Odo and The Scientist

I re-watched a TV episode last week that felt a lot like it was about disability, even though it wasn't about disability at all.

The show was Season 2, Episode 12 of the 1990s show Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, "The Alternate." The episode's main story concerns Odo, a regular character on the sci-fi show with highly unusual origins and biology. Odo is a Shapeshifter. He is, at this point in the series, assumed to be one-of-a-kind. His natural resting state is liquid, and, with practice, he can become anything that he wants, anything from an animal to a piece of furniture. Most of the time Odo functions as an adult humanoid, and is the Deep Space Nine station's head of security or "Constable."

In this episode, Odo reunites with Dr. Mora Pol, the Bajoran scientist who years prior had been in charge of studying him and helping him fit in with "normal" society. In previous episodes, Odo had hinted that being a research subject after being "discovered" was a mixed experience at best. He learned a lot about his origins and abilities, but quickly grew to resent being gawked at and essentially imprisoned in a lab, existing mainly to satisfy the well-meaning but rather insensitive scientists' professional curiosity. Dr. Mora claims to have loved and cared for Odo, but it’s not hard to detect layers of exploitation and condescension in his manner.

This theme is underscored by the tension between Odo and Mora when Mora visits the station. Odo behaves correctly but quite coldly towards Dr. Mora. Mora outwardly praises Odo's accomplishments like a proud parent or former teacher, yet all of his compliments come barbed with a vague disapproval, a sense that Odo has made poor decisions. He shouldn't have left the lab. He did a disservice to himself and the scientists by abandoning their research. And, most disturbing of all, Mora implies that Odo's acceptance by the other station personnel is superficial ... that as a Shapeshifter he is still someone apart, and in that sense really "belongs" with people like Mora himself, who really appreciate Odo and can help nurture his journey of self-discovery ... back in the lab, of course.

The relationship between Mora and Odo remind me of so many aspects of being an adult with disabilities, having grown up with disabilities, and the intimate but contentious relationships many of us have with doctors, therapists, teachers, and even our parents. People are rarely entirely selfless, or completely self-serving. The problem is that, like Dr. Mora, people in a position to help and care for disabled children and youth often have trouble acknowledging how personally invested they can be in our lives and decisions. Plus, their benevolence often comes across as paternalism, and a lack of full recognition of our agency, our personhood. On the other hand, we, like Odo, often find it hard to recover from old wounds, and have empathy for people who meant well, but made mistakes like all humans do ... and Bajorans for that matter. My sympathies are with Odo, but I do feel he was a bit too hard on Mora. Odo does want to learn more about himself and his origins. It’s just that he feels that the best way to do this is to live a normal and useful life, with all it’s variety and even danger. Mora thinks Odo should focus exclusively on himself, and essentially hide away in a safe place from a hostile world.

Even if you're not into science fiction shows, if you grew up with a disability or have spent part of your life treating, teaching, or raising a disabled child, watch this episode. It says more about the disability experience than most shows that are explicitly about disability.

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Disability.TV - Ep. 25 - Girls: Jessa & Beedie

In this episode, we focus not on a whole TV series, but a short storyline within a series … the Jessa and Beedie story on HBO’s “Girls.” It starts off as an assisted suicide story, but doesn’t quite end that way.

“Girls" … IMDB.

Photo of Jessa.

Photo of Beedie.

Editorial on Assisted Suicide … By Marilyn Golden of the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund.

Season 3, Episode 12 Two Plane Rides and Season 4, Episode 1 Iowa … “Girls” HBO Episode Summaries.

Disability.TV Star Ratings Google Doc … Star ratings for every show reviewed on the Disability.TV Podcast.

Jessa

Beedie

Disability.TV Podcast
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Furiosa

I haven’t seen a movie in the theater in years, but this evening I’ll be at my local mall cinema seeing Mad Max, Fury Road. I’m going because I read this Tumblr post about the film, (via the Disability Visibility Project), and its amputee main character, Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron). We’ll see how I feel afterwards, but in movies at least, I get a get stronger positive disability vibes when disability isn’t the main topic, but rather a visible but natural-feeling aspect of complex characters. I prefer “show, don’t tell," and it sounds like Fury Road does just that, and nothing else regarding Furiosa’s missing arm.

