Freak Show and Shockumentary Are Not Inspiration Porn

The online magazine, TakePart, recently published an article addressing what has come to be known as "inspiration porn" which, objectifies people with disabilities - as if by simply having a disability and being seen in public is 'inspirational'. Hollywood was rightfully scolded by TakePart for perpetuating this erroneous and condescending notion. 

Fortunately, there is new media available that portrays people with disabilities in a more realistic fashion. Viewers may find these disabled characters inspiring, and that's ok because it will be for all the right reasons. Plain Jane The SHOCKUMENTARY and American Horror Story: Freak Show were used as positive, stereotype shattering examples. To read the full article, click on the quote below.

Hash made a conscious choice to avoid having the film “feel like science class,” as she puts it, or position her as a hero. When she’s buying bread, she’s just buying bread. And if some scenes seem unusual—she’s at a drum circle, say, or a clothing-optional festival—the joke is on the viewer for surmising she belongs anywhere else. “People should see the reality, not us being put on some pedestal just because we got dressed and got out of bed,” Hash says.

Prisoners find inspiration without objectification

Jane Hash
photo by: Alternative Noise Productions

One goal of making Plain Jane The SHOCKUMENTARY is to provide audiences with a source of inspiration. Few people need and appreciate inspiration more than those who are spending a portion or the entirety of their lives incarcerated.

When the Executive Director of Re-Entry Bridge Network contacted me and asked if I would be interested in speaking to her students within the Richland Correctional Institution, I was shocked. How’s that for irony?

I had hoped this film would open up opportunities to do SHOCKUMENTARY Q&A presentations. Universities and disability related groups are where I imagined this objective would take me. Doing a presentation at a men’s prison was the furthest thing from my mind. After pondering this unique proposal though, the feelings of gratitude and excitement made it impossible for me to decline.

There are situations that I face daily, when someone tells me inappropriately that I am an inspiration. When able-bodied people tell me that I’m an inspiration simply because I am in a public place, that is an insult. Those perpetrators are objectifying me to make him/herself feel better.

Not once did I experience this sickening scenario while I was within the prison walls. Few populations have treated me with more respect and dignity than the Inmates at the Richland Correctional Institution for men. In fact, the only times I ever got nervous during the presentation is when the guards would pop into the room.

Until writing this post, right at this moment, I didn’t realize why the guards would randomly run into the room. It was the laughter. There is so much laughter in my life that I have taken it for granted. Every time the Inmates would roar with laughter, the guards would run in to see what was wrong. Then their observation would mesmerize them. The silly, shocked look on their faces was priceless.

Throughout the SHOCKUMENTARY Q&A presentation, we covered an array of thought provoking, intellectual, and fun topics. Of the numerous questions I was asked, none of them were about my disability. Not one! It would not have offended me. I’m just shocked once again! The Inmates were so appropriately inspired by the whole experience that they volunteered their limited resources and abundance of time to support a new project I am involved in.

It’s a good thing I wear a seatbelt all the time because this adventurous life I lead is rapidly gaining momentum!

The old Mansfield Reformatory that is situated next to Richland Correctional Facility