Disability and Media
So I did a post around Media representation due to responses to a question I asked and this provided a lot of food for thought. I focused on the strides that mainstream media is making in diverse representation. I am diving into what strides the media is making I am focusing on more movie and young adult content. I will then move on to how in the context of subtext they are parallel to the experience of disability.
The strides that people are making are being in minority circles and being able to push back against what are now considered offensive tropes and practices in media and given the influence of some of the people I have listened to their content, I see why they are saying that this needs to be a long term change it can’t happen instantly.
Yet there are some striking parallels to the minority experience especially the immigrant experience and diverse relationship experiences that are like disabilities. The shame that the older people experience is that people see that telling your story is akin to complaining, and given that they had to work twice as hard they don’t see telling their story as important, yet it is as we need to know our history.
In the wider community, we are told not to complain and to be grateful for the care we receive yet there is little to NO awareness of the risks that we face every day as people who can tell their culture's story and can navigate the challenges it brings.
Yet because of the diversity of culture and the way the disability is seen even within the developed world at the end of the day, media is a business, and they must have projects that will make money.
The subtexts are overcoming adversity, finding your place in the world, and discovering what relationships you value. Yet particularly around overcoming adversity this is true in some respects however in others it is considered offensive, as disability is not something that you can overcome. It is something that you learn to live with as it’s not something that goes away.
Being able to find your place in the world is something that does happen yet due to the way the wider community frames disability this to me is reflected on the screen as being the object of pity or being in a bittersweet situation, so not being able to overcome disability, the impact of disability on family and friends that are all real situations that need to be told however by being able to change to the lens to reflect the disabled person point of view that they don’t let disability define them but at the same time it is a part of them.
So, this is where there are parallels to the immigrant experience. Being locked out of a culture or due to your disability not being able to understand it, leads to confusion around what is expected of you. The subtext is then how do we treat the disability story when it’s such a diverse topic and sometimes due to the way people with disabilities were historically treated, there is still shame around this, yet by looking for these stories we can have a long-term change, in honest authentic representation.
So I ask how we start looking for the stories that need to be told and what the lessons can be learned from them.
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