The portrayal of people with disabilities on television can influence the public’s perception of disability in both negative and positive ways. This can have a profound effect on how they are viewed by society at large. Many of those representations are accurate, many are inaccurate, and some are even offensive. It all depends on how the role is played, what message is being sent, the intentions behind it, along with the interpretation of character.
When I was growing up, I rarely saw someone with a disability on TV, especially someone with a spinal cord injury. This was also true when my accident happened at the age of 16, in 2002. Although as the years have gone by, I have noticed more roles where someone was acting with a disability. On the occasion that I do, my first question is usually whether or not the actor/actress was truly disabled. More often than not however, I discovered that the person was not and just an able-bodied person playing the role of someone with a disability.
I think it’s fine, as long as the portrayal is accurate, relevant to the situation and not demeaning in any way. It is one of the only ways we will see improvements of how people with disabilities are treated. My goal is always to show people that although those with disabilities may have a physical difference, they are no different. I would hope that this would show in films where there happens to be a disability role. Although that becomes difficult, I believe when the actual film is about someone with a disability.
There seems to be a common notion that when people see someone with a disability, they may say things like “you’re so brave” or “I don’t know if I could do what you are doing”. It implies that the disabled person must be going through a tough time or their situation is unbearable, even if they are just trying to be sensitive. Although most times that person is just going about trying to live as normal life as possible, despite what they deal with on a day-to-day basis. I believe some of this notion comes from what is depicted through movies and shows that people watch.
There are some clichés and stereotypes that can evolve. Some examples are “the disabled person was faking it (The In-Laws), disability is used to indicate that a character is a villain (The Girl Who Played with Fire), people with disabilities can cure themselves through sheer force of will, disabled people are filled with a murderous rage (Hook).”* Other ones may be a person with a disability must have some tragic story or they want to end their life because they can’t see themselves living in that situation (The Bone Collector, Me Before You). These are just situations that can come about with some movie plots.
Over the years, we have evolved in the way of how to characterize someone with a disability. Directors, writers and actors go through great lengths to properly show a disability in movies. However, I think it’s important to show disabled characters and disability related situations realistically instead of just trying to say the right thing about it. That means possibly having someone with a disability play the role intended for that character. This gives people more of an opportunity to see a sense of “normalcy” to the intended role along with plot. One example of a well-done movie is: Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot. Even though the main actor is able-bodied playing someone in a wheelchair, there is a character who actually has a disability and in a wheelchair in the film.
Jenni
“Strength lies in differences, not in similarities.”-Stephen B Covey
*Source: http://disabilitymovies.com/disability-movie-cliches/
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