Sunday, October 6, 2013
Picture Of The Day
Full Review: Ironside
Spoilers ahead? … A few, but only related to characters and the depiction of disability, not about the main "case" of the episode.
What's It About? …
Sgt. Robert Ironside is an African-American police detective who uses a wheelchair, having been paralyzed by a gunshot two years ago. Ironside uses a combination of rule-breaking, strategically applied brutality, and intellect to solve difficult cases, with help from a team of three other officers, two young men and one young woman. They work as a unit, out of a converted NYC building that Ironside also uses as his home. Sgt. Ironside is tough with his team, brutal … verbally and physically … with suspects, and compassionate with crime victims and their families. He works under the somewhat loose supervision of a police Captain, who despairs of Ironside's unorthodox methods, but respects his intellect and results. Ironside also deals with the dysfunction of his former partner and close friend, who is guilt-ridden about his partner's injury.
Background Information …
I was surprised at how many themes from the old series are carried into the new one. Both Ironsides have a dedicated office / apartment, both have a hand-picked investigative team, and both are inscrutable. Like Sherlock Holmes, both Ironside characters formulate theories about their cases early on, yet don't share their theories with their team until they have gathered enough evidence to prove them correct. His team members spend almost as much time trying to figure out what their boss is onto as they do investigating the crimes. Both Ironside characters have gruff exteriors … though the intensity is cranked up in the new show, and unlike the early version, the new Ironside is also physically violent. Yet, underneath, both are compassionate and empathetic towards victims and the socially powerless.
A lot of debate in the disability community has revolved around the decision to cast a non-disabled actor in the role. Producers have explained that this is because they are using flashbacks to incidents before Ironside was shot, which is an important device in the Pilot episode. I think it will become clearer after more episodes whether an actor disabled in real life could have added some valuable insights that Blair Underwood cannot.
The Good ...
The best aspects of this Pilot episode are those directly about Ironside's disability. And the best aspects of these are purely visual. There are some really great, brief scenes where creative camera work gives us something of the wheelchair-user's view of things … a perspective not seen in any other cop show. The sex scene with Ironside is also somewhat satisfying and artfully shot. "Ironside" also appears to dodge what was a potentially deadly "bullet" ... the bitter cripple trope. It is made very clear in the Pilot episode that Sgt. Ironside was tough, brutal, and a rule-breaker before his injury. Although a few people here and there suggest that he now uses his disability as some kind of excuse or shield for his actions, the point of view of the show seems to be that this is a pretty weak idea. Basically, we see here the purposeful unraveling of a very old and harmful cliché ... the character whose darkness and misbehavior is a result of his disability. This Ironside was like this before. If anything, the show may end up suggesting an opposite idea ... that disability might soften him a bit.
The Bad ...
Pretty much everything else is mediocre to bad, both from a disability perspective and as a show of this type. The dialog is mostly clunky and unremarkable. While nobody says or does anything wholly cliché or offensive, at least regarding disability, the little one-liners about disability that seem meant to be insightful and profound just kind of fall flat. For instance, a suspect Ironside has beaten into a confession asks, "Are you really a cripple?" Ironside replies, "You tell me." Sounds good and hard, but once you think about it a bit ... huh?
Non-disabled viewers might hear or see things that are new to them, but nobody with either a passing interest or personal experience of a physical disability will be mind blown or even slightly challenged. Plus, the "rogue cop" cliché is laid on so thick here that it is at times unintentionally funny. Finally, I have to mention the "Shoot the hostage!" moment ripped off from the '90s film "Speed". Were the characters supposed to be making a conscious reference? Or, did the writers think it was an exciting, original plot device? It's not at all clear, and such an obvious reference should have been dealt with one way or another.
Is There Hope? …
The first episode leaves two questions hanging. First, how, exactly, did Sgt. Ironside manage to get reinstated with the NYPD, with his own building and handpicked team? Second, is there more to his partner's guilt and emotional collapse than we have been told? These could become the elements of season-long story arcs that would provide a reason to keep watching. Or, they might simply be symptoms of sloppy storytelling. This show desperately needs complex, character-based stories to tell. Otherwise, it's just another cop show, and not a very good one.
