So, if you've been following me for very long, you'll know I like to educate people on disability, especially media representation thereof, when I can! Today we’re going to take a look at the most recent episode of @ZoeysPlaylist , which deals with a few disability issues.

Firstly, let’s talk about the positives in this episode! (Keep in mind that while I’m disabled, I’m also hearing, when one of the main storylines deals with a Deaf girl, so I’m not the expert here.)

#ZoeysPlaylist ep 9 had my top 2 performances of the show so far!

One of which was @petergallagher and @ZakOrth's duet of The Sound of Silence, and one of which was @DeafWest's and @sandy21mae's performance of Fight Song! Huge props to ZEP for casting Deaf actors for this-- I've seen way too many hearing people cast in Deaf roles.

I absolutely loved @sandy21mae as Abigail, and hope she returns next season after her Kenya trip!

I'm not sure if @KapilTalwalkar and @ZakOrth knew ASL prior to this episode, but they did a great job as well, and seemed natural and comfortable with it.

Now I want to talk about the way the @ZoeysWriters @thatmattress handled the disability storyline in this.

Disclaimer-- this is not at all a "call out post," just trying to spread awareness of disability issues that most able-bodied people don't know anything about!

Howie tells Zoey, “One of the reasons I love caregiving so much is it shows me what an insane gift all of this is, just walking around on our own two feet, you know, making our own choices, breathing our own breaths.”

I didn't love that, but hoped he might learn otherwise.

And he did learn some ways that his view of Abigail's disability was harmful, which was great! They did some good things here.

But in the end of the episode, Zoey echoes the sentiment that meeting disabled people helped her learn that she doesn't have it so bad.

"I was hanging out with this super-cool girl this morning, and you’d think her life would be hard ‘cause she’s deaf, but she’s got it, like, all figured out. And I’m the one sitting there all down in the dumps because I occasionally sing or hear someone sing out loud?"

This view of disability that Zoey and Howie vocalize is what's referred to in the disability community as "inspiration porn."

@TV_Speechless, a comedy about a teenager with CP, gave this quick rundown of what inspiration porn is:

“It’s a portrayal of people with disabilities as one-dimensional saints who only exist to warm the hearts and open the minds of able-bodied people.”

Now, ZEP doesn't portray Abigail and Mitch as one-dimensional, but still misses the mark.

If you've got 10 minutes (hey, it's quarantine, of course you do), please watch this TEDtalk by Stella Young, who coined the term inspiration porn!

(CW inspo porn) So, have you ever seen one of these pictures? Here's what Stella had to say:

"These images, there are lots of them out there, they are what we call ‘Inspiration Porn.’ And I use the term ‘porn’ deliberately, because they objectify one group of people (cont)

"for the benefit of another group of people. So in this case, we’re objectifying disabled people for the benefit of non-disabled people. The purpose of these images is to inspire you, to motivate you, so that we can look at them and think, (cont)

"'Well, however bad my life is, it could be worse. I could be that person.’"

Read that again. That's pretty much exactly what Zoey and Howie said in the episode.

Can you imagine what it's like to be "that person," hearing that?

Stella Young continues, "I’ve lost count of the number of times that I’ve been approached by strangers wanting to tell me that they think I’m brave or inspirational. And this was long before my work had any kind of public profile. They were just kind of congratulating me (cont)

"for managing to get up in the morning and remember my own name. These images objectify disabled people for the benefit of non-disabled people. They are there so you can look at them and think that things aren’t so bad for you, to put your worries into perspective."

A lot of we cripples get told we're inspiring for doing literally anything-- one of my best friends has a limb difference, and she gets stopped by strangers who want to tell her how inspiring she is for going grocery shopping. She's done plenty of *actually inspiring* things.

Now, there are some differences when it comes to chronic and/or terminal illness like Mitch has.

Stella Young talks about the social model of disability, which holds that disability is caused by the way society is organised, rather than by a person's impairment or difference.

So if you made everything accessible to everyone (ramps, captions, all that jazz), they really wouldn't be disabled.

However, with chronic illness, even if everywhere was perfectly wheelchair accessible, I still have severe pain and fatigue, so I still wouldn't function great.

So the way disability affects Abigail and the way it affects Mitch are quite different! So I would say that Mitch is being brave and strong, facing his deterioration and looming death, whereas Abigail isn't brave or inspirational just for being Deaf.

Still with me? I know this is a long thread, but ableism is still widely acceptable, mainly because people don't know that what they're doing is ableism! A great way to learn is to follow people like @coffeespoonie @Imani_Barbarin & @annieelainey! (or me?)

The last thing I want to bring up is how when Zoey said she realized she shouldn't be down in the dumps when others have it worse than her, Mo said, "ever heard of white privilege?"

Now, while Zoey undeniably does benefit from white privilege, that's not the type of privilege she's benefiting from here-- both Abigail and Mitch are white. No, she's benefiting from abled privilege, as does Mo. But abled privilege is rarely acknowledged, unfortunately.

So, all in all, great effort by @ZoeysPlaylist! It was a lot better than a lot of disability storylines I've seen. They addressed the harmful views Howie had of Abigail's disability and cast all Deaf actors for their ASL piece!

I just wanted to talk about some disability issues

most abled people aren't aware of! (esp since the show writers are all abled, from what I could find) Tagging @jcolburnlevy @SkylarAstin @stewart_iii @thealexnewell @petergallagher @Indiadebeaufort @nopenother @thelaurengraham @austinwinsberg @MarySteenburgen for education!!

In funny coincidence news, I drafted this thread early this morning, and then @Imani_Barbarin started her latest hashtag, #ThisIsInspirationPorn! Go check out what she has to say here-- it's pertinent to what's going on these days. https://twitter.com/Imani_Barbarin/status/1249315484450897920