Confronting the whitewashing of disability

11/05/2021 Confronting the Whitewashing Of Disability: Interview with #DisabilityTooWhite Creator Vilissa Thompson - Reader Mode
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Confronting the Whitewashing Of Disability:
Interview with #DisabilityTooWhite Creator
Vilissa Thompson
06/28/2016 10:05 am ET Updated Dec 06, 2017
A new hashtag campaign has been making waves in the disability
community and facilitating dialogue about how we see disability.
#DisabilityTooWhite, a hashtag started by disability activist and
blogger Vilissa Thompson, has been starting discussions in the
disability community regarding the media visibility and representation
of disabled people of color. At the same time, it has been drawing
controversy from those who do not understand or agree with the
hashtag. I took the time to sit down with Thompson to talk about the
origins and purpose of the hashtag, the representation (or lack
thereof) of disabled people of color in the media, and what we can do
to participate and elevate the voices of disabled people of color.

Image Description: Tweet by Anita Cameron (@adaptanita) on 18 May
2016: “#DisabilityTooWhite When Blacks and POC are left out of
disability history and studies courses.”
Q: How did you come up with #DisabilityTooWhite, speci cally that
phrase?
A. It came about with the conversation I stumbled upon on Twitter
that that [mentioned] an article on XOJane that discussed disability
and beauty. Blogger and advocate Alice Wong was talking about how
[it left out] representation of disabled women of color. I had started to
respond to her because I noticed it too. While I was responding, it just
popped into my head: disability too white. It is pretty self explanatory
that disability [representation] is too white, and I started putting it in
my hashtag, and everybody saw it and started putting it on their
tweets, and it kind of took a life of its own. [The hashtag] is pretty
blunt and in-your-face. I feel like if I wanted to create a hashtag, even
accidental like this one, I would de nitely want it to stand out and
really be understood.
Q. What does #DisabilityTooWhite mean to you?
A. I think with me, especially with my particular advocacy focus, it
basically means that we want to pay attention to representation of
people of color. There is a lack of representation and diversity within
the disability community from the organizations that are supposed to
empower us as individuals...there is a lack of diversity in those voices
and those stories. For me, it boils down to a frustration that there is
very little movement to eradicate that problem, to eradicate that

erasure of people of color within our history and what we do as
advocates, when it comes to the issues that we ght
against...particularly when you add disability into situations when you
identify a person’s marginalization. So for me the hashtag really
speaks to all of those things that we have failed to do as a community
to be inclusive and accepting, and to have those conversations about
disability and what it means to be of color and disabled, and some of
the disparities surrounding that.
Q. How have other disabled people of color responded to the
hashtag?
A. They really jumped on it, they really shared what they’ve been doing
[as] disabled people of color, what they do within their particular
advocacy work or other professional work that they do. It is very
empowering to see them come together over something that was
created spur of the moment. It really just shows that there is a great
need and a great desire to diversify disability so that everybody can be
included. I learned that there are many advocates that I didn’t know
before Twitter particularly, and I’ve been able to really connect with
those individuals and to build a more powerful support group for
people of color with disabilities.
Q. Have you seen a response from people of color without disabilities
to the hashtag?
A. I think that there are some who recognize this, but I think that there
is a big gap when it comes to members of minority groups who are
not disabled understanding us in general and particularly when it
comes to being of color and disabled. So there’s a very big gap in
minority communities when it comes to the inclusion of disabled
voices. I think that the conversation probably got the attention of
many of those nondisabled people of color, which I’m glad about, but I
really hoped that there would be a bigger [push] for them to be
involved in this. I am really disheartened that a lot of African American
organizations do not talk about disability, or if they do, it is not in our
experience or our voices. They talk about it in the way of the medical

model of disability. [Our] experience is as important to the black
experience as every other part of blackness.
Image Description: Tweet by Keah Brown (@Keah_Maria) on 18 May
2016: “To this day I’ve never seen a black disabled woman on any TV
show or movie. I want to change that someday. #DisabilityTooWhite”
Q. When you started it, it was obviously in response to the lack of
representation of disabled people of color in media. Can you expand
on that a little bit more?
A. You don’t see disabled people of color in media, and if you do, they
are usually played by nondisabled actors and actresses of color. I
think that alone erases us from being a part of the few roles that are
meant for us, that’s part of the problem. There’s only a handful of
disabled actors and actresses of color that come to mind that are
doing great work that deserve the same attention and support as their
white counterparts. So I think that when it comes to the media, the
media has to do a better job at highlighting better portrayals of
disabled actors and actresses to really be visible and have those
roles; to be creative enough to write shows, screenplays, and movies;
and to give them the space, nancial support, and backing to tell our
stories our way. There’s a lot of room there for representation of
disabled people of color in the media to be more present, to demystify
what it means to be of color and disabled.
Q. How does it in uence what disabled people think of themselves
when they’re not seeing representation in the media?

A. They feel like they’re alone. I know that growing up I rarely saw
disabled women or disabled black girls on television and when they
were, it was always for the charity model, raising money to hopefully
help us in our livelihood. So that lack of representation really affects
one’s self esteem and one’s ability to connect with all of their
identities. It affects their ability to feel like they’re not alone and feel
included in their disabled identity, in their “of color” identity, in their
other identities they have. I think the lack of representation hinders
our abilities to feel like we belong, to feel like our lives and our stories
are important. We feel isolated and outcast when you don’t see
people who look like you, not just racially but disability-wise.
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Q. Are there any positive trends right now with regard to disabled
people of color in media? If there are, what are they doing correctly?
Image Description: Tweet by thebibliophile (@thebibliophile1) on 18
May 2016: “#DisabilityTooWhite when Harriet Tubman who suffered
from seizures - and freed 100s - never gets honored as a disability
activist & hero”
A. I participated in a #FilmDis chat recently about the representation
in the series Underground on WGN. We have representation and are
depicted, but that representation is depicted by nondisabled actors,
so we kind of have a rock and a hard place idea of there’s decent
representation. It’s some representation, but it’s not actual disabled
actors portraying those roles. It makes you wonder what is best: is it

better to have accurate representation or is it better to have more
representation that is not the ideal, that is not as inclusive or as
empowering as it could be, because of these factors? So when I look
at media and how people of color are portrayed, at times I have to
look beyond what is problematic. In this case that is a nondisabled
actor playing a disabled role, and [I have to] really focus on the role
itself, or focus on the character and nd some of empowerment or
resolve from seeing someone who looks like me represent my
disability community, just kind of having to push aside [the
nondisabled actor] and focus on the storyline. I hope that one day we
won’t have to push aside anything to focus on the storyline, that we
have portrayals that are empowering through the actors and
actresses that portray them.
Q. There’s been a lot of backlash by people who don’t understand it or
don’t agree with it. What do you make of the backlash against
#DisabilityTooWhite?
Image Description: Tweet by Nitesh (@Nitesh360) on 19 May 2016:
“#DisabilityTooWhite - some of the tweets on this hashtag show the
peak of human retardation”
A. I think that when you talk about controversial topics, it does bring
out the worst of the internet, and we had another example of that with
the hashtag. I know for me, my main concern was allies and
advocates, and other participants who may have been triggered by
some of the hate speech that was going on. It was more of my
concern that they were okay, and I don’t really care about anything
that comes from trolls because for me, I was speaking my truth as a
disabled black woman, and others were speaking their truths too, and
when you’re speaking your truths, the wrong opinions don’t matter at
the end of the day. I think that those who may have hated the hashtag

or hated what we had to say, that’s more on them. It shows the need
for more conversations like this to occur so that when disabled
people of color talk about racism, talk about lack of representation or
being isolated, there hopefully one day won’t be any backlash.
Q. What can white disabled or nondisabled allies do to participate
respectfully in this hashtag?
A. I think that they need to understand their privilege, be it white
privilege, able-bodied privilege or both, they need to understand that
the world that they live in gives the advantage to them versus those
who don’t have the same privileges. They need to realize that when
people have multiple marginalizations and speak out on their own
experiences, they need to listen and not discount their experience. Be
respectful when people speak their truths. Also speaking up when you
see things that aren’t okay. We see people of color being excluded
from organizations, when there’s lack of diversity on the boards of
disability advocacy and other service organizations. We need to pay
more attention to how the world really works outside of white
privilege, able-bodied privilege, or a combination of both. Really
become allies for disabled people of color and realize that your voice
should not power over or be louder than the group of people you want
to be an ally for, I know that’s something that is particularly something
to be mindful of...As allies we need to know how to walk that ne line,
when we need to gure out how to magnify their voices and their
existence in the world.
Q. What are the next steps in terms of sustainment for
#DisabilityTooWhite?
A. I think that just continuing to talk about it, paying more attention to
the things that the hashtag brought up. For me, with my advocacy
focus on the disability and “of color” experience, it is another reason
for me to be more vocal and more prominent in my focus on this
issue. I just really want the conversations to be more re ective, for
people to pay more attention to the world that we live in, especially
those who are disabled, and allow people of color to stand out more

and be more present and really vocalize our truths and help create
more diversity in the community. Now is the time, especially with
technology and blogging and disabled experience being more able to
have a broader reach, diversity has to occur so that we all feel
included in the movement.
Q. Do you consider the campaign a success? What would you like to
see happen?
A. I think that for it to be an accidental creation, it was successful, and
it stirred up conversation and hard feelings about it. When I create
anything like that that targets my particular focus, I want it to be
controversial and to be impactful and to be a dialogue within our
community, so for me it was successful. I do think that to make more
room for more discussions to be had around #DisabilityTooWhite and
for more discussions to be created around other identities, like other
races and the LGBT community, individuals who are of color and
disabled and deal with poverty. I don’t want it just to be a “hot topic of
the month.” I think there’s plenty of room for the conversation to
continue long after the hashtag has died down.
Image Description: Tweet by Vilissa Thompson (@VilissaThompson)
on 18 May 2016: “#DisabilityTooWhite when you search for Black
disabled women images & end up nding your own pictures [frowning
face emoji] - we need diverse stock images.”

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