Piss On Pity

"Piss on Pity" is a slogan coined by musician Johnny Crescendo (Alan Holdsworth) in 1990 to protest stereotypes of disabled people.[1] It was first deployed during the 1990 and 1992 Block Telethon protests outside of ITV Studios in the United Kingdom.[2] The slogan was printed on t-shirts and thousands were sold.[3]

"Piss On Pity" is a rallying cry for those in the disability-inclusive circles of world politics. According to its proponents, the implication of the slogan is that pity, while seeming to be a positive, helpful emotion, actually is derogatory. According to them, it is based in conscious or unconscious aversion to disabled people and the ableism that that aversion consciously or unconsciously represents.[4] According to Barbara Lisicki, an organizer of the Block Telethon protests, on the BBC show Network in 1989, "If you make a disabled person an object of charity, you're not going to see them as your equal."[3]

Activists using the slogan will often explain that their ultimate goal in a militant, provocative slogan of this type is to get across the message that, like anti-racism and anti-sexism, they want to purge pity from worldwide social discourse on disability, at both the governmental and cultural levels, and instead foster disability-inclusive practices and equal power politics.

"Piss on Pity" was the title of an exhibition by disabled artists, that took place in Wakefield, UK, in 2019.[5] Their artwork reflected the antipathy of the disabled people's movement towards charity. The exhibition showed disabled artists challenging the widespread idea that charity is a force wholly for good.[6]