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#DaredevilDVP

DAREDEVIL LIVE-TWEET WITH DVP 4/10/15! #DAREDEVILDVP

Disability Visibility Project - April 4, 2015

Netflix’s live-action “Daredevil” TV show may turn out be the biggest disability on TV story of the year. Based on the Marvel Comics series about a blind superhero, the whole first season of “Daredevil” will be posted at once on Friday, April 10. Alice Wong of the Disability Visibility Project will host a live Tweeting event starting 8 PM Eastern, under the #DaredevilDVP hashtag. We will be posting Tweets while we watch the first episode. Anyone interested is invited to follow and participate.

I am not a comic book fan. I never have been. Nor have I clicked into any of the superhero movies and TV shows of the last 30 or so years. Going in, my interest is mainly curiosity about how Daredevil’s blindness is portrayed.

There is a familiar stereotype baked into the premise … that being blind intensifies the other senses. It’s a popular idea that is only partially, if at all true in real life. I'll be interested to see whether making these heightened senses "superpowers" will make them more of a blindness stereotype or less. Also, as far as I know, the actor, Charlie Cox, isn’t blind. That is disappointing, and puts me on alert for possible inaccuracies and shortcuts in the portrayal of a blind man. On the plus side, it looks like Daredevil might be trained and advised by another blind man. That kind of peer mentoring is one of my favorite things to see in disability on TV.

I will try to keep an open mind. If it’s a good show overall, then I’m prepared to be pleased if blindness is just another factor, the way paralysis is a factor, but not always a crucial one for “Ironside,” a less fantastical disabled TV crime fighter.

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No Glee

Glee ended last night, and I didn’t watch it. I haven’t watched Glee consistently since the end of Season One. I adored the Pilot episode, but like Vox.com’s Todd VanDerWerf, I found that my crush faded quickly after that first date.

Mostly, I loved the music, (glee club covers of pop hits and classics), but another thing that drew me to Glee was the inclusion of a main character who was a wheelchair user … Artie Abrams, played by the (non-disabled) actor Kevin McHale. When Glee started in 2009, just seeing a character with a disability on a TV show seemed like progress to me. Later on, I started to notice inaccuracies and troubling themes in Artie’s character. You could tell he wasn’t really a paraplegic. It’s not just that I knew it for a fact, I could see it and feel it, which isn’t good when you’re trying to make the audience feel that you are your character and not just an actor in a costume. Artie had his interesting moments, but tended to fall back on cliché, like the dream sequence when he got out of his wheelchair to dance.

Then there was Becky Jackson played by Lauren Potter, an actor who actually does have Down Syndrome. At first it was refreshing to see a disabled actor playing a disabled character, and a cognitively impaired character not presented as a sweet little angel. But, Glee took it too far too many times. Becky’s crudeness and weird “alliance” with the evil Sue Sylvester came to seem like a nasty gimmick instead of mold-breaking.

There’s more I could say. Cheryl Green and I did say more in our Disability.TV Podcast conversation about Glee. Click and listen. You will notice that our dislike of the disability portrayals on Glee is more intense exactly because we both sort of loved Glee. Or rather, we loved the start of Glee, and the idea of Glee. The show had a lot going for it, including a terrific setup to examine disability, along with other ways people can be socially marginalized, then empowered through friendship and teamwork. Instead, Glee went for cheap, easy laughs, leaned on clichés, and indulged in the same stigmas it supposedly fought.

Sometimes that works. Some shows manage to satirize and criticize prejudices while playing on them, but it takes care and control. Part of what made Glee exciting at first was it’s volatility. It seemed like it could veer out of control at any moment. Often it did. Maybe it’s a Ryan Murphy thing. American Horror Story has a similar problem. It’s wild enthusiasm tends to overwhelm any sense of control or care. Both series have great moments … even great disability moments … but they seem almost accidental. And in the next scene, old stigmas take center stage again, because, you know, why not?

I guess what Glee taught me about disability portrayals is that it’s not enough to just throw disabled characters into the mix and have them do a few surprising things. You have to pay attention to what you’re doing and how you’re doing it. You don’t have to be dull and “politically correct”, but you do have to give a damn, and focus.

