'Disability and Exposure in the Digital Age' by Amanda Lyra

The digital age has enabled greater autonomy and visibility for people with disabilities, but it is worth remembering that text interpretation is golden. Any comma can change the course of the conversation and a simple tip can turn into a trigger for a great circus of virtual horrors, which often reaches the real world.

Anyone who follows me on social media knows that most of what I share is about my work. I rarely bring my personal life, only exposing things from my routine that I think can somehow positively influence other people. The routine of someone with a disability, basically, is THE ROUTINE of a PERSON who has a DISABILITY. That is, if you delete the last part of the sentence, it's easy to see that the routine is like anyone else's: wake up, go to the bathroom, brush your teeth, change, work, solve work problems, eat, have fun, love , enjoy friendships and family, find a way to express opinions and style, what changes is the way to do it.

In this sense, people with disabilities often need help to follow certain paths, reinventing themselves daily to try new forms of autonomy, whether through work, art or hobbies. Precisely because of this, they have a different perception of the world.

But in the digital world many people with disabilities have found an independent way to express themselves and connect with the world. In this space they can show that their routine is full of barriers, but that they win and, when they don't win, on the internet they can rebel, military, complain and fight for their rights. All this because in this virtual world we don't need legs, arms, eyes or hearing, we just need an email account to be equal.

However, it's not just joy. The inability to interpret the text and the alienation generated by this cyberspace makes room for insensitivity, for people who only understand what suits them, disseminate and distort words, do not understand contexts, do not look for sources, mythologize normal beings, transform them into great heroes and share everything like their life depended on it.

Anyway, when I use social networks to publicize my work, it is to inspire people by the attitudes I take and not to sensitize them for the disability I have. I don't feel like a warrior for being in a wheelchair, I feel like a warrior for being a Brazilian woman, being a businesswoman, being an artist and knowing that I face my dragons in the best way possible, going through days of pain and days of love, like any other being human on the planet.

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Amanda Lyra is a singer, songwriter, producer and presenter, wheelchair user and creator of the Solyra Project . Follow her on FACEBOOK and INSTAGRAM .

Paloma Santos is an illustrator, wheelchair user and feminist. "In my work as an illustrator I try to represent female diversity". Follow her on INSTAGRAM and like her on FACEBOOK .