are disabilities and chronic illnesses 'cool' now?

On September 5, The Telegraph released the article “How having a disability became cool” by Poppy Coburn. The by-line is: “Young women, nicknamed ‘sickfluencers’, are turning chronic illness into a lifestyle trend and entrenching a culture of economic inactivity” Quite venomous words already jumping out here. Attentive readers might notice it’s immediately insinuating that disabled people are lazy and choosing to lead this lifestyle voluntarily for fun. Awesome. The article immediately opens with the odd observation that many people at trans marches and protests use walking sticks. The transphobia is apparent throughout the article, but already starts here. That’s no coincidence: As a UK paper, they welcome that. To them, being trans is just another thing people make up as an excuse and for attention, so of course it can’t be left out in an article about how disabled people increasingly refuse to be invisible and actually feel confident enough to ask for support and accommodations,…