‘Am I disabled?’: Confronting your internalised ableism | Jo Copson | TEDxYouth@BrayfordPool

Bloody fantastic, thank you very much for this! Brilliant insight and spoken honestly and powerful, questioning ourselves but most prominently, the society that oppresses or disables us.

Your talk made me cry. I identified strongly with doubting myelf. Lazy--terrible. Thank you for creating this.

this changed my life, honestly. i struggle with neuropathy, and truly needed to hear this. thank you :)

The victimhood olympics is in session. Disabilities get you free stuff and accommodations of all sorts. You’re literally being incentivized to play the victim and the cat ladies in sociology departments have developed new disability categories.

The problem is the disabled definition is a very broad one.
The premise here ignores nuance by just using the umbrella term “disabled”.
More specifically I would view this young woman as impaired more than disabled. Similar to the glasses on her face. The glasses are just an aid to overcome an impairment.
The fact is this young woman would be on the very low end of GMCS. She walks without walking aids, did not mention balance issues, merely fatigue. And is able to clearly articulate and communicate.
There is a big difference between “Jo who is born disabled” v “Jo who is impaired by a medical condition which occasionally makes her fatigued and disabled”

I needed to hear this, thank you! ❤

I dont get it. Am i bad for saying a person who cant walk cant walk?

I've been called a psycho for occasionally wishing I had FND (functional neurological disorder). I always felt uncomfortable in my body. Be it gender dysphoria or simply being called a fatso by everyone since I was a child. Sometimes I just wish I had a disability in hopes of finally understanding what exactly bothers be about my own body. I know it's wrong. But struggling to sleep after walking for an hour because I can feel every joint and bone in my legs and back isn't right either. I know I have hyperflex but it isn't "severe enough" to be considered a disability. I can walk easily, I don't struggle with stairs, I can exercise, I can do harder physical work. But I still struggle with accepting my own body as it is. I know I'll be fine. I'm just upset at myself.

Love ❤

Knowing that other people do not have the same barriers, makes me angry.

Needed to hear this thank you

Brilliant! My mind endlessly tries to tell me I'm just being too sensitive and making up my invisible disabilities. I know intellectually this isn't true, but I'm still working on embodying that knowing. Your talk helped with that, thank you! Your point that if I were really doing it for attention, why do I experience or do these things when I'm totally alone? Also, if it were for attention, why do I not tell or show people that I'm struggling when I am? These questions makes it much easier to feel how ridiculous that this comes from laziness, that I'm doing it for attention, etc.

Penny for anyone's thoughts, A person grows up, with various functional impairments etc and, before they meet another human being or interact with anyone at all, they instinctively 'know' that their level of function is, shall we say atypical. Where does any internalized ableism fit in, if through their development of self-awareness and theory of mind, they realize, without any outside influence, that 'something is up' and its not good.