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Women with disabilities. United States. Biography.
People with disabilities. United States. Biography.
Women journalists. United States. Biography.
People with disabilities. Public opinion.
People with disabilities. Social conditions.
People with disabilities. Civil rights.
A disabled writer's primer on the Disability Justice Movement.When Blake was a baby, she was diagnosed with Freeman-Sheldon syndrome, a condition so rare that her doctors only identified it after her mother found a telling photo in one of a series of medical books she was combing for answers about her newborn child. Partly as a result of her experiences related to this condition, the author proudly identifies as both disabled and politically aligned with the Disability Justice Movement. She begins by contrasting the medical and social models of disability, clarifying that the medical model treats disabled people as humans who need to be "fixed," whereas the social model insists that we, as a society, ought to become less ableist and more open to "addressing deeperâ¦systemic problems." "In a nutshell," Blake writes, "the social model argues that disabled people are more disabled by the society in which they live than by their bodies or their diagnoses." Drawing from personal experience, the author describes the freedom she feels in her wheelchair (a freedom that no amount of physical therapy will ever grant her), the thrill of modeling "adaptive clothing at New York Fashion Week," and how a series of selfies helped her resist white supremacist beauty standards and those who perpetuate them. In the final chapters, Blake connects ableism to the grief she experienced after her father's untimely death. Throughout the book, the author is ebullient, humorous, and compassionate, balancing exuberant optimism and joie de vivre with crystal-clear convictions and a deeply critical eye. While most of the topics Blake covers will be familiar to those who have an interest in disability studies, her voice makes the text enjoyable and instructive. She ends with an epilogue entitled "Letters to My Seventeen-Year-Old Self."A frank and funny introduction to disability justice.
Well-known disability activist and social media influencer Melissa Blake offers a frank, illuminating memoir and a call to action for disabled people and allies.
In the summer of 2019, journalist Melissa Blake penned an op-ed for CNN Opinion. A conservative pundit caught wind of it, mentioning Blake’s work in a YouTube video. What happened next is equal parts a searing view into society, how we collectively view and treat disabled people, and the making of an advocate. After a troll said that Blake should be banned from posting pictures of herself, she took to Twitter and defiantly posted three smiling selfies, all taken during a lovely vacation in the Big Apple:
I wanted desperately to clap back at these vile trolls in a way that would make a statement, not only about how our society views disabilities, but also about the toxicity of our strict and unrealistic beauty standards. Of course I knew that posting those selfies wasn't going to erase the nasty names I'd been called and, the chances were, they would never even see my tweet, but that didn't matter. I wasn't doing it for them; I was doing it for me and every single disabled person who has been bullied before, online and in real life. When people mock how I look, they're not just insulting me. They're insulting all disabled people. We're constantly told that we're repulsive and ugly and not good enough to be seen. This was me pushing back against that toxic, ableist narrative.
For the first time, I felt like I was doing something empowering, taking back my power and changing the story.
Her tweet went viral, attracting worldwide media attention and interviews with the BBC, USA Today, the Chicago Tribune, PEOPLE magazine, Good Morning America and E! News.
Now, in her manifesto, Beautiful People, Blake shares her truths about disability, writing about (among other things):
- the language we use to describe disabled people
- ableism, microaggressions, and their pernicious effects
- what it's like to live in a society that not only isn't designed for you, but actively operates to render you invisible
- her struggles with self‑image and self‑acceptance
- the absence of disabled people in popular culture
- why disabled people aren't tragic heroes