When we’re actually included in everyday, boring-life…stuff. 🙂

Because sometimes, representation isn’t a heroic story about overcoming adversity (with required disability porn music track). Sometimes a disabled person is just folding a basic napkin and nobody needs to make it into a big deal.

My son brought me a little bit of joy today when he told me there’s a disabled character in the Spider-Verse named Charlotte Webber, aka SunSpider. She’s a Spider Person, and yep, she uses a wheelchair and crutches. Nobody decided that getting spider powers also meant they need to magically make her nondisabled.

And, of course, I LOVE that.

My son is visually impaired. I have a prosthetic leg. He’s a dude with locs. I’m a tall woman. He’s a millennial. I’m Gen X. Between the two of us, we check a ton of representation boxes. And it feels AWESOME to see yourself reflected in…stuff. 🙂

I loved seeing the maid on Bridgerton (most recent season) with a limb (arm) difference. At one point she’s doing something normal, like folding a napkin. Nobody rushes over to help her. The camera doesn’t zoom in so we can all be amazed at HOW she manages to fold the napkin. Nobody explains what happened to her arm.

She’s just a regular maid doing regular…stuff. 🙂

I recently came across a Tik Tok post of a deaf dude being surprised with a visit to a Starbucks in New York staffed by deaf and hard-of-hearing employees. The absolute JOY on his face when he realized he could simply place his order in sign language got (and still gets) me teary.

Because it’s coffee. A simple, basic, run-of-the-mill (albeit expensive) cup of coffee.

But he could walk in and order FOR HIMSELF.

Sometimes that’s EXACTLY what inclusion looks like.

And I love seeing it in so many other places. Cormoran Strike (in the Robert Galbraith books…yes, yes, I know…) has a prosthetic leg that affects his life without BEING his life. Daryl “Chill” Mitchell rolls into “Shifting Gears” and is simply another mechanic doing…mechanic-y things. And sometimes and ad has a person in a wheelchair for absolutely no reason other than the fact that people in wheelchairs – wait for it! – buy stuff, too.

Sometimes representation is powerful SPECIFICALLY because NOTHING happens.

Disabled people get to shop. Flirt. Work. Be hilarious. Be complete jerks. Fix your car. Solve mysteries. Fold napkins. Save the universe.

THAT’S inclusion.

And, of course, it extends beyond disability. All people like seeing themselves reflected in books, tv, movies, ads, workplaces, and just…in the world.

DEI has somehow become a four-letter word with only three letters. But take away the acronym and official-ish PowerPoints, and the idea behind it is pretty simple: different people bring different perspectives to the table, room, or wherever you are meeting.

So look around. Who’s there?

And, maybe more importantly, who gets to simply be there without having to explain why?

So what brings me joy? Disabled people doing boring, everyday stuff.

What brings you joy?