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The #DisabledAndCute Hashtag Celebrates Visibility

by James Hale

As a disabled person, it's hard to navigate the world of body positivity and see positivity for, well, pretty much everyone but you. That's why inclusive body positivity hashtags like #disabledandcute are so necessary. The hashtag, which hit Twitter on Feb. 12, was started by Teen Vogue writer Keah Brown, a disabled black woman. Since Brown's first tweet, other folks have been piling into the hashtag, sharing selfies and celebrating, as one tweeter put it, "body positivity, acceptance, visibility & joy."

Brown's first #disabledandcute tweet was captioned, "I want to shoutout my Disabled brothers, sisters, & non-binary folks!" She encouraged others to share their favorite pictures with the hashtag, and within minutes Twitter was on fire in the best way possible.

Hashtags like Brown's, where people who are disabled take center stage and share their thoughts, are a wonderful collective "nope" to able-bodied people who like to label our disabilities as teaching tools, our bodies as cumbersome hurdles to overcome, and our lives — our everyday existences — as inspirational.

With #disabledandcute, folks are showing that our disabilities are part of life, not a lesson for others, that our bodies are dang cute no matter how they look, and that we are so not your inspiration porn.

Here are a few of the many incredibly excellent #disabledandcute tweets.

1. Super Cute

2. Extra Cute

3. Ridiculously Cute

4. The Cute Will Never End

5. SOS, We're In A Vortex Of Cute

6. Someone Help

7. We're Resigned To Never Escaping

8. *Clutches Face*

9. We'll Just Be Here On The Floor

This totally radical and totally necessary hashtag gives us hope that 2017 will be a year where the body positivity movement embraces disabled folks of all stripes — and if nothing else, gives people with disabilities a way to share their stories.