The Met Gala Left Me Mixed On Disabled Inclusion
Despite the inclusion of disabled people, it was hard not to feel the tokenization
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The Met Gala comes with baggage every year but this year's first Monday in May felt particularly divisive. Much of this stems from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and his wife, serious supporters of President Donald Trump, being lead sponsors of this year's Met Ball as well as the accompanying spring Costume Institute exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. There were rumblings online that celebrities, not wanting to be associated with Trump and his ilk, would boycott the event.
But nope! This year's Met Gala was filled to bursting with stars, including Sabrina Carpenter, Beyonce, and so many others, many of whom paid $100,000 for the privilege. Several did wear "ICE out" pins, though there's an irony of wearing public support while attending an event funded by those who'd be happy to keep ICE doing whatever they want.
I'm not really interested in talking about that, specifically. Instead, I want to talk about some other attendees that popped up at this year's Met Gala: disabled people. This year's Ball and exhibition, themed to Costume Art, was the first to be "intentionally accessible for disabled attendees." Different perceptions of the body are on display in the exhibit, including a section called "The Disabled Body." And because of this several disabled attendees, including Lauren Wasser and Aariana Rose Philip strode down the red carpet.
And yet I couldn't help having a lot of different feelings about the situation. So, let's dive into them.
