#disabilitystereotypes

[capableism]

How Avatar glorifies erasing disability

Avatar (2009) ends with Jake transferring his consciousness to his Avatar body, ultimately erasing disability in this society and planet. Angry Hippie  emphasizes the ability to move consciousness is a profound question and says, "While many thought they were being clever by dissecting this movie to exploit  its' flaws, they were merely peeling the first layer of the onion." (AVATAR: In-Depth Analysis) 

In my opinion, there are layers of ableism that Angry Hippie missed. His favorite scene is when Jake (who has paraplegia) runs for the first time in his Avatar body. This scene I dislike the most falls into tropes of disabled people wanting to be "fixed" or "better." I cannot speak to how it feels to become disabled later in life, as Jake was. But I can say that these ableist messages portraying disabled people as weak and valuable only as inspiration are not helpful for anyone, disabled or not. 

Internal ableism comes from society. Angry Hippie points out that Jake running as a person with paraplegia is only surface level. This I agree with, but he goes  on to say, "it was a brilliant way to build an emotional connection to the  audiences" and "on a deeper level, however, the visual representation of Jake, a  crippled man, is a reflection of the state of the human race."  (AVATAR: In-Depth Analysis) 

In my opinion, the word "crippled" is somewhat offensive, but others have reclaimed it. The comments here demonstrate ableism because he's saying that Jake running is inspirational or at least emotional for the audience. Inspiration is what disabled characters are usually meant to convey on screen. My first impression of the film was that the disabled representation was adequate because the film did not revolve around disability. 

That is a double-edged sword highlighting the line between erasing disability and presenting a fully realized character that happens to have a disability.

Sources

Angry Hippie. (2018, October 22). AVATAR | In-Depth Film Analysis: Neohumanism & Ayahuasca | Humanity vs Alternate Humanity [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4c8avw6qo8

[carriejonesbooks]

Don't Say "Epileptics Everywhere."

Don’t Say “Epileptics Everywhere.”

During the Super Bowl a person I know posted something about Weeknd’s halftime show and in the comments Epilepetics everywhere are not having a good time atm. Jesus, I can’t even have my head in the same direction as the TV. Random Facebook Person And I got a bit tweaked. I don’t know the person who posted that comment. I don’t know if she has epilepsy, but I do and her generalization? It…

[capableism]

Avatar goes too far visually defining dystopia with disability

Jake Sully’s body is used as a world-building tool. A dystopian Earth is paralleled with a disabled body. 

Saying Jake's body represents what's wrong in society is ableist. This assertion also perpetuates internal ableism by reinforcing the need for disabled people to be the ones who obviously want and need to change. The deeper meaning goes beyond saying the world needs to change its ways to avoid becoming a dystopia. Jake is "someone who does not want to be treated any differently than someone able-bodied. In this way, Jake not only agrees with but also extends the long-standing perception of disabled people as inferior because they need and want help from others. His attitude, we are told later by  Jake, remains unchanged" (Holtmeier & Park-Primiano, 8).  

The perception of disabled people is not addressed in other adaptations of these historical events. And popular films don't often tackle multiple issues in separate minority groups. 

Intersectionality is ignored because it's too complicated and not as entertaining or easy to accept that racism and ableism can occur together.

Of course, those are not the only biases in the world, but they are the two that intersect here. 

The perception that disability cripples the individual and represents what's wrong with the world perpetuates ableism. The possibility existed to write Jake in a way that would not have perpetuated stereotypes. Showing him as "relentlessly self-reliant,  promoting a reactionary portrait of himself as the ideal disabled person" (Holtmeier & Park-Primiano, 8). This "ideal" is meant for able-bodied people, not people who are actually disabled. This makes it impossible for me to think of the world we're shown as real. It is a movie with an agenda concerned more with the evils of Westernization than with disability representation. 

The film simply copies and pastes an idealized version of a  disabled person for plot convenience.