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Represent

I haven't always felt as strongly as some disabled bloggers and tweeters about non-disabled actors playing, and getting accolades for playing, disabled characters. I don't like it, but on balance, I am usually more interested in how disabled characters in movies and TV are developed, what’s said about disability in the script, and the messages sent by what happens in the stories.

Still, I think it's important for people to understand that those of us who aren't celebrating Eddie Redmayne’s Oscar for playing Steven Hawking aren't just sourpusses or political correctness commisars. There are substantive reasons why this is a real issue.

Supply and Demand

There are relatively few acting roles for disabled characters. There are relatively few … but a lot more than zero … actors with disabilities. It is quite rare for disabled actors to be cast as characters who aren’t specifically designated as disabled. And it is extremely rare to cast disabled actors to play disabled characters. Sort through all that, and you will see how ridiculously hard it is for disabled actors to get work. With all the odds against them, how must it feel for disabled actors to watch the few disabled roles there are consistently go to non-disabled actors? Plus, when the roles are prominent and popular, those non-disabled actors are praised even more for playing disabled … like it's a double back-flip feat of ACTING! In fact, playing disabled is a well-known shortcut to an Oscar for non-disabled actors. Even people who aren’t familiar with disability issues often snicker about it. The comedy “Tropic Thunder” forthrightly joked about it.

Accuracy

The first film about disability that really excited me was “My Left Foot”, in which non-disabled actor Daniel Day-Lewis played Christy Brown, a real-life Irish poet with Cerebral Palsy. A young non-disabled actor Hugh O'Connor played Christy as a child. Day-Lewis won the Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal, winning particular praise for the supposed authenticity of his movements and vocalizations. When I saw the film, it seemed to me like it was pretty accurate. He looked and sounded much like people I knew who had CP on the more “severe” side of the scale. Granted, I didn’t really pay much attention to the finer details. And I have since been told that the portrayal may have been “played up” for emotional effect. That can be hard to define, as everyone’s disability is different, and acting always requires the “portrayal” (i.e. faking) of emotions. Still, if crucial details are wrong, and especially if actors, writers, and directors knowingly make a character’s disability look more exaggerated than it would be in real life, that’s just vile, leading to the next point ...

Are You Making Fun Of Me?

maysoonzayid: DD is a phenomonal actor but he was an unwatchable cartoon in MLF @AndrewPulrang @dominickevans #filmdis

dominickevans: @maysoonzayid @AndrewPulrang those portrayals also turn to stereotypes (i.e. autistics rocking as central characteristic)

maysoonzayid: Right I'd be horrified to see how inaccurately an AB actor would clown how CP twists my lips @AndrewPulrang @dominickevans

dominickevans: @AndrewPulrang @maysoonzayid I personally find it very hard to look past the stereotyping physically... that actors seem to do

Sunday afternoon, I had an interesting Twitter conversation about all this with a disabled actor, Maysoon Zayid, and a disabled director, Dominick Evans, who are both regular participants in the weekly #FilmDis discussions about disability on screen. Dominick is the organizer. He and Maysoon were down on “My Left Foot”, and in addition to what they felt was the portrayal’s inaccuracy, they both cited a sense that it wasn’t just wrong, but also a caricature … cartoonish and painful to watch as disabled viewers. I got what they were saying, but I’m still struggling with this. On the one hand, I think a lot of people see Day-Lewis’ Christy Brown, and maybe Redmayne’s Steven Hawking, as bravely honest depictions, not “prettied up” for more sensitive eyes and ears. That’s how I saw “My Left Foot” back in 1990. Of course that presupposes that what’s being portrayed is terrible hardship, which is only one facet of disability, for some disabled people.

On the other hand, especially if I had that exact kind of disability, I might have seen the same depiction as mockery … like a class clown in the hallway executing a “perfect" imitation of my odd way of walking and posture. The actors in question almost certainly weren’t trying to be mean that way, but it’s possible that at times they were trying to shock, and that’s nearly as bad. Now, I suppose a disabled actor might end up doing the same thing, but I think it’s far less likely, because they probably know better where to draw the line, when to say “no”. Also, I think there’s a less tangible issue here of trust. It’s hard enough for some of us to see “ourselves” on screen, often mocked, abused, or turned into cardboard cutouts. But if we know going in that the actor is disabled, maybe it helps us get through it, knowing that “our” portrayal is more likely to be in good hands.

