Thread by @VABVOX

THREAD 📌#Paralympics

So I just read this awful piece and was reminded that some #disabled folks are not interested in making the world more equitable for all of us. Roy Perkins has decided that Becca Meyers just isn't that #disabled. Wrong.
1/

swimmingworldmagazine.com/news/paralympi…

According to Perkins, who is a swimmer, not a doctor, and not blind nor Deaf, Meyers isn't THAT blind or THAT Deaf and thus doesn't need a personal care assistant like she has always had before. The IOC has restricted them due to COVID, which penalizes some disabled athletes.
2/

Perkins' argument is an ableist one: if other #disabled people have suffered in silence before, why can't Meyers? And, Perkins asserts, others are more #disabled than Meyers. This is the kind of terrible #ableism that has restricted the lives of #disabled people for centuries.
3/

"I suffered, so should you!" arguments are the antithesis of social justice & disability rights activism. Perkins devoted several posts to his rage at Meyers "nonsense claims."And the non-disabled Swimming World magazine was only too chuffed to embrace his narrative over hers.
4/

Becca Meyers is right. Roy Perkins is wrong. The USPOC should have allowed Meyers' PCA as well as any others' needed. #Disabled people spend our lives trying to fit into spaces that exclude us. Why wouldn't the #Paralympics be catering to our needs instead of ignoring them?
5/

Moreover, taking the tack of the "good" #disabled person who doesn't make waves as opposed to Meyers, who spoke out, holds all disabled people back. We need more access, not less. More understanding of our needs, not less. More speaking out, not more silence.
#Tokyo
6/

Oh,I almost forgot: If we complain about being treated unfairly as #disabled people, then how can we get clicks and cookies for being "inspiration porn"? So this whole argument of Perkins' really rests on that fundament: Be quiet and show you can be a "good" crip. Resist that.
7/