Conclusion …
The new "Ironside" can only be groundbreaking for viewers with no prior exposure to progressive disability ideas. Disabled viewers can enjoy some vicarious thrills and superficial empowerment through Ironside … he's a sexy bad-ass … but so far it doesn't seem ready to offer any deeper insights or commentary on the disability experience. If the character development intensifies, and story arcs develop, it could become interesting enough to watch. These developments also might work backwards to improve the wooden dialog, as the characters take on a life and logic of their own. However, the mere existence of a cop show with a detective in a wheelchair isn't going to do much by itself. The original "Ironside" ran for 8 seasons, not because the premise was unique, though it was. It lasted that long because Chief Ironside was an interesting person. Blair Underwood probably has the chops to make his Ironside interesting, but it'll take a lot of work and time, and I'm afraid the show won't live long enough to get the job done.
Further reading …
Saturday, October 5, 2013
The "60 Minutes" Treatment
Oh, joy. "60 Minutes" is doing a story about the "alarming state" of Social Security Disability. I'm sure it will be a humane, nuanced story, without finger-pointing or victim-blaming.
Actually, I have some residual respect for "60 Minutes", but the show tends to do better with stories about corrupt individuals than with complex, systemic problems. Also, they tend to suggest creative, out-of-the-box ideas only if they happen to find someone to articulate them. When they simply interview the usual suspects, they end up reporting the usual, predictable answers.
Friday, October 4, 2013
Medical Model vs. Social Model
If you're wondering what I'm trying to get at with the Misery Calculator thing, click here and read some good dialog about the Medical Model vs. Social Model of disability.
The Misery Calculator, Patent Pending
You know how in the film, "Dead Poet's Society", the stodgy, old-fashioned headmaster uses numerical ratings and graphs to teach his students how to "appreciate" poetry? In the movie, that's supposed to dramatize how regimented and soulless the school is before Robin Wiliams' Mr. Keating arrives, but I always thought that graphic system got a bad rap. As long as it is just one of several ways you use to experience a poem, I don't see any harm in it, and it could even reveal things you might miss with a more holistic, emotional approach.
Maybe we can use a similar approach to understand better how we are doing on any given day, or in general, regarding our disabilities. I figure what we need is some kind of spreadsheet that would amount to a calculator where we enter a 1-10 number of each of, say, 10 quality measures … with 1 being the lowest level of difficulty or suffering, and 10 the highest. Then we get the thing to draw us a chart so we can see not only the amount of awfulness we are experiencing, but what kind. You know that "spoons" is going to be one of the measures, and I'm thinking of dividing the ten measures up into 5 that are purely personal or "Medical Model", and 5 that are external or "Social Model". That would allow us to see what percentage of our total misery really is due to social barriers and breakdowns, prejudice and ableism … and how much is, in fact, about our physical or mental impairments.
So, I set up a spreadsheet, plugged in number ratings for myself, and here are my results:
This seems about right. For myself specifically, my physical, medical impairments are a somewhat bigger factor in my life than "Social Model" pressures, although they are unmistakably there, too. But I don't use a wheelchair, so accessibility is going to be less of a factor. I have a car. My life at present doesn't involve a whole lot of interaction with the public, and I don't depend much on bureaucracies. My biggest disability-related thing is my lung condition. If I miss out on something or feel incapacitated, it's usually because I'm not breathing very well and don't have enough energy or endurance.
This is my first shot at something like this. I'd appreciate any suggestions to make this more meaningful … a different rating system, different categories, etc. What would your "Misery Calculator" results look like?
