Tricia Downing and Erik Kondo — two speakers at this week’s SHRM Inclusion conference — are not inspiration porn.
The term is used by many disability rights advocates — notably, the late Stella Young in her 2014 TEDx Talk — to describe the patronizing ways disabled people are used as symbols of resilience and exceptionalism, regardless of whether that praise is warranted.
The speakers opened their session by observing that stories about kids with disabilities scoring “incredible” touchdowns — in middle school, on high school teams and among college athletes — continue to go viral. Likewise, prom-posals including this demographic are billed as extra heartwarming.
