Toxic Positivity and Disabilities
“Embrace this time of change !” the marketing email gushed. Uh, no, I said. And then I unsubscribed.
Authors note: Because of Medium’s refusal to address its accessibility issues for both authors and readers, I’ve moved my last three years of blogs to Substack. Please sign up there for notices of all new articles. Also, I will be updating older articles (like this one) and the updates will only be published on Substack. Thank you for your continued readership and support.
My friend Debbie Levitt wrote an article about COVID-19 spam. I’ve only known Debbie for a few months, but our views on accessibility are identical and I feel like we can finish each others sentences on that topic at this point. While I’ve pretty much gotten the same types of emails as her (maybe not QUITE as many), as a disabled woman, there is one aspect to these emails that I find particularly grating, and that is toxic positivity.
Toxic positivity largely encompasses the concept of some individuals focusing on positive, feel-good, happy emotions and rejecting anything that may trigger negative emotions. Every lemon MUST be turned into lemonade, no exceptions.
People who are toxically positive don’t limit this approach as the right way…
