The Day Today... XVIII

Today is Blogging Against Disablism Day 2008 which I first heard about through Ouch!, the wonderfully politically incorrect BBC disability site and home to the Ouch! podcast that I heartily recommend to one and all.

So, in honour of Blogging Against Disablism Day I thought I would write something myself.

I'm currently able-bodied but the majority of my friends and co-workers have a variety of physical and developmental conditions that society labels as disabling.

I could write an entire essay on societies views of 'disabilities': in far too many cases the fact that someone has down's syndrome, autism, cerebral palsy or deafness need not be disabling at all; or at least no more disabling than my asthma (which prevents me from doing certain activities) or my poor eyesight (which requires me to wear corrective lenses).

I could write an essay explaining how I think societies' readiness to disable someone far more than their physical condition actually does is reflected in the language we use. 'Retard' is a word used to mean 'stupid'; The Sun newspaper runs headlines about a "manboy" to describe a man with a developmental disability; People First Language is accepted by the Associated Press as a standard but then largely ignored; and even well intentioned people fall into the Tiny Tim-syndrome of condescending and patronizing language and tone of voice when talking to or, more frequently, about someone they assume to be disabled. Why do people have 'special' needs, why do they not, as we all do have needs? Individual needs that do not invoke pity.

I could write an essay about how even in the care-industry a 'them-and-us' strata exists between clients and caregivers that can never result in true equality; huge portions of valuable resources are wasted on labyrinthe pedantic care plans: entire departments are filled with people whose only job is to write about taking care of people instead of just going out and actually taking care of people.

But in considering each of these personal soap boxes I found them all to be negative and I wanted to be positive. So I thought about how and where so called disabilities are portrayed very positively in the media.

The first and most obvious example is CSI. A show that I was initially prepared to dismiss as yet another by-the-numbers procedural crime drama is one of the strongest advocates against disabilism that I can think of.

In almost every season, at least 1-2 episodes feature a disability-conscious story. We have seen the murder of a man with down's syndrome, a man who worked independantly as a rodeo hand; we have seen murder commited in the halls of a school for the deaf; we have seen murder commited where the only witness is developmentally disabled and crimes commited in care homes and many more. In every case, the characters are portrayed by actors with disabilities and the character's disability is not the central focus of the story: it's just a fact.

The lead character, Gil Grissom, is portrayed in such a way as to suggest he lives on the autistic spectrum and went through an ongoing story arc revolving around a rare condition that was claiming his hearing.

Southpark, warts and all, often presents a very positive view of disability by the simple fact of including numerous characters with disabilities in a cartoon (name one other cartoon that does so). And if anyone doubts me as to the intents of the show's creators, I would direct them to the fantastic documentary How's Your News? which was executively produced by Matt Stone and Trey Parker and details the adventures of a team of reporters travelling across America in a beaten up old van conducting slice-of-life interviews of ordinary people on the street. Every one of the reporters has a disability ranging from down's syndrome to spastic cerebral palsy and it's not even relevant.

Other inspiring examples of disability portrayed in the media can be found quite readily in many diverse places.

Finding Nemo is the story of a fish with one fin that doesn't quite work the same as other fishes' but it isn't a disability to Nemo. His over-protective father's assumption that he needs to coddle his child is potentially disabling though.

I would dare any able bodied person to call the lads in Murderball disabled and see who get's whose arse kicked first.

The Station Agent is a wonderful film whose lead character is a little person... and that isn't the story! He just is small and the story is about something else altogether and it is barely mentioned.

Rory O'Shea Was Here is a film that explores two young men's struggles to convince the world that just because they have muscular dystrophy and cerebral palsy there is no reason why they can't live independent lives in an apartment of their own.

What's Eating Gilbert Grape beautifully portrays the importance of acceptance and the impact on a family and on a person's soul when others assume disability and treat a person as a circus attraction.

And this just begins to scrape the surface. It is easy to get up on our soapboxes and complain about all the improvements that need to be made - and it is important to do so until those improvements are made.

But it is also important to take step back and look at all the things people have done right.

Listening to: 'Please Please Me' - The Beatles