#DisabledAndCute hashtag demolishes misconceptions about people with disabilities

News flash: You can have a disability and be cute and a new hashtag is putting people who think otherwise on notice.

The hashtag #DisabledAndCute is bringing fun yet radical body positivity to people with disabilities on Twitter, encouraging the community to share photos of themselves that make them feel attractive or adorable. It brilliantly combines revolutionary self-love with unapologetic visibility, all to empower people with both visible and invisible disabilities.

Twitter user Keah Brown, who lives with cerebral palsy, created the tag this week to show appreciation for her community, and push against the idea that people with disabilities can’t be stunning.

“Share your favorite pictures too using #DisabledAndCute,” Brown wrote in a tweet announcing the hashtag. “We’re honestly cute as hell, so I hope #DisabledAndCute becomes a thing!”

Without a doubt, the hashtag did become a thing. #DisabledAndCute quickly went viral among Twitter users with disabilities, encouraging the community to celebrate their entire selves.

“There is a common misconception that disabled people are not attractive,” Brown told Cosmo. “We are often seen as undesirable and broken.”

That assumption, both false and offensive, is one Brown long internalized. But the hashtag creator went on her own self-love journey to combat the negativity, and she used #DisabledAndCute to celebrate her progress.

“I started it as a way to say I was proud of the growth that I made in learning to like myself and my body,” she told Teen Vogue.

The hashtag also celebrates the diversity of the disability community. Scrolling through #DisabledAndCute on Twitter means seeing people of various disabilities, races, genders and sexualities.

Brown hopes the hashtag will empower all members of the community to celebrate their whole selves, especially in a world that often suggests disability makes them less-than.

“My disability is not all that I am, but it is a big part of who I am,” Brown told Cosmo. “I will never not be disabled, and so to [conceal] that part of me would be ridiculous.”

Read more: http://mashable.com/2017/02/17/disabledandcute-disability-hashtag/