The only disability in life is a bad attitude (and other nonsense)

I’ve been wanting to write a post on this topic for a long time but didn’t know how exactly to go about it in the right way. A lot of my able-bodied friends are obsessed with their weight and their fitness. I don’t think that their obsessing is super healthy, but it’s not my body so I keep my mouth shut. However, where I can no longer keep my mouth shut is with fitness inspiration (#fitspo), and other able-bodied privilege nonsense with sayings like “the only disability in life is a bad attitude.” These things are posted all over social media, and I’m tired of the able-bodied privilege involved. And to be clear, these things are absolutely able-bodied privileges.

The problem with fitness inspiration

The problem with fitspo is that it assumes that ability is a choice. You can choose to run harder, you can choose to run faster, you can choose to not eat and get skinny, you can choose whether or not to skip the gym. But for people with disabilities, there is no choice. We don’t get to choose what our bodies can and can’t do. We have very limited control over whether we can run harder (or even run at all).

Fitspo also assumes that an able body is something you get if you try hard enough. If you just stop eating all that junk food and start exercising, you’ll get the body you deserve. What that leaves us with is questioning what do people with disabilities deserve?

Able-bodied privilege

Fitness inspiration is able-bodied privilege, but what does that mean? Some people think it doesn’t apply to them because they get sick sometimes and they’re always tired from working 60 hours a week and parenting their 3 kids. To clear up any confusion here’s a short and by no means exhaustive checklist:

 

You have able-bodied privilege if:

You can walk, see, hear, talk, and feel

You can go to sleep and wake up rested if you slept for an adequate amount of time

Your level of health is based on how well you take care of yourself

You can go to the doctor and expect to be treated

You don’t plan your life based on your pain levels

People don’t get upset at you for not being able to function “normally”

If you eat healthily, sleep the proper amount,  and exercise you feel better

You don’t have to plan basic tasks like leaving your house or going to the bathroom

You can perform the tasks of daily living

Your life is seen as worthwhile

You can access public places

 

One of the most egregious examples of fitspo and able-bodied privilege on the internet that I regularly encounter is through fitness inspirational memes. People with the greatest of intentions are guilty of posting some memes that people are offensive to people with disabilities. Here are just a few I’ve encountered recently:

• “The only thing that stands between what you want in life is the will.” (Super skinny, super able-bodied fit person included). I’m really happy for people for who this is true,  but it is not true for people with disabilities. We cannot will our way out of pain and fatigue (believe me we’ve tried), we cannot will our way to better health care, we cannot will our bodies to respond to exercise the way an able-bodied person does. Having “will” is never going to be enough.
• “The hard part is not getting your body in shape, it’s getting your mind in shape.” (Super skinny, super able-bodied fit person included). If only the problem was in our minds because then there would be an available fix. However we want to pretend that we have complete power and control over our bodies, it’s never going to be true. Sometimes bodies just don’t work like they are supposed to.
• “You kinda sorta try, you kinda sorta get results.” (Super skinny, supper able-bodied fit person included). I know that for healthy people this meme rings true, but this statement is just dripping with privilege. People with disabilities or chronic illnesses cannot just try harder, and memes like this are often used to shame people with disabilities for not being strong enough.
• “Good health feels better than (pictures of donuts and french fries) tastes.” This is insulting to people with disabilities and chronic illnesses. We don’t have good health, so where does this leave us? Is our health bad because we must be eating donuts and french fries? Because that’s what many of our friends, family, and doctors are saying.
• “The only disability in life is a bad attitude” (Inspirational picture of a person with a disability doing something athletically difficult and smiling at the same time). People with disabilities should not be used to prove to healthy people that their life could be worse. They may be fat, but at least they aren’t disabled!

This topic is always going to be complicated because overall weight loss and exercise are a good thing, but turning them into able-bodied inspiration is not. Whenever I bring up this topic I usually get a “well what do you want me to do, I’m just trying to motivate myself. Stop being so sensitive!” Sure, I could work on not being sensitive to my friends and family belittling my lack of ability, but there is a solution that is not as hard as many people think. All healthy people need to do is remember that their healthy body is not something they have earned through hard work and perseverance, they have a healthy body because they are lucky. They should not take their ability to run, jump,  lift weights, etc. for granted because it could disappear at any time. If they keep this minor thing in mind, they might think twice before they share an offensive meme.