When it comes to social media, people often say that it is toxic and that we should limit our time on it. I would agree that social media can be toxic if you are following the wrong kinds of people, but I don’t think that everything about social media is bad. Social media is fake, and you never know what someone is going through by what they post online because a lot of people are dishonest and will say whatever it takes to get views. Social media has a lot of negatives, and people will be meaner to you online than they would ever be in real life, but before you tell everyone to shut down their social media accounts, I think it’s important to know that there are positives as well. Social media is a lifeline for many disabled people, and many of us use it to get support for our disabilities because sometimes we don’t have people in our real-life who understand what it’s like to be disabled. Disabled people are active on social media for variety reasons and telling a disabled person that they should stop can be harmful because that is where a lot of our friends are at. What are the positives of social media? In this post, I am going to share a few positives that come with using social media.
It helps disabled people get support and feel less alone- Family members can be supportive of their loved ones’ disability but if you aren’t disabled you can’t give me support that disabled people can. Disabled people sometimes are unable to drive and can’t go out in the community and meet with other disabled people that truly understand what they are going through. Social media sometimes is the only way we can connect with others that truly get it because it doesn’t require you to leave your home. I am fortunate that my family is supportive of my disability but when you are disabled it is not uncommon to have unsupportive family members that think your disability is something you can snap out of. Social media allows disabled people who don’t get a lot of support in real-life to connect with others who validate their struggles because you need that when you are disabled. There are a lot of accounts on social media where people claim cures which is toxic and you shouldn’t follow these accounts but because of social media, it makes it easier for disabled people to get the support they need. I think it is so important for disabled people to talk to other disabled people because when you have people that can relate to your challenges in some way it makes you feel less alone.
It teaches you a lot about different medical conditions- I have learned more about medical conditions from disabled advocates online than I have ever learned in real-life. Doctors do not always tell you everything you need to know to manage a medical condition and most of the things I have learned about managing pain isn’t anything my doctor has told but it’s things another advocate told me online. Social media may be filled with a lot of bogus accounts that claim cures but there are also a lot of accounts that can educate you about medical conditions and give you ideas that you would never have thought of. I never recommend people diagnose themselves from social media and you need a real doctor for that but if you have a diagnosed medical condition and your doctor isn’t being very helpful advice social media is a great place to start. Doctors can give you a lot of information about your disability or chronic illness but they don’t know everything because there are some things that your doctor didn’t learn in school.
It allows you to spread awareness more easily- Some disabled people can go out to events and spread awareness about a disability, but not all disabled people have the ability to drive and will be able to do that. Some disabilities have more stigma than others but there is stigma with every disability that people believe that is not true and the only way to end stigma is by talking about it. Social media makes it easier for disabled people to reach larger audiences and spread awareness about a medical condition that not everyone has heard about. Many disabled people have impacted thousands of people and have gotten the attention big brands, which would be very difficult to do without social media. Social media has made it easy to reach a large amount of people in a few minutes, and I would not be able to spread awareness as easily without social media.
It can help you get financial assistance for medical supplies- It is more expensive to be disabled because we have medical supplies that aren’t cheap, and insurance doesn’t always cover necessary medical supplies. As a disabled person, I sometimes struggle to pay for things that my insurance doesn’t cover, but I cannot start a GoFundMe page because, in the eyes of the government, I’d be loaded and would completely lose my disability benefits, which I can’t afford to happen, but not everyone has those restrictions. Some disabled people do not have the same kind of benefits I do and are able to raise money when they need a wheelchair, which would not be easy without social media. Social media allows disabled people to promote a GoFundMe page and ask followers for donations to get medical supplies that they need to function. You can start a donation page on your blog, but it’s going to take a very long time to raise a lot of money if you aren’t constantly promoting it and social media allows you to get the money you need at a faster rate.
Social media has a lot of negatives, and people tend to focus on only the toxic parts of social media and forget about all the good things that can come from it. Social media can be toxic, and it’s important to have breaks, but because of social media, many disabled people do not feel alone. Many disabled people live in isolation, which puts you at a higher risk of developing a mental health condition, and because of the Internet, it’s easier to find people to talk to and prevent that from happening. It can be harmful to tell a disabled person not to use social media because we don’t always have a lot of support and can’t get in our cars and meet people like non-disabled people can. I think it is important to be mindful of the content you consume online, but you don’t have to completely shut down your social media accounts, and if you are disabled, I wouldn’t recommend you do that if it helps keep you sane. How has social media positively benefitted you? If you liked this post, please leave a comment below and share it with your friends.
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