Someone To Say “No"

Non-disabled writers and directors are like children when it comes to disability. They are over-awed by it, and prone to mystify or fetishize it in unhelpful, sometimes disgusting, often profoundly boring, clichéd ways. A disabled actor can be like an adult in the room. If a director pushes them to do something exaggerated, inaccurate, or stereotypical, the disabled actor can say, “Hang on a minute, let’s talk about this.” Being only vaguely aware of the power relationships in Hollywood, I’m not suggesting this would always work. Still, having someone on set with real life, personal experience of disability would at least increase the chance that a finished work would be accurate and not over-dramatized, at least in regard to the disability itself.

So no, advocating that disabled actors be hired to play disabled characters isn’t tokenism. It isn’t “political correctness gone mad”. It should be standard operating procedure. It’s good for disabled actors, it helps improve perceptions of disability, and it makes better art.

Related article:

Welcome, Eddie Redmayne: Since ‘Rain Man,’ majority of Best Actor Oscar winners played sick or disabled

Justin Moyer, Washington Post - February 23, 2015

Despite some amateur-hour terminology slip-ups, (“handicapped” and “malady” are NOT synonyms for “disability" you can pull out of your Thesaurus just to add variety), this is a pretty good illustration of just how much Oscar loves disability by non-disabled actors. It's interesting to note that Mr. Moyer chooses 1988 as the start date, when two years earlier, Marlee Matlin won the Oscar for Best Actress for "Children Of A Lesser God" … a woman with a disability playing a character with that disability.

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Losing A Teacher

"Remembering Lucy Gwin”

Steven E. Brown, Disability Visibility Project - November 10, 2014

“Mouth” magazine was one of my first introductions to disability culture and what we might roughly term “radical” disability philosophy, back when I was a new staff member at a Center for Independent Living. Along with the somewhat similar “Disability Rag” / “Ragged Edge", Lucy Gwin’s “Mouth” is where I discovered that disability rights and awareness are about more than a few ramps and superficial acceptance. In the newsprint pages of these two pre-Web journals, I learned:

- Why, exactly, nursing homes and other institutions are terrible, not just distasteful. They not only rob residents of their full humanity, they are an outdated, inadequate, and inefficient way to meet the needs of elderly and disabled people who need some help with everyday tasks. I first read well-researched details about all this in the “Mouth”.

- How the experiences of physically disabled people are similar to those of cognitively or mentally impaired people … surprisingly similar to me, at the time when I read about it.

- The various “Catch-22” traps all sorts of disabled people face daily … For example: Either you’re too disabled to be trusted to run your own life, or you aren’t disabled enough to get services you need to function with the disabilities you do have.

- That truly horrific injustices happen all the time to disabled people, not just small indignities and embarrassments.

- That the sheer absurdity of ableism is it’s key weakness, and laughter is one of our most effective weapons.

The “Mouth” was one of my textbooks, which I guess means that Lucy Gwin was my teacher. I suspect there are hundreds, maybe thousands of other disabled people, and allies, who can say the same. I’m so sad that she’s gone.

AHS: Freak Show Trailer

Another trailer for American Horror Story: Freak Show.

A few thoughts on this particular brand of “problematic” disability depiction:

I have seen depictions of disability on TV that disturbed me, but didn’t piss me off. I generally don’t mind disability depictions that are upsetting. It’s disability depictions that feel wrong and harmful that bother me.

On paper it is a simple matter to distinguish between what’s in the actual “text” and what is “meta”. For instance, if a AHS “Freak Show” includes scenes where audiences gasp and swoon on viewing physically deformed people on display, the text itself is offensive, but the show may or may not be criticizing the behavior of the freakshow audiences, portraying them as ignorant or nasty. It's possible to have a progressive depiction of regressive behavior. But what if we, the audience at home, not only tut-tut about those old-timey rubes and their insensitive attitudes, while at the same time we also kind of join in their morbid curiosity about lookin’ at freaks? The lines blur, and writers can get away with a lot by insisting that they are just commenting on things as they are, or were.

I hope freak shows don’t become the next hipster affectation or Steampunk theme. People should know about the times, not so very long ago, when people both cynically and sincerely believed that gaping at deformed people was enlightening, like participating in science, appreciating the wonders of nature. But I don’t want people to start thinking it’s okay again, even nostalgically.

