Stella Young: Pirates and Posters

Originally Published in the Disability Busters Newsletter September 2024

Hi everyone!

So I’m sure you all know about the late advocate Stella Young.

If you haven’t watched her interview in the Defiant Lives Files you should check it out!

The two things that really stuck out to me about the episode were pirates and charity.

If you haven’t watched the episode, you might be wondering what the two have in common.

Young points out that “Disability attitudes have never been formed accidentally”.

The image of a one-legged or eye-patched pirate has become a treasured part of popular culture.

Children (and even adults) actively dress up as these icons, patching their eyes or using crutches to mimic their appearance.

So why is it that we view these traits as something worthy of when engaging in the imaginary but are so ashamed when they become a part of reality?

Perhaps it is because pirates took what they wanted, what they thought they deserved without fear nor thought for how they would be treated.

Perhaps it is because pirates knew what they wanted and rather than asking politely for it or looking to outsiders to make their lives more accessible they sought to attain what they wanted on their own terms.

Pirates never relied on charity.

According to Stella, charity “continues to frame disability in a negative way”.

The idea that people with disabilities are separated into worthy and unworthy of help is something that has been constantly argued.

Charity, by its very nature, is generally given to people altruistically (or at least that is what it is perceived to be).

But when people only give because they are expecting people with disabilities to deliver certain outcomes then that altruism disappears.

Stella points out that:

“When charities raise money, it doesn’t go directly to people with disabilities to be more independent.

“It reinforces the idea that charity is the only way people with disabilities can survive”.

After doing a little research on pirates I discovered something pretty interesting.

Whilst nineteenth-century pirates were often portrayed as “disabled and evil”, they viewed disability and social security in a pretty interesting way.

According to one source, “They all had shares in the crew’s common purse so, if one was injured and disabled, he was given money for his needs and was unlikely to go on seafaring”.

How cool is that!

Pirates are not only one of the most prominent popular historical groups with disabilities but they also actively engaged in ensuring that if acquiring a disability they could go on to live dignified and economically stable lives.

So no, pirates who acquired disabilities weren’t quite the fearsome seafarers that we have been made to think they were.

But they were supported to live out their lives with a dignified safety net.

And popular culture will remember them and their disabilities in non-disabling ways.

So the next time you dress up as a pirate, remember how people with disabilities have progressed since sailing the seven seas.

And the treasures we have yet to fight for.