Hi, Mariel! First, thank you so much for taking the time to read through Emily's piece. Second, I am also so happy that Permission to Dance was as joyous for you as it was for the rest of us. I just wanted to take a moment to respond to you because I am also a disabled ARMY, a university professor who works as a disability activist, and agrees whole-heartedly with Emily’s piece.

I am so glad that in your life you have managed to find a way to live that allows you to focus on the positive aspects of your life. As we have learned from BTS, we should all be living in a way that honors and loves ourselves. I am so happy that you have found that for yourself.

However, this was not the point of Emily’s article. Her article was about how the “general public,” as you call them, or able-bodied people perceive disabled individuals. When you emphasize the positive, emphasize “ability” in disability, then the public does not see how horribly ableist they are being. As you say, abled people then only see the positive aspects of disabled folks’ lives. This can be very harmful for disabled people who have to constantly demand access and accommodations for basic human rights. Because seeing “disAbility” does not make people pause and imagine the world a different place with better access - it makes them pause and go “aww, they said something nice about people with disabilities, how nice” and then they go about their day.

Should we be encouraging disabled people to see the positives and light in themselves? Yes! But that’s for us in the disability community to work on first. The able-bodied world only uses those arguments against us to continue to deny us access to what we need and is rightfully ours.

I would also like to say, as a note, that when you are making any kind of argument, it would be fantastic if you didn’t use personal attacks to diminish the person you are debating instead of their actual statement. Implying that Emily is “a sensitive soul” and making sure to reiterate that she is 18 only serves as an attempt to undermine her as an author and a disabled person. This feels a bit antithetical to your position that disabled people are just as able as abled people.

Again, thank you for reading and I hope you continue to have reasons to smile and dance and take on each day with your ARMY heart. - Dr. Ringland