Disabled influencer who was with Lula at the inauguration criticizes the president’s ableist speech

Ivan Baron, 24, a disabled influencer who climbed the Planalto ramp and handed the banner to President Lula at his inauguration in January, used social media to criticize a speech considered ableist by the president.

During the weekly live Conversation with the President, Lula spoke about surgery he will have on his hip.

“(Ricardo) Stuckert (the president’s photographer) doesn’t want me to use a walker. He already said: ‘I’m not going to film you with a walker’. So that means you won’t see me with a walker or a crutch. You’ll always see me beautiful, as if I hadn’t even had surgery”, he said.

The statement was refuted by Baron, who considered it “unnecessary”. “And what about this unnecessary speech that President Lula reproduced? It’s clear that he didn’t speak out of spite, but, at the same time, we cannot let this ableist error go unnoticed,” he wrote on Twitter.

“Associating the use of assistive technology with a lack of beauty is somewhat problematic and does nothing to help the process of acceptance for those who need it. It suggests that our bodies are wrong and incomplete. It reinforces ableism,” he added. Lula had not yet commented on the gaffe.

Born in Rio Grande do Norte, the young man had viral meningitis at the age of three, which caused cerebral palsy. Today, the influencer creates content about inclusion and teaches about ableism — a term used to describe behaviors that reinforce stigmas about people with disabilities.

Baron also participated in Lula’s campaign events in 2022. On the eve of the elections, he spoke about people with disabilities and stated that the Lula government did the most for health.

On the 18th, Ivan Baron said he would file a lawsuit against comedian Léo Lins. In a post on social media, he claimed to have been a victim of ableism by the comedian during a recent stand-up show. To F5, Baron confirmed that he filed a police report for insult against Lins and that he would formalize the process soon.

In the excerpt that went viral on social media, Léo Lins talks about the choice of people who walked up the ramp for Lula’s inauguration in January, one of which was Baron. To describe the influencer, Lins supposedly uses his mannerisms.