(Warning: This is one of those posts which is profoundly disturbing, and keeps getting worse the more you think about it. If you or anyone close to you has ever had a disability, be particularly warned.)
The headline of this story has something disturbing about it. What, exactly, does it mean for Barbie’s friend to have been “discontinued,” and why does that sound so much like a euphemism?
The answer is no more pleasant. Becky, Barbie’s wheelchair-bound friend, was introduced in 1997 and was quickly a success. It probably won’t surprise you that there were a lot of kids who wanted to see themselves represented in this world, nor kids who simply liked her in her own right.
There was just one problem.
Her wheelchair didn’t fit in Barbie’s Dream House.
It couldn’t get through the doors, or up the stairs, or fit in the elevator.
And since Becky didn’t fit in Barbie’s world, and they didn’t want to adapt the world to her, she was “discontinued.”
If you want a more perfect fucking metaphor for the way people with disabilities get treated, you couldn’t make one up. “This person doesn’t fit in our lives anymore; I guess we’ll just be done with them.”
A nice little thought to keep in your mind the next time you narrowly avoid a car accident.
h/t Peter Clines.
You would think the fact that there are so many ways to acquire disabilities would be the perfect Veil of Ignorance to encourage people to think about this. But, no.
