It can be appropriate to call someone an inspiration. People are inspiring. However, using the word solely on the basis of someone having a disability risks turning an otherwise positive word into a superficial platitude. Even if it’s intended as a compliment, questioning the underlying basis of feeling inspired challenges the overuse of the word and its impact on the disability movement.

There is an entrenched habit of feeling sympathy for people with disabilities. We’ve seen this in characters like Tiny Tim, a boy with a crutch from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, who evokes pity from characters and readers alike. He and many other stereotypical characters in the media reinforce the idea that doing anything beyond being miserable at home with a disability is exceptional or “inspirational.”

The late Stella Young, disability advocate and wheelchair-user, shared the story of being nominated for a community achievement award in high school in her TED talk. Her parents’ response: “There’s kind of one glaring problem with that. She hasn’t actually achieved anything.” Stella spent her teens in school, with a part-time job and an affinity for Dawson’s Creek and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, nothing that she felt deserved the honor.

A high school essay contest in Episode 12 of Speechless provides another example:

“Are you friends with a Donald Bronson?” Ray DiMeo asks his brother JJ, who has cerebral palsy.

“Who?” JJ responds.

“That’s what I thought! He gave a whole speech about how you’re his hero!”

JJ blames a phenomenon that has become known by some as “Inspiration Porn,” which they define on the show as “a portrayal of people with disabilities as one dimensional saints who only exist to warm the hearts and open the minds of able-bodied people.” It’s why someone felt that Stella Young deserved an award, or that labeling JJ as their hero is a great way to win an essay contest. Regardless of the intention behind using the word, it can feel objectifying to those on the receiving end.

Lauding someone with a disability as an inspiration for leaving their house sets unnecessarily low expectations for the quality of life of people with disabilities.

Calling someone with a disability an inspiration for getting a job only works in a world where we accept that it’s normal for someone with a disability to not have a job. Calling a spouse a saint for marrying someone with a disability only works when we accept that people with disabilities don’t have love lives or aren’t worthy partners. All of these assumptions fall in line with antiquated habits of pity and charity, but these stereotypes do not have to define the future. If anything, seeing people with disabilities as “others,” with lives so different (and “unfortunate”) than others, thwarts efforts of inclusion.

The overuse of the word “inspiration” is a reminder that we’re well overdue to update (replace) the traditional, outdated, Tiny Tim-style thinking that dehumanizes the disability experience. Rather than sensationalizing life with a disability, let’s bring visibility and value to the lives of millions of people around the world who demonstrate what’s possible and contradict the unnecessarily low expectations.

People with disabilities do and continue to overcome great challenges to adapt to a world not built for them, but we can’t let praising someone as an inspiration keep us from addressing what actually needs our attention: effort and commitment to make the world more inclusive. We can take action against issues like the lack of accessible transport and buildings, the lack of access to healthcare and education, all of which disproportionately impact people with disabilities and their families.

Let’s work for a world where someone with a disability applies for a job and they’re considered equally alongside other applicants. Let’s work for a world where someone with a disability pops up on a dating app and no one is surprised. Let’s work for a world where you hear ‘disability’ and think of someone thriving, not someone whose life is over.

As we push the diversity dialog beyond race, gender and sexual orientation and include disability, we build more inclusive spaces and cultures that bring depth and value to the fabric of our society. We all have a role in supporting each other’s existence.

We all deserve a chance to thrive, and our world is more vibrant and exciting when we do.