Disability Podcasts

Since I’ve got podcasting on the brain these days, I thought I would take inventory of the disability-related podcasts I listen to. There are really only three I listen to regularly. It amazes me a bit how few active podcasts there are by people with disabilities, on disability topics. True, podcasting requires more equipment and technical skill than blogging. However, it’s a lot easier now to develop your own podcast than it was just two or three years ago. These are the three I follow at the moment:

Ouch! Disability Talk Show

BBC hosts Rob Crossan and Kate Monaghan both have disabilities. Each of their “Ouch!” shows covers a couple of disability topics and disabled people in depth, usually with interviews. They also run through shorter disability news stories, with the help of topical “correspondents” … ordinary disabled people who listen to the show, and call in with brief bits on topics that particularly interest them. This makes “Ouch!” an impressive combination of professional radio and grassroots podcasting. Rob and Kate have a lovely, hilarious chemistry together, which helps keep the show from falling into sentimentality. Most of the content is centered on the UK, but they occasionally talk about disability trends in other countries, including the United States.

Criptiques Podcast

Cheryl Green interviews disabled writers and thinkers who contributed essays to her disability culture anthology, “Criptiques”. This is an occasional podcast that’s only had three interviews so far, but each of them was amazing. Cheryl is a terrific interviewer, with a great sense of humor. I get really excited when I see a new interview has been posted.

Stories From The Brainreels

I just started listening to this one, another podcast by Cheryl Green. I’m pretty convinced it will become part of my regular lineup, because I love Cheryl’s interviews, the topics align with things that interest me most, and because it’s in iTunes, so I’ll get new episodes automatically.

I just did an iTunes search, to see if I am missing anything new. I found a few podcasts that have been inactive for months or years, and a few on side topics only slightly related to what I’m looking for, but nothing I’m likely to add to my podcast-listening routine. I would love to hear about any new disability-related podcasts. I need more good stuff to listen to, and most of all, I need disability podcasting role models to help me develop Disability.TV.

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Correction:

As you will see from Cheryl Green's comment below, I confused her with Catilin Wood. Caitlin is the author of Criptiques, and produces the Criptiques Podcast. Cheryl Green does the Stories From The Brainreels podcast. My apologizes to both Cheryl and Caitlin!

Disability.TV Podcast - Ep. 1, Introduction

Here it is, at long last … my first podcast episode!

This introductory episode is different than most of the regular episodes will be. For one thing, I plan on making each episode a more casual, less scripted discussion. And, as I mention in this introduction, I hope several episodes will include guests, so we can have real conversations. This first episode lays out my plans for the podcast, and starts to explore some of the themes and ideas I hope to talk about.

As promised in the episode, I have pasted a tentative schedule of TV shows and characters I plan to discuss below. Please do send feedback, on the podcasts themselves, and on episodes and topics to come. Most importantly, if you have a favorite disabled character or show … or least favorite … and would like to co-host a discussion about it with me, let me know.

One other technical note … In the podcast I mention using SoundCloud. I had some trouble with it, so for now I have switched to a different hosting service, Podbean. I still plan on submitting to iTunes for easy subscribing.

Disability.TV - Tentative Schedule

August 15 - Ironside (Original Series)

August 29 - Ironside (New Series)

September 5 - Friday Night Lights

September 19 - Game Of Thrones - Tyrion Lannister

October 3 - Game Of Thrones - Jaimie Lannister, Bran Stark, and Others

October 17 - Glee

October 31 - My Gimpy Life

November 14 - Big Bang Theory

November 28 - Parenthood

December 12 - Sherlock

December 26 - Red Band Society (New Fall Series)

January 9 - Breaking Bad

January 23 - Star Trek - The Menagerie 1 & 2

February 6 - Star Trek: The Next Heneration - Ethics

February 20 - Star Trek: Deep Space 9 - Melora

March 6 - American Horror Story

March 20 - ER - Dr. Kerry Weaver

April 3 - ER - Mental Illness on ER

April 17 - Downton Abbey

May 1 - The West Wing - President Josiah Bartlett

May 15 - The West Wing - Joey Lucas

May 29 - Life Goes On

June 5 - I, Claudius

Acting!

