Gal Gadot reprimanded by the disabled over kind words for Stephen Hawking

[Guestx]

Woke up this morning and saw this on my news feed. Proof that people really will eagerly seek out every reason to complain.

Actress Gal Gadot probably didn’t mean to offend anyone with a recent tweet — but she certainly did.

Stephen Hawking died Wednesday at the age of 76 from complications due to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a progressive neurodegenerative disease. On the day of his death, many, including “Wonder Woman” herself, mourned the world-renowned theoretical physicist and cosmologist on social media.

“Rest in peace Dr. Hawking,” Gadot wrote in a tweet. “Now you’re free of any physical constraints. Your brilliance and wisdom will be cherished forever.”

People with disabilities and their advocates took offense at Gadot’s statement that Hawking was finally free of his “physical constraints” and said the assertion was ableist, or discriminatory toward people with disabilities.

Hawking was diagnosed with ALS at the age of 21 — and is believed to have been living with the condition longer than any other patient in medical history. He spent the majority of his public life in a wheelchair and used a sophisticated computer system to speak.

Several people on Twitter explained to Gadot that it’s bothersome when a disability is viewed as something that inhibits a person from living life to the fullest and that death relieves a person of this burden.

And I'll just end with these paragraphs from the same article:

“It just reinforces the ableist view that disability is something negative,” filmmaker and activist Dominick Evans, who has spinal muscular atrophy — a progressive neuromuscular disability — told HuffPost of Gadot’s comment. “[It] encourages sentiments and beliefs that disabled people are somehow less simply because of their disability.”

“Do I think people mean something harmful when they say this?” he added. “No, I think they believe they are being kind, but the long-term implications of reinforcing Able Normative Supremacy in this world has direct implications and effects on disabled people ― especially with how we are viewed and treated.”

Is it wrong that I sat here dumbstruck by the fact that someone used the phrase "Able Normative Supremacy" in an un-ironic way?

 

[Halge]

"Ableist"?

"ABELIST"???

 

[Lethal]

Seems like a lot of people on Twitter just look for things to get offended about.

 

[TheRuthlessOne]

I'd rather be dead than be disabled

Stop making these threads BTW. It really makes you part of the problem. Because I wouldn't have seen this otherwise

 

[Guestx]

"Ableist"?

"ABELIST"???

I know. Did you read the whole thing?

I about died when I read "Able Normative Supremacy."

 

[Guestx]

I'd rather be dead than be disabled

Depends on the disability for me, but if it's bad enough, then yeah.

Stop making these threads BTW. It really makes you part of the problem

Stop replying in them!

 

[revoltub]

Well at least they stood up for themselves

 

[Guestx]

Apparently they also took offense to this image:

 

[UFC=Pride]

People bitch about everything now

 

[Stranger Come Knocking]

Is anyone using the term "baldist" yet?

 

[Thunderchild]

Well at least they stood up for themselves

 

[CWMMA]

People need to reach down and wipe the sand out of their vaginas.

Ableist? Give me a fucking break.

 

[Fraz]

Ableiarchy!

 

[ookii]

The first tweet came from a guy born blind so he just trying to correct her that those with disabilities don't see themselves as miserable. I can't speak for the rest of the other tweets that joined in

 

[trolololol]

She can sit on my face as punishment for her vile Twitter transgressions and all will be forgiven.

 

[Michaelangelo]

lold hard at ableist

wtf

 

[ookii]

Well at least they stood up for themselves

Pun intended?

 

[Guestx]

The first tweet came from a guy born blind so he just trying to correct her that those with disabilities don't see themselves as miserable. I can't speak for the rest of the other tweets that joined in

Thing is, I have a hard time believing that any of these people wouldn't choose to rid themselves of their disabilities if the possibility was presented to them.

 

[BisexualMMA]

Wake me up when the AI takes over and stops propagating this offended on behalf of everyone bullshit. Do we really need to pretend everyone wouldn't prefer to not be confined to a wheelchair?

I guess "ableist tropes" are the next frontier.

 

[GordoBarraBJJ]

I wanna reprimand Gal for not being naked on my bed when I got home today.