Why did I become a content creator? Because at a young age I remember watching tv, reading books, seeing videos online of people but never any that I seen myself represented in.
When I would see disability represented in media it was often either pitying the character or person with the disability or the person playing the disabled character would actually be someone who was able bodied and not have a disability. I grew up thinking that people with disability weren’t meant for the media and that if there was a disability it should be hidden and or lot talked about.
I remember seeing a show on tv with a character in a wheelchair. I thought wow this is so cool however I quickly discovered that the actor who played this character was in fact not disabled themselves. As you can imagine I was not too gleeful about it…no pun intended but if you know you know. This moment broke my heart cause I wanted to be an actor but now what was this narrative telling me? It showed the hard truth that often times disabled characters are mostly played. By able bodied people.
It wasn’t until I got older and became more familiar with social media. I would then be connected to a world of content creators either disabilities. I had finally seen myself amongst this amazing group of content creators. That’s when I decided that I wanted to become one myself. So online I can share my life and break stigmas and barriers of disability. It also gives me a platform to bring more disability representation to the blind community and hopefully be a role model for children with disabilities so that they know they are capable of so much more than what society says. So now I can happily say I am a content creator but also actor, model, and director and bringing more representation to film and media.
Written by Alicia Chenier