=================================
Raw data from charts:
| Pain |
3
|
| Stamina / “Spoons” |
7
|
| Functionality |
4
|
| Mental & Cognitive |
1
|
| Sensory |
1
|
| Physical Barriers |
2
|
| Screwups |
1
|
| Systemic Barriers |
2
|
| Tools & Resources |
3
|
| Prejudice / Ableism |
4
|
| Medical |
16 (57%)
|
| Social |
12 (43%)
|
The Michael J. Fox Show - S1, E3 "Art"
On the plus side, Mike's impairments played no substantive role in any of the stories or scenes, while still being noticeable. The only time in the whole episode I laughed was at the single direct Parkinson's joke, but that was mainly a nicely-delivered one-liner. Mike throws a napkin at his son, Ian, who is texting at the dinner table:
"If that was Parkinson's, we're cool. If not, what the hell Dad?"
Otherwise, Mike Henry's Parkinson's is just there in Mike Henry's body language and voice. Neither of which are distracting, but I don't "forget" about them, either.
Over time, this approach, with an occasional Parkinson's-centered plot thrown in, can really help "normalize", de-mystify, and de-romanticize this kind of disability. The show has to be funny though to survive, and it's got to make sense, both of which it mostly failed to do this week.
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Accessibility Reporting Sites ... What Are We Waiting For?
I thought they were a great idea, and resolved to do my part to add accessibility reviews of as many places in my local area as I could. I then promptly forgot all about it, and checking the two sites I have bookmarked, I see that as far as I can tell, the only reviews of my area are the three I added originally.
So, I'm just reminding myself to get going and add more reviews. And if you are reading this, and are interested in advocating for more accessibility, you should, too. In fact, I'd go as far as saying that if you ever complain about poor accessibility, the weakness of the ADA, or the willful ignorance of business owners who still claim to not know where to start, then you really must contribute to one or both of these sites. As the saying goes, it's not sufficient, but it is necessary. And it's easy.
Click the links to get to the websites, where you can create a free account and start entering your reviews:
Ironside - First Impressions
Sigh. The gulf in "Ironside" between the quality of the disability stuff and the quality of the show overall is even wider than it is in "The Michael J. Fox Show". "Ironside's" pilot episode contains some beautiful, even revolutionary scenes about the main character's disability. There are also a few decent disability quips and one-liners. The show looks great, too. Unfortunately, the storytelling is sloppy and patchy, and the dialog is, at times, awful, to the point of being unintentionally funny. There are several ways "Ironside" can improve, and capitalize on what the show gets right about disability, so I'm not giving up hope yet. I really want to like "Ironside", but it's going to be a struggle. I'll post a full review this weekend. In the meantime, you can watch "Ironside" on Hulu Plus.Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Photo Of The Day
In honor of tonight's premier of "Ironside":
Reblog from Wheelchairproblems Tumblr blog ... Originally from The Smithian Tumblr blog. I love with Wheelchairproblems says:
"This show looks good and even if it sucks I’ll probably think it’s good cuz wheelchair."====================
Bonus photo:
The original "Ironside":
Nursing Homes vs. Home Care, Explained by ... Al Jazeera?
Young, disabled and stuck in a nursing home for the elderly
Ashley Cleek, Al Jazeera America - October 2, 2013
This is the best, most thorough news story about Medicaid, nursing homes, and home care that I've ever seen. The only real problem with it is that it could lead people to think the problem is unique to Alabama. It's not. Every state has a different ratio of Medicaid spending for nursing homes vs. home care. Some are are better, some are worse. A few states are really ahead of the curve. A few are far behind. But, it's a problem nation-wide.
Activist and disability policy wonk Steve Gold has some comparison data. It's a few years old now, and the presentation isn't very pretty, but it illustrates the point pretty well. If, in fact, nursing home care and home are are such fundamentally different services … are "apples and oranges" … then how do states manage to have such radical different allocation ratios between the two? Peoples' needs aren't that different, and none of these states have massive die-offs of elderly and disabled people. Some states just manage to do as well or better with home-based services, while others are either scared to, or are in the pockets of nursing home companies, or both.
I would also add that it isn't just "young people" who want … who need ... to get out of nursing homes. Almost nobody should be in a nursing home, and 95 year olds can benefit from home care as well as 35 year olds.
As a side note, if this is typical of the quality of journalism Al Jazeera offers on domestic topics, then I really hope they make a go of it here in the US.
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