Disability Is Not Just a Metaphor

Christopher Shinn, The Atlantic - July 23, 2014

I’m not too bothered by non-disabled actors in disabled roles. By which I mean that seeing non-disabled actors play disabled roles doesn't spoil the experience for me, as long as they do it well. What matters most to me is whether portrayals are believable, and that depends mostly on writing and acting talent.

This article describes an interesting idea ... that audiences prefer seeing non-disabled actors in disability roles because it sort of protects them from seeing too much of a feared reality. I don’t think I quite buy it, though. I feel like most audiences are pretty game for raw authenticity, including seeing real disabled people playing disabled characters in TV, movies, and plays. If anything, I suspect it’s writers and directors who maybe fear the reality check their work will be subjected to by disabled actors.

"What if a real paraplegic tells me that my writing of the paraplegic character is crap? What if they notice that I only know, like, three story ideas for disabled characters?”

1. Bitter cripple drives away the people who love him.

2. Inspiring cripple teaches selfish non-cripple a valuable lesson about gratitude.

3. Cripple takes a chance on an experimental treatment and is cured.

On the other hand, I sometimes worry that casting disabled actors in disability roles can become too much of a “trick” in itself, when understood and promoted in a sensationalistic way. Not that disabled actors might do a poor job of it ... most disabled actors I’ve seen who have made it into mainstream productions are terrific ... but that viewers will pay more attention to the “wow factor” of casting a disabled person, than to the quality of their performance.

Of course, once you consider how most people feel today about white actors portraying African-American characters ... or a male actor playing a woman ... it's hard to escape the idea that it's pretty outrageous that most disabled characters are played by non-disabled actors. Here's a great article from that point of view at the RogerEbert.com website.

I wonder if I would feel differently about, say, Daniel Day-Lewis playing disabled Irish poet Christy Brown, if the situation were reversed ... if most disabled characters were, in fact, played by disabled actors, and non-disabled people playing them were the exception rather than the rule?

I’m sure a lot of these issues will come up, as I get into my Disability.TV podcast.

Video Of The Day: Mannequins 2, JCP Edition

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

'We're all different': JCPenney shows unique mannequins in New York storefront

Jane Weaver, Today, NBC - July 15, 2014

Via Words I Wheel By.

I am glad to see this, but I am surprised they didn’t mention the similar project done in Zurich, Switzerland last Fall. The video for that made me cry for real, not out of pity, but because of a strong feeling of identification with the participants. One thing I like about this project is that they don't focus on disability per se, but on differences ... including weight and height.

Coming Soon ... "Disability.TV"

I have been toying with the idea of starting a podcast on TV depictions of disability for quite some time, but I think I’ve finally reached the point where a vague idea is ready to turn into reality. If all goes well, I’ll have an introductory episode of “Disability.TV” out on August 1st. I will probably post it initially on SoundCloud.com, but eventually it should be added to iTunes as well, so people can download episodes to their computers and mobile devices.

Each episode will focus on a single TV show and its disabled characters. My main goal throughout will be to answer the question, “What do we want in TV depictions of disability?” In the process, I hope listers will enjoy a tour of past, present, and even future TV shows featuring disabled characters and themes. To get a good head start, here is a tentative list of episode topics: 

Ironside - Original Series - Chief Robert Ironside

Ironside - New Series - Detective Robert Ironside

The Michael J. Fox Show / Growing Up Fisher - Mike Henry / Mel Fisher

Friday Night Lights - Jason Street

Game Of Thrones - Tyrion Lannister

Game Of Thrones - Jaimie Lannister, Bran Stark, and Hodor

Glee - Artie Abrams, Becky Jackson

Big Bang Theory - Sheldon Cooper

Parenthood - Max Braverman

Red Band Society - (New Fall Show)

Breaking Bad - Walter Jr. “Flynn” White

Star Trek - The Menagerie 1 & 2 - Captain Christopher Pike

Star Trek: The Next Heneration - Ethics - Lt. Worf

Star Trek: Deep Space 9 - Melora - Ensign Melora Pazlar

American Horror Story - “Freak Show”

ER - Dr. Kerry Weaver

ER - Mental Illness

Downton Abbey - Mr. Bates, Thomas Barrow, Matthew Crawley

The West Wing - President Josiah Bartlett

The West Wing - Joey Lucas

Life Goes On - Corky Sherwood

I think I have everything I need to get started … except for one thing. I need ideas, insights, and most of all, some co-hosts! If you are tuned in to disability issues and popular culture, have a look at this list, and if you see something that interests you, let me know. Hopefully, we can work out the technical side of long-distance podcasting and make these episodes real discussions rather than monologues. Two viewpoints are almost always better than one!

