The “Dis” in “Disability” Matters — Disability Inclusion, BTS, and “Permission to Dance”
[DISCLAIMER: The author is disabled, but doesn’t speak for all other disabled people, and an ARMY who deeply loves BTS.]
Many people don’t know how to approach the concept of disability, despite its prevalence in the world. The CDC states that one in four (or 25%) of American adults are disabled. The World Bank estimates that around one billion people are disabled around the world. We are not a small minority, but we are marginalized.
For those who don’t know exactly how “disability” is quantified, you can think of it as a condition that significantly limits one’s ability to function in one or more major life activities. For example, breathing, eating, walking, etc. To parse apart the word “disability,” “dis” is a Latin prefix that can be used as a reverse to the latter half of the word. “Ability” in this sense refers to the lack of being able to do something. Semantically speaking, disability refers to the lack of being able to do something. Add in the cultural and legal meanings, and a disability is a condition that inhibits one’s ability to function in critical, specific ways, either permanently or temporarily.
Despite the prevalence of disability, as alluded to earlier, many abled people are unaware of how to approach or speak about disability, and we fall into tropes that minimize the impact of our disabling conditions.
In BTS’s new music video Permission to Dance, there is a short clip showing what is likely an HR office with a “DisABILITY Resources” notice posted to the wall of a cubicle. Considering how deftly the music video included disabled people, with both American and International Sign Language being integrated into the choreography, the inclusion of verbiage that undermines disability is frustrating. Intentionally putting the “ability” in all caps to detract from the impact of the “dis” sugarcoats the reality of disability.
As a disabled ARMY, I sincerely appreciate BTS using their platform to include disabled people, as it is something I rarely see in pop culture. That being said, I can’t remain silent on this particular issue. Although it is a small and easily missed sign, it is also easy for those who see it to take “DisABILITY” at face value and never learn to recognize the problematic aspects of saying something like that. Call it nitpicky, but education is important, especially when a small sign can be a larger teachable moment, especially in such a large community.
Despite the literal meaning of disability, people sometimes try to impose a veneer of positivity or “ability” onto the word. Although this is often done by able-bodied people with good intent, it dismisses the reality that disabled people face as a result of their disability. Words and terms like “handi-capable” or “differently-abled” are insulting in the fact that they minimize the impact of disability. They cater to an abled lens of view, which does not understand the breadth of a disability.
Let’s use my life as a case study, shall we? I first started developing symptoms of my chronic illness when I was twelve years old and I’m eighteen now. Many disabled people mourn their old life. I never even had the chance to have a normal adult life before developing my disability. I have been disabled throughout the majority of my adolescence and now the entirety of my adult life. I will never be cured. Nothing about this is a positive for me.
Of course my disabilities manifest physically in terms of chronic fatigue, joint subluxations, muscle weakness, fainting, cognitive impairment, secondary malnutrition, and so on and so forth, but they also manifest in other ways.
They manifest in the tens of thousands of dollars my parents have had to spend out of pocket to cover my health insurance, medications, physical therapy, and all the other associated costs of my disabilities that will fall onto me for the rest of my adult life.
They manifest in having to be evasive during job interviews because even if you’re qualified or capable, many employers refuse to hire disabled people simply because of their disability. They manifest in your parent’s only job advice being to “find a job with comprehensive health insurance.” They manifest in having to have tens of pages of documentation to access accommodation and still having to fight tooth and nail to get it.
They manifest in comments like “If I was in your situation, I would just kill myself” or “You don’t look disabled to me.” They manifest in unwanted pity, where as soon as you disclose, your condition supersedes your personality.
Does any of this sound remotely positive to you? Do the “positive” things I’ve had to learn as a result of my disability, like relentless self-advocacy and meticulous organization, render my disability null and void? Absolutely not.
First and foremost, disabilities are limiting. It is an objective truth that able-bodied and able-minded people cannot personally understand the breadth of disability. Yet, many remain insistent that disability is something that is inherently positive. There is a difference between having pride and positivity as a disabled individual versus it being forcibly imposed on you by abled people who don’t understand the reality of your disability. Especially since turning disability into a positive can undercut people actually recognizing the limits of your functioning.
The “positive” side of disability comes at a price. Pity and infantilization are often imposed on disabled people. When we succeed, when we surmount barriers, we are turned into feel-good props for abled people. Our existence is used to make abled people feel better about their circumstances in life, which is doubly insulting.
Disabled people are multifaceted humans, just like abled people. We have skills and we also have challenges. However, our challenges that fall into the realm of critical deficits require recognition, not pity or dismissal. Our strengths and skills cannot negate the inherent nature of our disability. Within the context of recognizing disabling deficits that impact our ability to function, it is inappropriate for abled people to underscore our abilities over our disabilities.