Source

Holtmeier, M., & Parker-Primiano, S. (2020). Ableism in Avatar: The Transhuman, Postcolonial Rapprochement to Bioregionalism. Studies of Humanities, 46(1-2), 3-17. https://go.gale.com/ps/i.doid=GALE%7CA673944097&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=00393800&p=AONE&sw=w&userGroupName=nysl_oweb&isGeoAuthType=true

[capableism]

Disney emphasizes visually impaired character’s blindness is from internalized ableism

Despite Jace's projections of his internal ableism on people during a fire drill, when Jace is struggling, John (a jock he previously antagonized) guides him out of school during a fire drill after he has lost his cane and begs for help. It is emotional because it shows how his disability affects everyday tasks. This demonstrates Jace's need for support, whether he wants it or not. He is not the visually impaired superhuman. He is a typical flawed, stubborn teenager.

The internal ableism Jace is projecting onto wrestling culminates after Jace angrily insists he's not a "charity case" and shouldn't be kept around for the "freak factor" on the team. The coach says,

"Now you listen, and you listen good. If you wanna think of yourself as a freak, go ahead. What I see  is a kid who's worked his tail off and earned his spot." 

Next, the coach confronts Jace's projection that he is treated "special" because of his disability. He lacks faith in other people to believe he is like everyone else. Again a projection of himself. That characterization is subtle and pleasing.  

Jace's character moves quickly from stubborn and self-centered to sensitive and romantic toward Mary Beth.

No film about a blind person is complete without a face-touching scene. 

This sudden romance is unexpected, given how much of a jerk Jace is to everyone. "Authors go so far as to convert the sense of touch into that of sight, for the blind stripling has "fingers" that "must almost see" (Joyce, 1922/1998, p. 173). This fixation on the sense of touch leads to the stereotype of touching faces. Audio descriptions of people are more useful and only sometimes necessary. 

The touching of faces trope depends on sighted people's want to fulfill the sense they would be missing and accustomed to. 

Disabled people adapt to their circumstances individually and cannot be so easily categorized. There is a scene where John reveals wrestling is "all his identity." Unlike Jace, he doesn't "have music." This reminds the audience that 

Jace joined the wrestling team to be like everyone else, not because he is passionate about it. 

He could pursue a musical passion that coincided with a stereotype or "fit in." By becoming a jock. He chooses the latter, which reinforces his belief he's not like other blind people. Comparing the stereotypes of visually impaired people to reality, Bolt concludes, "People with Impaired Vision is no better than the overtly negative formation, for either way an object position is being defined, the subject position is necessarily held by someone with unimpaired vision. Indeed,  beneficial blindness only benefits prejudiced people who wish to maintain the binary logic of 'the blind' and 'the sighted,' them and us." (Bolt, 27)

Sources

Bolt, D. (2006). Beneficial Blindness: Literary Representation and the So-Called Positive Stereotyping of People with Impaired Vision. Journal of Disability Studies, (12), 1-31. https://disability-studies.leeds.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/library/bolt-Beneficial-Blindness.pdf

Joyce, J. (1998). Ulysses. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (Original work published 1922)

[capableism]

Disney Channel tries replacing ableist tropes with self-aware disabled protagonist

Go to the mat is slang for 

"fight until one side or another is victorious. "This term comes from wrestling and evokes the holding of an opponent  when both contestants are down on the mat, the padded floor-covering used in  matches." (Dictionary.com) 

In the Disney Channel movie Going to the Mat, Jace chooses to fight the stereotype of a blind musician to become a wrestler, literally going to the mat. Wrestling becomes his focus when a character Mary-Beth "saw a blind guy do it once." It's worth noting that 

the abilities of individual disabled people are not transferable to a whole group. 

That is a result of stereotyping. This coming-of-age sports movie is generic. It only uses the trope that blind people have heightened senses when it is plot convenient. 

The generic beats involve Jace working hard to overcome his blindness. The first and last scenes, where other characters learn about Jace's disability, is irrelevant. They do not see disability. This is problematic because it does not recognize societal shortcomings regarding minority groups.  