Stay tuned for the first, introductory podcast!

Where Are The Disability Shows?

Has anyone heard anything about new disability-themed, disabled charactered TV shows this year? Last year at this time, critics at the Television Critics Association press tour were giving us their first hopeful, though lukewarm takes on three high-profile disability shows:

 

- Ironside, a remake of the classic Raymond Burr series of the 60s and 70s, with the new show anchored by Blair Underwood as Robert Ironside, an NYC policeman returned to duty as a special investigator after being paralyzed by a gunshot wound.

- A Michael J. Fox sitcom, cleverly titled The Michael J. Fox Show, about a TV news anchor with Parkinson’s Disease.

- Growing Up Fisher, a sit-com about a blind dad, to be played by the excellent character actor J. K. Simmons.

All three shows, at that early stage, contained the ingredients of success and possibly even significance. Ironside was a "reimagining" of an old series that viewers of a certain age remembered fondly. Michael J. Fox is a bona-fide movie and TV star, universally loved, and a well-known spokesperson for Parkinson's awareness. J. K. Simmons is less well-known outside of movie-geek circles, but came with strong comedic chops and face recognition ... he's a "that guy" you instantly recognize though you may not have ever known his name.

All three shows failed, both in ratings and, I think, ambition. Each show had it’s own problems, but I think one mistake they all made is that they relied too much on disability to carry the show. Actually "The Michael J. Fox Show" wisely let the main character’s disability to fade into the background, but then the rest of the stories and characters turned out to be too weak and conventional to make hold viewer interest. “Ironside" was basically a generic police procedural with disability tacked on. "Growing Up Fisher" seemed to be trying for a quirky, heightened tone that would sidestep realism, but did it halfheartedly, so it was weird, but not weird enough, and kind of insulting. J. K. Simmons is a great comedic actor, but he seemed limited by the need to keep doing obvious jokes about his blindness.

Meanwhile, I haven’t heard anything about any new shows with prominent disabled characters or themes. Has the industry soured on disability shows? Or, have writers, producers, and show-runners figured out that the best depictions of disability on TV have arrived unannounced?

For example, “Game Of Thrones”, which isn’t about disability at all, has three main characters with disabilities that affect their personalities and decisions significantly, but are well integrated into the larger plot of the show. “Parenthood” deals with Asberger Syndrome more directly, but only occasionally because Max is just one of an ensemble of characters in the Braverman family. Then there are the one-off and occasional appearances that make an impact … like the police chief’s daughter on “Sleepy Hollow” and the “scared straight” wheelchair banger girl on “Orange Is The New Black”.

In all of these cases, the viewers’ connections with disability work because shows and characters they like introduce them to it. Disability doesn't make a character or storyline interesting, but an interesting character or story can make disability more interesting.

I still think there’s room for a high-quality TV show focused on disability themes. However, I don’t think anyone should be trying too hard to make it happen. I would rather wait for the right story idea, and the right people to write and produce it. Until then, I think we do pretty well with the less heralded disabled characters, incorporated into shows we like already.

"Freakshow" Trailer

I'm looking forward to the next American Horror Story … Freakshow, because I am anxious to find out whether Ryan Murphy and his excellent troupe of actors manage to mix some humanity in with what I am sure will be plenty of gaping at freaks. I’m not optimistic, but you never know ...

Photo Of The Day

From The Romantic Movement Tumblr blog, via Sick Days.

Frida Kahlo (1907.07.06-1954.07.13)

Disability Visibility Project

 

I have been seeing Tweets, articles, and blog post about the Disability Visibility Project for several weeks, and thought about posting something about it. Then, out of the blue, the project’s coordinator, Alice Wong, contacted me about being a “media partner”, which I am very glad to do.

