A video of a paralyzed person getting out of a wheelchair for the first dance at their wedding reception will melt people into a puddle. A video of a person with Down syndrome getting a high school diploma brings tears to people’s eyes. Why? Because of a deeply held stigmatizing belief that disability holds people back from a full life. Granted, the idea of what a “full life” looks like can be, in and of itself, a pretty rigid concept based in ableist ideas of what’s normal. But many, many disabled people can and do reach various life milestones, and it shouldn’t be sensationalized.
