Ethan Poe, who also has autism, shares a similar sentiment. \u201cI generally feel like autism is easily used as a plot device to some sort of problem than it is a sincere effort to understand a large swath of people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Baginski isn\u2019t alone in his frustrations with how people with disabilities are often portrayed on screen.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of the stories [in film] involving disability are predominantly about the negative concepts of disability,\u201d says accessibility consultant and streamer Vivek Gohil<\/a>, who lives with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and Haemophilia. \u201cAlso, films seem to think paralysis is the only disability out there. There\u2019s a whole range of disabilities to choose from, representation would explore the different perspectives of people living with different conditions. Teach the audience that a disability doesn’t make everybody the same.\u201d<\/p>\n Our own COO Steve Spohn has written at length<\/a> about the problem with writers creating characters with disabilities and not doing the barest bit of research for authenticity or even imbuing those characters with positive takeaways for audience members who may have similar or even the same disability.<\/p>\n A quadriplegic man \u201csacrificing himself\u201d so that his love can live \u201ca better life\u201d isn\u2019t a heartwarming sacrificial moment, it\u2019s a heartbreaking confirmation of our worst fears. Because our culture is so heavily rooted in Hollywood, young quadriplegic people could see this movie where the \u201chero\u201d commits assisted suicide as confirmation that the demons in their head might be right. Maybe life isn\u2019t worth living. Maybe the burden is too great.<\/p>\n So, I\u2019m here to ask you, aspiring writer, please don\u2019t make the same mistakes. If you\u2019re going to write about a minority or disability, do the same level of research you would do about a foreign land or a subject you have never personally experienced. Realize that you could accidentally be playing into the fears of a group you\u2019re trying to support.<\/p>\n Please remember that people with disabilities are not plot devices.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Luckily, the tides are changing and representation is improving \u2013 across all genres. For Gohill, Max Max: Fury Road<\/i>\u2019s Furosia is a \u2018brilliant\u2019 example of how to create a great character with a disability where all the narrative focus isn\u2019t on their disability. He also praises the use of sign language in The Mandalorian. <\/i>Poe says that Max Mayer\u2019s 2009 film Adam <\/i>does a good job portraying the condition with all its ups and down. Obviously these films aren\u2019t definitive proof that Hollywood\u2019s fixed its problem with giving characters with disabilities their due (because it hasn\u2019t). However, they do show a general inclination toward progress, as was the case in the late 20th century, when at long last films began to explore sexuality and race with more nuance than ever before with the likes of Look Who\u2019s Coming To Dinner<\/i>, Harold and Maude<\/i>, and My Own Private Idaho <\/i>exploring fraught subject matter in fascinating, if flawed ways. As the subject of disability and accessibility become more widespread, day-to-day topics, it is this writer\u2019s hope that the portrayal of characters with disabilities follows along the same trajectory as aforementioned movies and those portrayals become more nuanced and, more importantly, creatively managed by people who have those disabilities themselves.<\/p>\n But just what does that future look like? What do those with disabilities want from cinema with characters with disabilities? \u201cI would love to see disabled characters be bad or represented as sexy,\u201d says Yeehee Perry, who has cerebral palsy. \u201cI’ve jokingly been told many times by my friends that I should take part in a heist because no one would suspect me to be one of the perpetrators. As funny of an idea as that is, that sounds like a great story. If not that, then can we be represented as a sexy character for once?\u00a0 It would be nice for media representation to reflect disabled people as more diverse humans that have desires, less than wholesome motives, and varying outward appearances instead of a cookie-cutter sweet character.\u201d<\/p>\n Ethan Poe says he\u2019d like to see more slice of life stories with characters with disabilities. \u201cI just want my life represented, warts and all.\u201d<\/p>\n As we lurch headlong into a future where creators from all kinds of backgrounds are being given more power thanks to crowdfunding and digital services like Netflix,\u00a0 I can only hope that wishes of Poe and the rest of the disability community get the representation and creative advocacy that is deserved.<\/p>\n Javy Gwaltney is a publicist working with Private Division and other fantastic clients. He was once a Game Informer editor and spends most of his time writing words or thinking about replaying Mass Effect. You can find him on his twitter<\/a> or his website<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ablegamers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/madmax.jpeg?resize=700%2C394&ssl=1\")
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