When it comes to disability, there is a lot of stigma because disability is often poorly represented in the media. Disabled content creators can make a big difference because we can help non-disabled people understand our disabilities better so they can support disabled people. As a disabled content creator, it’s important to share the right kinds of messages so you aren’t contributing to the problem. As a disabled content creator, I share a lot about personal health issues online, but I don’t share every single thought that comes into my head, and every single post has a reason behind it. I have spent years building my brand and have gained a lot of my readers’ trust, so the last thing I would ever want to happen is to lose people’s trust because I was promoting the wrong kinds of messages that were harmful to disabled people. There are some things that you will never see me do as a disabled content creator because it would cause me to lose credibility that I worked so hard to build. What things will you never see me do as a disabled content creator? In this post, I am sharing a few things you will never see me do as a disabled content creator.
You will never see me promote products I’d never use- When your blog or YouTube channel starts to become popular, you will often be contacted by brands and get paid opportunities. I have nothing against people occasionally doing sponsored content because content creators need to make a living somehow. I do have an issue when people partner with brands and promote products that they think are garbage and would never use. If my blog ever becomes super popular, you may start to see me do sponsored content, but you will never see me promote a product I wouldn’t benefit from just because I got paid a lot of money to do it. I hope that my blog makes a little money someday, but I didn’t start my blog to make tons of money and I started it to spread awareness. One of my biggest pet peeves is when people with followings try to spam their audiences by selling a product they know is garbage, and I will never be that person. I understand that it is hard to make money online, and it may be tempting to partner with any brand that offers you money, but it’s so important that you don’t do that because it will cause you to lose your credibility.
You will never see me call disabled and chronically ill creators sickfluencers- Disabled and chronically ill people who talk about their disabilities online are now being called sickfluencers because of an article that was written titled “How having a disability became cool.” This article is incredibly ableist and implies that disabled and chronically ill people who talk about their disabilities online are attention-seeking and faking their disabilities for views. Disability will never be trendy like this article suggests because there is nothing cool about being in pain all the time. Disabled and chronically ill people share their experiences online to spread awareness and help others. It is insulting to tell a disabled or chronically ill creator that they are sharing their lives online because they love attention, and you’ll never see me call anyone a sickfluencer. We are not influencing to be sick, and becoming disabled is nothing I’d ever recommend, and we are sharing the realities of living with disability. I have a huge amount of respect for disabled and chronically ill people who share their experiences online because it’s not always easy, so let’s not insult someone’s career.
You will never see me accuse someone online as being a faker- As a disabled creator, I am constantly telling people that not everyone fakes disabilities, which is why it’s so important that I don’t accuse people who don’t look disabled of being a faker. You will never see me accuse people in real life that I don’t know as being a faker but you especially won’t see me do it online even if I think someone may be faking. There are a lot of amazing disabled and chronically ill creators that are doing great work, but not all disability accounts are run by disabled accounts. It is not hard to hide your disability for social media content, and you’ll never see me accuse someone online who doesn’t look disabled of being a faker because it’s hard to tell who is disabled and who is not from one photo.
You will never see me fake being in pain for views– It is hard to get views on your blog and sometimes it may be tempting to fake being in pain to increase your views. When I say I live with constant chronic pain, I am saying something true, and you will never see me fake a pain flare for views. Faking being in pain and posting it online is incredibly harmful for pain patients because it mocks people who live with chronic pain and makes people question people in pain. It is already hard enough to convince doctors that your invisible pain is real, and when you fake being in pain for views, society starts to think that unless you look like you’re in pain, you must be a liar.
You will never see post something just for views- When stats are low, sometimes it can be tempting to post something just for views. You want to post content that you think will get views that people are going to enjoy but never will you see me post something just for views. If my views are down, I post more consistently but you’ll never see me post something silly completely unrelated to my niche because I need to increase my views. I try to make a vast majority of my content be something people can learn from, and you’ll never see me post things just for views because I don’t’ care enough.
You will never see me get lazy and not fact check content- When you are a disabled health blogger, it is so important that you do your best to not spread misinformation. Most non-disabled people learn about disability through blogs or YouTube channels, and if you aren’t spreading correct medical facts, you aren’t helping non-disabled people unlearn ableism. Sometimes I will get facts wrong because I am human, but you will never see me get lazy and not fact check information I am not sure about. You are not being a very good health blogger if you don’t do proper research
You will never see me ignore accessible content-Most people do not create accessible content because they either don’t know how or are lazy and don’t want to. It takes a little more time to create accessible content, but as a disabled content creator, I think it’s so important that I don’t neglect it. I am constantly advocating for accessibility, and if I am not doing what I can to make my content accessible, it says a lot about me. Most of my blog posts do not have audio versions, but that takes time to do, and I am actively working on it. You will never see me get lazy and decide I am not going to provide image descriptions on photos for social media because inaccessible content lowers your reach.
Blogging about your disability is hard and requires more work because disabled health bloggers have to do more research than people who don’t blog about health. Disability-focused blogs sometimes don’t get as many views because not everyone enjoys disability-focused content, and it can be tempting to be dishonest to increase your views. As a disabled creator, I do my best to practice what I preach because no one wants to follow that person who looks great online but does none of the things they talk about in real-life. You will never see me post things just for views because when you get so obsessed with stats, blogging is less enjoyable and your content isn’t as good. Make sure that you are always staying true to your values because people are more likely to follow and honest person than a dishonest one. What things would you never do as a disabled content creator? If you liked this post, please leave a comment below and share it with your friends.
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