Associated Press / Orange County Register - June 7, 2013
Look, I posted about this before, and I agree that its unethical for people with disabilities to use their disability status to usher other, non-disabled people to the front of lines. It's also unethical for tour guide companies that hire people with disabilities specifically because they can do this, and it's unethical an extra layer of disgusting for the families that pay big bucks for this "service". I just don't think it's the biggest scandal in the disability world, by a longshot.
Also, do people with disabilities really value going to the head of all the lines the lines due to their disability? It sounds like one of those "privileges" that non-disabled people like to hand out, while they skimp and fudge their way around true accessibility and equal opportunity. You need too much care so you have to live in a nursing home, but if you are fortunate enough to have a car, why you can park in handicapped spots!
On the other hand, I haven't been to Disney World in decades, and I understand those lines can be incredibly long, so maybe its a perk worth preserving.
I've been watching two "TV" shows about wheelchair users that have a lot in common: "Push Girls" and "My Gimpy Life". Both take a little effort to find, Both are worth the effort.
"Push Girls" and "My Gimpy Life" are about young women who are wheelchair users, who became disabled at some point due to accident or illness. The women in both are quite beautiful in the conventional sense. They all live and in various ways struggle to work in Hollywood ... the city and the industry. In both shows the women handle their disabilities with grace, humor, and assertiveness, while acknowledging how physical barriers and prejudices crop up every day. "My Gimpy Life" is fictional, while "Push Girls" is a reality show. Yet, they both feel realistic, and both attempt to portray the realities of living in a wheelchair honestly.
One major difference between these shows is how they are made.
"Push Girls" is a reality series on the Sundance Channel. "My Gimpy Life" is a web series posted to YouTube. Although it is on a cable channel with relatively low viewership, "Push Girls" is a fully professional television show. "My Gimpy Life" is more like semi-pro. The actors and crew are all professionals, and the quality is quite high, but like many web series, it is self-produced without a studio or company behind it, financed by donations fans and through project funding sites like Kickstarter. By necessity, "My Gimpy Life" is also shorter. Episodes last around 8 minutes, while episodes of "Push Girls" are a full half hour in conventional TV format.
By the way, "My Gimpy Life" contains un-bleeped profanity. "Push Girls" is relatively free of it, not surprising for a mainstream, general-audience show. However, the swearing on "My Gimpy Life" adds authenticity, and its nothing like, say, "The Sopranos" or "Deadwood." Both shows talk fairly frankly but appropriately about sex.
The biggest difference between these shows is that "Push Girls" is a more or less "serious" show, which shows all facets of these women's lives, the good, bad, and ordinary, where "My Gimpy Life" is reality-based, but firmly a comedy. If that makes "Push Girls" sound more profound, I don't mean it to. Both shows are profound in their own ways.
I haven't drawn any other big conclusions about these shows, except that I want more of both.
