A high school student says she’s shocked but pleased about the online reaction to her tweet in response to a photograph of able-bodied TV star and model Kylie Jenner posing in a wheelchair.
Ophelia Brown, 17, uses a wheelchair due to the complex regional pain syndrome that she was diagnosed with at nine years old.When she saw the Interview magazine image of Jenner, Brown was upset and wrote a message on Twitter that was directed at Kylie.
“Having an able-bodied person pose in a wheelchair like it’s a fashion accessory, it trivializes the concept of a wheelchair,” Brown told CBC News in an interview at her school Thursday.
“A wheelchair is not a fashion accessory, it’s not a prop, it’s not something that I can easily get in and out of. It’s not something that I want. It’s something that I need to get to school, to go out with friends, to live a normal life.
“It’s not something to be trivialized.”
