#ableds

btw mobility aids and seated areas arent your storage space. stop putting ur shit in places that disabled people need for mobility and / or access

“Something people don't want accept about disability benefits is that you have to fight through one of the most degrading, dehumanizing processes known to “man”, often fighting for years against unfairness, just to get, at the end of the day, not enough money to live on. And after all of that, white folks end up getting more disability benefits from the state than any other racial group.”

Hello lovelies!  Today we’re going to talk about the Infomercial Effect. Because this crippled fat bitch is real sick of this current TikTok trend where they show two adaptive aids meant to enable disabled folks to clean their own feet, and put their own socks on. Except the TikToks are purposely skipping steps to make it look asinine, by washing their foot and then putting said wet foot into a sock with a sock assist, then a sneaker. Let me be incredibly clear. Disabled people, who these aids are meant for, are not doing this. When we use these devices, we wash our foot, dry it by pressing it to a towel as best we can, and then letting it air dry the rest of the way before we use our sock assist.  Most of us also have shoes that we can put on hands free. I use a brand called Kiziks.  Now, lets get to the problems here. What’s called the Infomercial Effect.  Abled people are always used in ads to showcase adaptive aids, and it’s done so to a degree in which the Abled person is “laughably” bad at what they’re doing. Think of any Infomercial you’ve ever seen where a completely Abled person just for no reason drops the pot of food they were just cooking, or where they spill something that it seems unlikely to be spilled. Then they demonstrate these tools, that Ableds inevitably think are useless, or made for lazy people because they’re being showcased by Abled people who do NOT need to use them.  Those things are made for disabled people as adaptive aids for us to live our lives as independently as possible. That Ableds see these infomercials and find them to be laughable, and to be useless items is systemic ableism that is prevalent in our culture. We’ve all made fun of an informercial at some point, like the Slap Chop, or Sham Wow or whatever you can think of... But the slap chop was invented for Disabled people who can’t safely use knives to dice their own vegetables or fruits. The Sham wow was created so that Disabled people could clean up spills in one go, easily, without having to stress their bodies out any more than necessary.  The Snuggie was invented for wheelchair users to wear while we’re sitting in our chair, especially when we’re out in chilly weather, to help keep us as warm as possible.  Almost every single infomercial product is something like this. And that making fun of the Ableds who are clearly over the top fucking up a “normal” activity, and calling the product useless, is the Infomercial Effect, and it is a huge problem in systemic ableism.  If Disabled actors were hired to demonstrate these adaptive aids, more of our society would understand what they’re meant for, and who they’re intended for. It’s another case of lack of representation erasing our identities, and somehow still making us the butt of the jokes.