What is the Disability Visibility Project? The project’s website explains it best:

"The project’s purpose is to collect stories from Americans with disabilities and have them archived at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. Starting July 2014 to July 2015, anyone going to one of StoryCorps’ three locations can contribute their oral history in celebration of the upcoming 25th anniversary of the ADA. By tagging their interview as part of the Disability Visibility Project, they will become part of a collection of stories from the disability community. Having these stories recorded and available to the public will preserve disability history, making them accessible to all."

"The Disability Visibility project is a community partnership with StoryCorps. StoryCorps is an independent nonprofit whose mission is to provide people of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the stories of our lives. StoryCorps partners with the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, and with National Public Radio with whom they have a weekly broadcast every Friday on Morning Edition."

On a personal note, I have been listening to StoryCorps programs on NPR for many years. I think it’s a great idea to make a concerted effort like this to get peoples’ disability stories included in this massive and growing audio archive of everyday peoples’ stories. If you are reading this blog, chances are you already like reading the thoughts and stories from disabled people, and maybe you share some of your own stories, too. This is another way to do that, in a somewhat higher profile way.

Even if you can’t get to a StoryCorps location, you can help by boosting the information to other bloggers, blog readers, Facebook friends, Tweeters, and other people you regularly reach through social media. Plus, this is a year-long project, so who knows? StoryCorps could come to you one of these days!

Disability In Comics

With great power comes great disability

Kathleen Hawkins, BBC - June 24, 2014

(Via Media Dis & Dat)

I am fascinated by pop culture, but I have never been a comic book person, so I really appreciate this BBC article about the history of disabled characters in comics. It seems to be inspired by the recent addition of Harper in the Archie series, but it looks back at some successful and short-lived disabled characters and superheroes, including Daredevil and Oracle, (a.k.a. before her injury, Barbara Gordon or “Batgirl”).

I can’t tell from this article, or my superficial exposure to comics traditions, whether disabled characters in comic simply follow the same disability tropes seen in other media, or if the comic book medium fosters either much more sophisticated depictions, or much less. It does seem like the X-Men series may be richer in disability themes than any other of the explicitly disabled characters in comics and superhero universes. It also seems like there is still plenty of room for at least a few more nuanced, developed disabled comic book characters.

Knope's Bold Idea

I just re-watched Season 4 of Parks and Recreation, in which Leslie Knope runs for the Pawnee, Indiana City Council. I had totally forgotten the interesting little disability story in Episode 17, which includes “Ramp Up Pawnee”, candidate Knope’s proposal to build a ramp on every set of stairs in Pawnee, in a bid to win the essential Senior Citizen vote.

Considering it is only one theme in an otherwise packed episode, there is a lot to chew on, especially for disabled people who can relate to wheelchair accessibility problems:

- There is the idea itself … that a local politician running for office would think that pledging to improve a town’s accessibility was a good way to win votes, so much so that her opponent felt forced to make a “better” proposal to address the same problem.

- On the one hand, it’s so unusual that the joke fits well into “Parks & Rec’s” absurdist tone. How many real-life politicians make physical accessibility improvements a key priority? It’s practically unheard of, and the completeness of Leslie’s proposal is as absurd as it is awesome.

- On the other hand, it’s not absurd at all. Seniors are an important voting bloc, and accessibility is potentially an important issue for them, not to mention younger people with disabilities. The fact that it’s kind of a joke on the show just underscores what an untapped opportunity it is in actual politics.

- Leslie’s opponent, rich kid Bobby Newport, counters with a “better” proposal … install lifts rather than ramps. I guess it’s better because it’s more expensive. The thing is, in most cases, ramps are easier, and lifts are a last resort when ramps are infeasible. Lifts are, generally, a pain in the ass. On the show, it’s just accepted that lifts are better.

- For some reason, I just love Leslie’s slogan for her ramp initiative: “Stairs are a young man’s game!” It’s not even very accurate, but I like that there’s a hint of pride to it … almost like saying, “Stairs are for chumps”.

- “Not enough ramps is the number three complaint among Pawnee seniors, right behind ‘Everything hurts,’ and ‘I’m dying.’” – Leslie

- When I Googled the episode, I found this fantastic website for the Knope 2012 campaign, including a page on Leslie’s proposal, “Ramp Up Pawnee!"

As has often been said, these brief story lines are a great way for TV shows to help “normalize” disability and disability issues.