Post by thegoodlife on Jul 8, 2009 11:44:53 GMT -5
All of these are good reasons wheelers don't show their legs often. I think there are a few reasons why one might not include their legs. By no means is the following list conclusive and I'll probably repeat a few we already see here, but I found them notable.
1. People don't typically show their whole body in pictures, only what's pragmatically necessary for the picture itself. In a lot of cases full body pictures are not necessary. Look at family pictures, most are the upper half of the body. School photos are of the upper half of the body. ID pictures are only of the face. If someone is taking a picture of myself partying with friends, she might not think it necessary to show my chair but instead the part of me that's enjoying the party with friends.
2. When taking pictures of yourself by yourself it is incredibly difficult, if not impossible to include the full body. Especially for those who have limited movement in their arms or legs.
3. In some cases (depending on the context of course) there are restrictions on what individuals are allowed to include online, for example on msn only parts of a full picture will be shown another example might be size restrictions for avatars on message boards. Therefore one has to select what aspects of the picture will be shown; in most cases it's the face that is selected.
4. It might be the case that a wheeler is, in fact, not attracted to his own legs but chooses to emphasize other aspects of their body that they are most proud of. Often times even those who are not disabled do this as well. That is not to say that the wheeler is ashamed of their legs, they have accepted them, but it's not something they think about or use on a daily basis. They are utterly neutral towards their legs and thus might not think it important to include their legs in a picture. Even if you use your legs though when was the last time you truely said to yourself "ah, I should include my legs in this picture"?
5. If other people are in the picture, often to include the other people the photographer chooses to eliminate the lower part of the wheelers body, since it is not necessary to get a good picture.
6. The wheeler might feel ashamed of his legs, and think them ugly. This is certainly a possibility, and some people with disabilities have hang ups on their own body. Many people do, but sometimes people with disabilities have a very intimate connection to their own body and sometimes it's not necessarily a positive one; especially with certain social attitudes about ugliness, beauty and emphasis on particular aspects of bodies. I don't think this possibility should be pushed under the carpet but acknowledged, since acknowledging something like this is often the first step to accepting, getting over, coping with and changing it.
I don't think this list is exaustive, but it gives you an idea about possible reasons why someone who uses a wheelchair might not include their legs. It's interesting to me that Claire, a devo, wondered this since she might look at a wheelers legs and find them attractive. So if she sees a wheeler, she might want to see the whole person, the legs the wheelchair etc in a picture. Therefore when a picture does not include the whole person in it, it would be very noticable for her. I'm not saying this is bad, I'm just saying I can understand why Claire might wonder and notice something like this.
1. People don't typically show their whole body in pictures, only what's pragmatically necessary for the picture itself. In a lot of cases full body pictures are not necessary. Look at family pictures, most are the upper half of the body. School photos are of the upper half of the body. ID pictures are only of the face. If someone is taking a picture of myself partying with friends, she might not think it necessary to show my chair but instead the part of me that's enjoying the party with friends.
2. When taking pictures of yourself by yourself it is incredibly difficult, if not impossible to include the full body. Especially for those who have limited movement in their arms or legs.
3. In some cases (depending on the context of course) there are restrictions on what individuals are allowed to include online, for example on msn only parts of a full picture will be shown another example might be size restrictions for avatars on message boards. Therefore one has to select what aspects of the picture will be shown; in most cases it's the face that is selected.
4. It might be the case that a wheeler is, in fact, not attracted to his own legs but chooses to emphasize other aspects of their body that they are most proud of. Often times even those who are not disabled do this as well. That is not to say that the wheeler is ashamed of their legs, they have accepted them, but it's not something they think about or use on a daily basis. They are utterly neutral towards their legs and thus might not think it important to include their legs in a picture. Even if you use your legs though when was the last time you truely said to yourself "ah, I should include my legs in this picture"?
5. If other people are in the picture, often to include the other people the photographer chooses to eliminate the lower part of the wheelers body, since it is not necessary to get a good picture.
6. The wheeler might feel ashamed of his legs, and think them ugly. This is certainly a possibility, and some people with disabilities have hang ups on their own body. Many people do, but sometimes people with disabilities have a very intimate connection to their own body and sometimes it's not necessarily a positive one; especially with certain social attitudes about ugliness, beauty and emphasis on particular aspects of bodies. I don't think this possibility should be pushed under the carpet but acknowledged, since acknowledging something like this is often the first step to accepting, getting over, coping with and changing it.
I don't think this list is exaustive, but it gives you an idea about possible reasons why someone who uses a wheelchair might not include their legs. It's interesting to me that Claire, a devo, wondered this since she might look at a wheelers legs and find them attractive. So if she sees a wheeler, she might want to see the whole person, the legs the wheelchair etc in a picture. Therefore when a picture does not include the whole person in it, it would be very noticable for her. I'm not saying this is bad, I'm just saying I can understand why Claire might wonder and notice something like this.
