Vlogging with Disabilities

The line in the documentary that stood out to me was that if a person has a phone in their pocket, then anyone could make a documentary film. Oddly the film makers showed phones that had no cameras, but that’s beside the point. That statement seems to have only gotten truer. (I feel like that’s not a word, but I’m going to roll with it.) With smart phones, people actually have a camera in their pocket that can take photos and videos and be immediately uploaded online for people to see.

Before I started watching specific vloggers and youtubers, I had a very narrow view of physical disabilities. I was one of those people who thought that if you can’t see it, it must not exist. I automatically assumed that if someone parked in a handicap spot and looked young and healthy then they must be a liar.

Then I started following two specific people: NerdCubed and KaeyiDreams. Nerdcubed has an auto immune disorder called ME (it’s also called chronic fatigue syndrome) that makes it so whenever he sleeps his body and mind don’t actually get the rest that he needs. This can lead him to periods of time when his immune system shuts down and he gets incredibly sick.

Kaeyi also has ME, along with a chronic pain disorder called fibromyalgia. On the vlogging channel she runs with her boyfriend (called InTheLittleDream) she talks about her illnesses. She has a couple videos that go through her process of being diagnosed and some others where she talks about how she has to change her lifestyle to accommodate her medication and pain. Recently she’s posted videos detailing the struggle she has with doctors trying to get them to see to any medical problems she may have; they tend to shrug off any of her pain as a symptom of her fibromyalgia pain, even if it’s pain she doesn't normally experience.

Because of these two and many other vloggers with various mental and physical disabilities, I have a much better understanding of how broad and hidden disabilities can be. Plus I have resources that these vloggers will sometimes give out to give to a friend who is going through her own diagnosis process for a chronic pain disorder.

These experiences that vloggers share with their subscribers allows people to see the world from this new perspective and try to understand what life must be like for these people. Like documentaries, they share their life and experiences. Some do it through skits and mockery, others do it through pointing a camera at themselves and just talking. Either way, they stay true (or a bit exaggerated for comedy) to their own experience.