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Cripple Punk: the disability movement taking on 鈥榠nspiration porn鈥�

19 November 2018

In late 2014, an American blogger known as Tyler posted an image on their social media feed of themselves outside a diner. In one hand, a cigarette; in the other, their walking stick.

The heading read ‘Cripple Punk’; the caption underneath, ‘I’m starting a movement’.

As with many posts on social media, however, some people were opposed to the sentiments surrounding Tyler’s photo — and responded with their own far-from-enlightened comments, seemingly against the idea of whatever concept they thought ‘Cripple Punk’ might represent.

So Tyler decided to use the trolls’ hate-filled comments as inspiration to justify the movement and create a manifesto for it.

Word spread through the Cripple Punk blog. What had started out as a bit of fun had suddenly grown into a real movement — one Tyler felt was required for disabled people.

Inspiration porn

One of the main things Cripple Punk aims to strike out against is the ‘Good Cripple Mythos’: the polarising idea that physically disabled people are either inspirational or to be pitied.

Indeed, the term ‘inspiration porn’ was coined to capture the idea that disabled people are seen as ‘inspirational’ purely because they have a disability, rather than because of their actions.

For followers of Cripple Punk, not all disabled people are inspirational: most have the same character traits and flaws as any able-bodied person.

Tanni Grey-Thompson: 鈥楧isabled people are just people鈥�

The former paralympian says not every disabled person has faced adversity.

The Social contributor Jessica agrees that disabled people can’t all be seen as being inspirational.

“I’m physically disabled. I’ve got a connective tissue disease, a straight spine and Raynaud’s. But we’re human. We can smoke, drink. We can be imperfect. We don’t have to fit people’s expectations.”

Being seen as a real person – not an idealised, inspirational figure for able-bodied people – is something with which Jessica feels Cripple Punk helps disabled people.

“Cripple Punk came into my life and made me feel I wasn’t worthless, that I mattered.”

Jessica’s joy at finding the movement is also tempered with slight sadness.

“I found out that Tyler had passed away [in 2017]. I’ll never be able to thank them in person for how much they impacted my life for the better.”