‘Inspiration porn’: Paralympian says not all disabled people are heroes

Disabled people are not all “heroes”, paralympian Tanni Grey-Thompson has said as she pushed back against the concept of “inspiration porn”.

‌The 54-year-old wheelchair racing champion said disabled people are often treated as if they are “brave and marvellous” simply for getting up in the morning.

‌The Welsh life peeress recalled how her wheelchair user friend who is an accountant was once described as an “inspiration” by a stranger.

She told the Desperately Seeking Wisdom podcast: “I was with a friend a little while ago, who is a wheelchair user as well, and somebody came up to her and they recognised me as an ex-athlete and that was lovely.”

“And they said to my friend, oh you’re inspirational as well.‌

“And she’s an accountant, I’m not sure you generally call accountants inspirational.”

The Baroness, who has amassed 11 gold medals over 16 years, said this perception “gets a bit complicated” when it comes to sporting figures.

She added that the reality is there are some disabled people who will struggle to get out of bed in the morning and struggle to work.

“There’s also a lot of non-disabled people that will struggle with that.

“Just because we have an impairment, it doesn’t mean to say we’re heroes.”

The House of Lords member went on to voice her annoyance with “virtue signalling” and the misconception that the 2012 Paralympics “changed the world” for disabled people.

“As much as I loved the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, I worked on the bid and I worked on delivery and I worked on legacy, it was amazing – that has not changed the world for disabled people.”

“People say ‘Oh 2012 changed the world’, because it makes them feel better.

“Well it’s almost like we don’t have to do anything else because we had the Paralympics in the UK and I get really annoyed by that.”

Baroness Grey-Thompson said the “reality” is that people don’t know “how hard life can be for disabled people”.

‌“You know, making trains step-free is going to be expensive, and a lot cheaper if they started it 30 years ago. So, it’s things like that.

‌“Train access hasn’t improved, inspiration porn hasn’t improved, education for disabled children is still a struggle, access to sport facilities is still a struggle.”