Disability Discourse: Body Positivity & Disability

Heya!
This is something I've been thinking about a lot recently, and I wanted to have a chat with you guys about it. Let me know what your thoughts are, I'm always up for a conversation about this stuff!
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Thanks so much for watching, and I'll talk to you soon!

[@savinggreen8571]

Thank you, I feel like there is no place for me in all these positivity movements. I had an undiagnosed memory disability untill I was 22 and I got myself testing (my parents objected to getting me help because they were scientologists). All my life I was bullied for being stupid and excluded from social circles, I still don't know what it is like to be accepted and not ridiculed and I still deal with redicule from adults everywhere I go because it is perfectly normal to put someone down for being dumb in private or public. All i want to say people who mock me is that not everyone with a disability is in a wheel chair or something you can see from the outside.. maybe it can be forgetting, right? but I am used as a punching bag to make others feel good about themselves. I struggle with severe depression and when people tell me to get over what people say I try to tell them that it's only a choice if you are able. Yes people are loving their bodies, but I am still constantly emotionally abused for my disability on a regular basis by people who don't even ask if there is something wrong with me. Have any big girls recently seen me with blonde hair and tan skin and they put me down the first chance they get when they spot that I am dumb?? Absolutely, maybe they are taking their insecurity out on me just like everyone else has.. but that just goes to show that people like me have no voice in today's world of positivity movements. I'm waiting, but maybe I'm waiting when I should be speaking out like you are. Thank you, I feel very lost right now and you helped me out.

[@cheriestolze]

Yes this video is two years old. I hope you see this comment. It is a dream come true. I was on a slow path to losing my mobility. A fractured ankle landed me with complex regional pain syndrome and accelerated my loss of mobility. Your thought give me much comfort and help me sort through my conflicted feelings. Thank you very much.

[@AstroVee]

Hey, thank you so so much for your kind and thoughtful comment. I'm sorry to hear about your situation, but happy to be able to help in some small way. All the best for you.

[@FirienStar]

Your brilliant video hit home for me. There is a discourse that being unhealthy/sick/disabled means you are not a valid member of society. It's pretty easy to love your body when it's working fine and not causing you pain. I'm having a shocking pain week too with this heat and on top of that I'm moving and it really affects my mood. I feel I can love my spirit if not always my body. I also think a lot of people idolise paralympians, which is great, but for a lot of us our bodies are way too unpredictable to be that form of productive disabled. Coming to a place of acceptance and negotiation with my body is a constantly evolving path, which we are all on. Perhaps let's start our own movement: finding hope in little ways.

[@AstroVee]

Hey, thanks so much for your thoughtful and insightful comment, as always. I couldn't agree more with you - acceptance for me has been accepting who I am as a person, not what my body is, because accepting my body all the time isn't possible for me. The body positivity/body acceptance movement really bothered me for this reason, and while I agree with most of what they do, the exclusion of people like us isn't right in my opinion. I'm glad that you can love your spirit and who you are. You deserve to accept and love yourself, disabled or not. :)

[@phoebeb.461]

Holy sh*t, this one had me sobbing.

[@racheln8563]

You just stated in one ten-minute video why the whole body-positivity movement bothers me. I have multiple physical problems. Yet people with two perfectly-functioning legs, a perfectly straight spine, perfectly white teeth and perfect skin tell me to love my body, and it only manages to make me feel worse than I did before.

[@42Belanger]

Hello Eevee, I am physically challenged with Cerebral Palsy, and blind in my left eye and deaf in my left ear and also my left leg is shorter than my right leg by a full inch and I am also a Type 2 diabetic and I am 5"9 or 5'10 and 199lbs. and I love my body, I don't want to gain anymore weight at all and I believe in the body positive movement big time but not many people in the world believe in it whether you are abled bodied or not in where I live in Traverse City, Michigan, USA. I will say though, you look gorgeous for sure to me too! I think attitudes that are negative towards those with physical and mental challenges has to change that is for sure in the entire world, there is too much negativity in the world I think anyhow

[@AstroVee]

Todd Belanger Hiya, thanks so much for sharing your thoughts. I agree - body positivity is important for everyone. I think it's important to think about what you want from your body in a realistic way too - I don't always love my body but I try to be realistic about what I can change as well as what I can't change. Hope that makes sense. :)

[@michey1978]

As someone with cerebral palsy I find the body positivity movement to just be weird. I'm not saying that someone could feel bad about their bad about their body; but I simply have no attitude towards my body, neither negative or positive, it simply is my body. With my academic philosophy hat on I ask what does it mean to 'love my body?' It suggests that we should be consciously thinking about our body, and that we're doing something wrong if we don't. It just seems odd to me. Let's change it a bit, does this make sense: 'Do you love your knee cap'? Because it would seem odd to say that.

[@AstroVee]

Yeah, I get that sometimes too. Like my body is a vessel and does things I need it to do (sometimes, haha). But I also understand that so much of how society views us is about how our body looks and functions, so I get that accepting and loving your body can be helpful for some people. I just think it's totally unnecessary to put down sick or disabled folks to get that message across!

[@michey1978]

Lawrence Newman you should investigate the phenomenon of 'elective amputation'. Your reasoning also suggests every woman is deluded if they don't want to be a man. After all, being a man makes it more likely you will have a better financial situation & the right to vote.

[@Tzimisce]

The "love your body" message is also directly conflicts with gender dysphoria. Also chronic depression can make it impossible to love yourself/your body, even if you're otherwise perfectly healthy/abled, and being shamed for not thinking positively just makes things worse.