Comments on: “Disabled” or “crippled?” http://www.makingchutney.com/2005/07/28/disabled-or-crippled/ One part facial hair. Two parts moxy. Sat, 10 Jan 2009 01:37:10 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: silver tongued devil http://www.makingchutney.com/2005/07/28/disabled-or-crippled/comment-page-1/#comment-2575 silver tongued devil Fri, 29 Jul 2005 17:20:12 +0000 http://www.makingchutney.com/?p=659#comment-2575 Ok, now I will leve tangent land and attempt to answer your question. I think that awareness and respect are two different things. People will assent to the basic truth that people with disabilities are capable of leaving their homes when they see people do that. Awareness will happen as people with disabilities continue to show up. If all we want is awareness then Jo's cousins with cerebral palsy on Facts of Life does that and that's not a bad thing. It is not respect though. Respect is another issue all together. Respect happens when my community realizes that my experience as a person with a disability gives me a pespective on living life in a body that needs to be a part of the community's narrative. We cannot be the community we could be unless the "we" includes all of us. Ok, now I will leve tangent land and attempt to answer your question. I think that awareness and respect are two different things. People will assent to the basic truth that people with disabilities are capable of leaving their homes when they see people do that. Awareness will happen as people with disabilities continue to show up. If all we want is awareness then Jo’s cousins with cerebral palsy on Facts of Life does that and that’s not a bad thing. It is not respect though.

Respect is another issue all together. Respect happens when my community realizes that my experience as a person with a disability gives me a pespective on living life in a body that needs to be a part of the community’s narrative. We cannot be the community we could be unless the “we” includes all of us.

]]> By: silver tongued devil http://www.makingchutney.com/2005/07/28/disabled-or-crippled/comment-page-1/#comment-2574 silver tongued devil Fri, 29 Jul 2005 16:58:52 +0000 http://www.makingchutney.com/?p=659#comment-2574 Typically, when we do see people with disabilities in the movies thay are played by temporarily able-bodied actors who win awards for "playing the crip." Is the life experience of people with disabilities so foriegn that we belive it is heroic when someone "acts crippled?" Think about it? Tom Cruise in Born on the 4th of July, Dustin Hoffman in Rainman, Daniel Day Lewis in My Left Foot, Sean Penn in I am Sam, Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind, Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump. He's playing a crip, call the academy! Typically, when we do see people with disabilities in the movies thay are played by temporarily able-bodied actors who win awards for “playing the crip.” Is the life experience of people with disabilities so foriegn that we belive it is heroic when someone “acts crippled?” Think about it? Tom Cruise in Born on the 4th of July, Dustin Hoffman in Rainman, Daniel Day Lewis in My Left Foot, Sean Penn in I am Sam, Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind, Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump. He’s playing a crip, call the academy!

]]> By: Emily http://www.makingchutney.com/2005/07/28/disabled-or-crippled/comment-page-1/#comment-2573 Emily Thu, 28 Jul 2005 21:43:22 +0000 http://www.makingchutney.com/?p=659#comment-2573 ABC News Study: Disabled Actors Underrepresented http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=981530&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312 This article made me wonder - we are so obsessed with celebrities, would we be more aware of people with disabilities if we saw more of them on TV and in movies? Would people with disabilities be afforded more respect if people could relate to them as "like that guy on CSI"? What comes first, having respect for people that use wheelchairs, or seeing them on TV? ABC News Study: Disabled Actors Underrepresented
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=981530&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

This article made me wonder - we are so obsessed with celebrities, would we be more aware of people with disabilities if we saw more of them on TV and in movies? Would people with disabilities be afforded more respect if people could relate to them as “like that guy on CSI”? What comes first, having respect for people that use wheelchairs, or seeing them on TV?

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