicked up some dust in this room, I’ll say. Thanks for sharing, Bottlecap.
posted by eirias at 6:09 PM on July 25, 2023

Love her! Thanks for sharing Bottlecap.
posted by ellieBOA at 9:15 AM on July 26, 2023