What Is "Inspiration Porn" and Why Does It Matter?

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Finding inspiration in the world around us is a normal part of the human experience. We love heartwarming stories of people overcoming obstacles, pushing through adversity, and surmounting unique extraordinary circumstances.

Some of the more common images in the media involve people with disabilities. We’ve all seen these stories and memes: A colorful image of an amputee running on a track citing the caption: “The only disability in life is a bad attitude.” A popular boy asks a girl with a cognitive disability to homecoming. They’re elected to Homecoming court and it makes the local news. A wheelchair user sits at the mountaintop with their hands in the air and the quote below states: “What’s your excuse?”³

The “inspiration” conundrum

The problem with these images stems from the fact that they’re based on the idea that disabled people can do certain things “in spite” of their disabilities, and that they’re used to motivate and inspire non-disabled people. Australian comedian and disability rights advocate Stella Young termed these types of examples inspiration porn.

"When people say you’re an inspiration, they mean it as a compliment,” she said in her 2014 TED Talk.¹ "We’ve been sold this lie that disability makes you exceptional and it honestly doesn’t.” Young continues, “I want to live in a world where we don’t have such low expectations of disabled people that we are congratulated for getting out of bed and remembering our own names in the morning.”^{2, 3}

Why it matters

I’m a prosthetic leg wearer, and I’ve often pondered this subject because it brings up so many complexities and incongruities in today’s culture. Platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok have grown, along with corporate sponsorships for disabled athletes, models, and influencers. Images of disabled people are more common than ever before on social media, and that’s great. We’ve come a long way in this regard—where it’s actually “cool” to sport your disabled badassery.

But I’m also cognizant of the fact that many brands utilize people with disabilities to promote their products, and that’s a form of capitalizing on their situations. While not harmful per se, these images fail to portray the realities that many more folks with disabilities face on a daily basis—lack of access.

“No amount of smiling at a flight of stairs will make it turn into a ramp,” Young states in her talk. “The issues in my life come not from the fact that I break my bones occasionally; they come from the fact that I can’t get into the vast majority of public buildings I want to get into.”

In a similar way, many in the limb loss community I encounter share that their struggles come from insurance denials and lack of affordability for the devices that would make their lives easier and more enjoyable.

I’ll admit, I’m a stubborn recovering idealist. Every time I see an image of a disabled individual in some kind of advertisement, I wonder how much that corporation has done to promote awareness and education. Has it been involved in lobbying to ensure that insurance companies don’t exploit the loopholes that render disabled people left behind? Beyond using these images, has it embraced the person’s community and lifestyle as one that is rich and meaningful and deserving of all that able-bodied folks take for granted?

Disability as a social construct

Recently, I tried to secure a backcountry pass in Yosemite—not because I have a strong desire to backpack, but because I want to summit an amazing mountaintop. I know this hike will take me (and my family) much longer than the average person, and it will require an overnight stay on a 17-20 mile round trip approach. I don’t want special treatment, but I need it to reach my goal.

After several calls to the office for accessibility, the wilderness station, and navigating various online forums, I gave up. My situation didn’t fit into a typical stereotype, and I left the experience feeling mentally drained. Questions swirled around in my head pondering the limits of who is disabled vs. who is not. Should the person who just had shoulder surgery be considered disabled? What about the person who swore they could lose 20 pounds by the time of their trip, but couldn’t? The person who had a knee replacement a year ago—what about them?

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Variables such as time and “special provisions” are sticky ones. Accommodations can be costly. Truly wrapping a collective society’s head around disability is hard because there is no “one size fits all” approach. The constructs society has put in place in an attempt to navigate these questions often create more barriers—because we see the “norm” as zero impairment.

A paradigm shift?

What if we were to ditch the dichotomies between “abled” and “disabled?” One of the benefits of the visibility of folks with disabilities in the media is that the “otherness” of our experiences is beginning to melt away. But we’ve still got a long way to go.

I still feel a twinge of pride (mixed with embarrassment) when someone tells me that I inspire them. But I also feel compelled to share how fortunate I am to have the resources such as a great prosthetist and insurance to cover the devices I use. Others aren’t as fortunate—and that’s not okay.

I’m inspired every day by people who have no physical evidence of an outward disability, but whose stories touch me deeply. The human condition is wrought with challenges that require us to lean in to better appreciate and understand one another’s circumstances. If images that inspire can ignite positive change, that’s great. But in the end, we all seek to be understood. To have access to the things that make us feel happy, connected, and fulfilled. Folks with disabilities are no exception.