I’ve said a few times on this blog that I hate being called an inspiration. It puts me on a pedestal that I don’t belong, and gives me credit for achievements I haven’t earned. the truth is that I am as powerful, weak, successful, hopeless, generous, stingy, determined, and whiny as everyone else, and by treating me as an inspiration because I happen to catch public transport and go to work is actually a backhanded compliment. It assumes that such things should not be ordinary everyday experiences for disabled people.

Stella Young has said it best in her TED video:

I want to live in a world where we don’t have such low expectations of disabled people that we are congratulated for getting out of bed and remembering our names in the morning. I want to live in a world where we value genuine achievements for disabled people. Disability doesn’t make you exceptional, but questioning what you think you know about it does.

I recommend you take the time to be inspired by the whole speech: