Recently, superstar creator MrBeast posted a video on his YouTube. This video spotlights a number of blind people who have undergone surgery to “cure” their blindness. As of this writing, the video has over his 76 million views, and the response has been instinctive, both admiration and contempt.For his part, MrBeast is taken to twitter He publicly laments the fact that so many people are so angry with him for giving him what amounts to a publicity stunt under the guise of selfless charity.
The truth is plain and simple. The video was ableitarian rather than altruistic.
Before delving into the many layers of why the video is troubling, it’s important to give a warning. Even if MrBeast’s assumptions about making the video are questionable, it should not disparage the people who participated (patients and their doctors). They decided to have the surgery on their own accord. The reasons behind that choice are well beyond the scope of this article.
In the broader perspective, the biggest problem with ‘cure’ blindness is to reinforce a kind of moral advantage given by people without disabilities over people with disabilities. While not faced as frequently as racism or sexism, disability discrimination permeates all parts of society. In fact, most able-bodied people see disability as a failure of the human condition. People with disabilities should therefore be mourned. Disorders should be eradicated and cured, as MrBeast says in the video thumbnail.
On one level, it is technically correct to view failure as a failure of the human condition. That’s why the body somehow doesn’t work as designed. If the fault is the computer his software, the engineer will find the bug and fix it.
But the human body is not a soulless, inanimate machine that needs perfection to function properly or have value. Ever since I tweeted my thoughts on MrBeast’s video, I have been heavily harassed on his Twitter. Between calls to drink a bottle of bleach, most of them wonder why they “fix” or “cure” what is ostensibly preventing people from living richer, more fulfilling lives. I’ve been questioning if I don’t want to because the blindness will go away. According to them, blind people can suddenly see stars, rainbows, a child’s smile, or any other romantic concept that a person can evoke.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning would be proud the way I count how this shortsighted perspective lacks perspective.
For one thing, the doctors in the video are not miracle workers. There is no perfect cure for blindness. If the people who participated in this surgery regained their sight and their lives changed for the better, more power would be given to them.
However, nothing is known about preoperative visual acuity, nor is the long-term prognosis of visual acuity. MrBeast’s claim to “cure” blindness is inherently baseless.
At a basic level, MrBeast’s videos are inspirational porn, meant to portray talented people as selfless heroes fighting the nefarious villains known as the Disabled.And it makes no sense in the end for handicapped. For the able-bodied to feel good about themselves and the disabled to be like them and striving to become more normal. I often encounter such ridicule because the message is not about. It’s about the “less” group than the masses. This is where structural ableism once again rears its ugly head.
please think about it. If you fall and break your hand or wrist, that’s really bad. Disabled for a period of time. But the expectation during the recovery period is that you are still human and reasonably do all the things you were able to do before. but expect to be treated with dignity and don’t expect someone to miraculously put a broken bone back together. Minions) are the ones peddling in this video. They do not recognize the humanity of the blind. They only perceive the disgust of not being able to see.
In other words, competent people tend to think that our disabilities define us.
In many meaningful ways, yes, our disabilities define us to a great extent. But what about our characteristics as individuals? Our families, jobs, relationships, etc.? For example, I think everyone is familiar with the Paralympic Games and the wheelchair basketball league. The point is that people with disabilities are no different than anyone else in our personal makeup. .
I have multiple disabilities due to premature birth, but most people consider me to be a partner, brother, cousin, loves sports, likes to cook, listens to rap music, and is a prominent journalist. I know as Everyone around me knows my disability well, but they don’t judge me by my disability alone. They know who I really am — they know that my disability is not my whole existence.
I have visual, motor and speech impediments and both of my parents were completely deaf. Growing up as the eldest of two children, I was my parents’ informal in-house interpreter. As a CODA, I have crossed the line between deaf and deaf worlds. I know firsthand how deaf people are very proud of their culture and way of life. What would happen to people if someone “cured” their hearing loss? Deaf culture is real. Culture will disappear because there will be no reason for sign languages to exist and the experiences they provide.
I had a mentor in my senior year of high school who the day we met at the counselor’s office asked me if I was going back disabled-free and changing my life. I told him quite clearly that I wouldn’t. He was taken aback by my answer, but explained that my rationale was simple.
Nearly a quarter of a century later, my feelings have not changed. Sure, I have my moments. I curse you for not being able to drive and go wherever you want whenever you want. Likewise, I often lament the fact that my cerebral palsy limits my range of motion, literally leaving me unable to move freely when I want or need to.
However, my disability has allowed me to succeed in many ways. The relationships I’ve built, the knowledge I’ve gained, the journalism career I’ve built over nearly a decade — all of this would not have been possible in a different world where I wasn’t disabled all my life. For, it’s the ultimate silver lining.
I don’t consider myself an Oracle when it comes to accessibility and assistive technology. I know a lot, but I don’t know everything. Likewise, I don’t think I speak for all blind people or the disability community as a whole. Blindness in particular is a spectrum and I declare that I only know where my eyesight lies on that line. Therapy is not the answer to “help” the blind. Not to mention others with disabilities.
People with disabilities need no sympathy. No need to be exalted. We don’t need to treat ourselves. What we desperately need is an acknowledgment of our basic humanity. We need people who can start seeing us as human beings instead of the sad, burdened, outcasts that society likes to portray us as.
MrBeast (and his advocates) easily fall into the trap of perpetuating that deeply entrenched talent mindset. As I wrote earlier, disabilityism is as pervasive as racism and sexism. Simply put, we need allies, people who see us as real people.
Finding a cure for cancer or a cure for AIDS is one thing. Disorders don’t need treatment. What really needs a cure is society’s tendency to view disabled communities as little more than real-life characters in Tod Browning’s films. Disabled people are not freaks. Disability is not a bad word. You can learn a lot from us.
