What Can We Do?

In order to change the world, I think first I have to change myself. I have to get rid of all the stigmas that I have learned throughout my life and start to think about what’s wrong on the media and society. Once I have looked into my own prejudices and privileges, I can start inspiring people by doing what any other person would do. Work hard so that my community could prosper and try to think of the consequences of my actions and words before I act on them. And not wait for somebody else do the work for me. It is true what June Jordan said: “we are the ones we have been waiting for”. We can make a difference.

If all of us would do that, then there would be no discrimination and no oppression. But we think that is just wishful thinking. That not everyone is going to do that because humans are greedy by nature. Even if that might be true, we can still do something to change things for the better if everyone gives their support, as little as it may be, as long as it helps our society. Just as Angela Davis said, “please get involved, please try to make a difference, please try to turn this country around”.

Gimp

When watching the video “Gimp”, I was blown away by their effort and body expressions. Their dance moves were really powerful and sometimes I would be in awe by how they wound make the dance seem like another able person doing it, but looking twice and seeing their muscular dystrophy it amazed me even more. It was something I don’t see every day. It made me think that they could dance just as well or even better than the usual able performers. It also made me think as to all the things that disable people could do that most people don’t realized.

I now prefer the definition of someone who does things different than able people instead of disable. They can do a lot of things that able people do, but they have to recur to other methods in order to do them. But most people think when they see disable people that they can’t do anything for themselves, or that they are cripple or retarded. All these names further the damage that we do towards disable people. Ableism forms our way of thinking by diminishing them with all these names, and also by ignoring their necessities. We need to change the way we see them and treat them as another person just like us.