I am not a celebrity. I am seen rarely on television; cast seldom in acting roles for film or theatre, or hardly-ever featured in the glossy pages of fashion magazines. That’s because if you are reading this and you are non-disabled, and not a person of color, seeing people who look like me—a Black woman with a physical disability— in mass media probably isn’t something you think about often. Every day, culture reflects not only you, but misguided versions of you—perfect shape, perfect weight, perfect look, perfect abilities. The world shows you that your possibilities are boundless.
According to Paul Hunt, a writer and activist with a disability, mass media, which we define as including press, film, internet, advertising, television, print and radio, is a source of information, whether correct or inaccurate, that still provides imagery that continues to enforce disability stereotypes. By portraying individuals with disabilities in a negative, un-empowering way, Black women and girls with disabilities are depicted as non-sexual, pathetic, a burden, our own worst enemy, an object of curiosity or unable to participate in aspects of life.
But, if you are a woman of color who happens to be Black and living with a physical disability, as I do, we may have considerably more trouble not only finding representation of ourselves in mass media and other arenas of public life, but also finding representation that indicates that our humanity is multifaceted, even diva-like.
Does a missing limb mean our aspirations of feeling good and being happy are changed? The time is now to show the world that Black women and girls with disabilities have a beauty all their own that is found by channeling their inner Diva.
This is one of the many reasons
Divas With Disabilities
(DWD) is significant.
For purposes of the Divas With Disabilities Movement, a diva is defined as an empowered woman, and the project promotes and empowers women of color who have disabilities, chronic medical conditions and congenital anomalies. It brings together women throughout the world who execute daily tasks without letting their disabilities stand in the way, and it amplifies their voices. We like to use the phrase “Showing Up Unapologetically” a lot. In fact, many of us are strong, influential leaders within our communities.
DWD is a digital movement created to amplify the images of African American women with physical disabilities. By using the power of images, DWD helps shape the perception of what “disability” looks like by promoting African American women and women of color through various media platforms. The DWD movement is a critical step, a lesson, if you will, in supporting me, and women like me—women and girls of color— to ensure their identities are fostered in inclusive sources of mass media and popular culture, and their images are not erased from American history. Black women, who happen to live with physical disabilities, are Divas—empowered women with disabilities—deserving of historical recognition, acknowledgement and inclusion.