These scenes also fail to acknowledge the inequity of living within a minority group. Jace is a basic white guy at the top of the disability hierarchy. The simple plot beats serve their 

Purpose in presenting Going to the Mat as an after-school special about accepting yourself. 

This generic coming-of-age storyline about moving to a small town, joining a sports team to be liked, and then working hard to be the best on the team adds the extra element of Jace's disability.  "The bizarre implication is that visual impairment brings about significant  alterations in the bearer's sense of taste." (Bolt, 10) 

Bolt refers to this assumption about visually impaired people possessing "extraordinary senses." Another seemingly positive representation of blindness is demonstrating it as a disability that eliminates distractions. Along the lines of extraordinary senses, it assumes visually impaired people have an advantage in their ability to work hard and problem-solve because they have dialed in sensory input. These representations are common. 

The kernel of accuracy in these stereotypes is "People with impaired vision might well learn to use such capacities more effectively, but, far from being automatic, any compensation is the product of persistent practice" (Kirtley, 1975).  

While Going to the Mat does feature extraordinary senses and musical tropes, Jace is not more intelligent than other characters because of his disability. He is self-centered because of the assumptions he's faced throughout life. The plot involves Jace being mad about moving from NYC to Utah. He boasts to his "hillbilly" classmates that New York City is the best place to live. Jace's condescending way of treating people in Utah betrays his problem with being blind. After John meets Mary-Beth, she tells him she'll be one of his readers. Jace immediately says, "Why? Because it looks good on your college  resume?" Again, Jace thinks Mary-Beth is taking advantage of Jace's blindness.

In another scene, Mary Beth is seen reading to Jace about the oppression of colonization, and his response is, "welcome to my world." This demonstrates how self-centered Jace is. After he complains  that nobody likes him, 

Mary Beth tells him, "no one cares that you're blind; they're turned off because they think you're a total jerk."  

Sources

Bolt, D. (2006). Beneficial Blindness: Literary Representation and the So-Called Positive Stereotyping of People with Impaired Vision. Journal of Disability Studies, (12), 1-31. https://disability-studies.leeds.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/library/bolt-Beneficial-Blindness.pdf

Kirtley, D. D. (1975). Blindness in the arts. The psychology of blindness (pp. 49-92). Chicago: Nelson-Hall.

[capableism]

Disney Channel’s stereotypical blind guy who desires to be stereotypical jock

Going to the Mat establishes Jace Newfield as a blind musical savant. But the film focuses on Jace desperately not wanting to be seen as a stereotype. His resistance is a sign of ableism because he doesn't want to be the one-dimensional character he sees in the media; he assumes everyone thinks of him that way.  

"The problem is that fiction has the capacity to initiate this very fear, meaning that when left unaddressed literary representation itself functions as an Unseen  Starer, potentially making Unseeing Victims of not only blind characters but people with impaired vision." (Bolt, 26) The impact of such media representations can be expressed or even develop into personality traits. In my personal experience, the more I was called "courageous" and "brave" about my disability, the more stubbornness became part of my personality. 

Beginning in childhood, I felt I had much to prove for people to ignore my disability.

Due to my disability, I was often singled out. To avoid that, I became very stubborn in insisting on doing things the way able-bodied people do. Fortunately, that belief has lessened with age.

Jace's assumption that people automatically can't understand his struggles is challenged when he attends music class taught by a visually impaired teacher,  which Jace was unaware of. Jace acts out by playing a drum solo in the middle of classical music. He then defended himself by saying the teacher wouldn't understand what he's going through. Then Jace is told, "he's just like  you." and jokingly, "talk about the blind leading the blind." Mr. Wyatt immediately recognizes Jace's problems stemming from the "chip on his shoulder" related to his being blind.

The dynamic between Mr. Wyatt and Jace is mentoring and falls into the same category as the magic black guy trope. "In order to show the world that minority characters are not bad people, one will step forward to help  a "normal" person, with their pure heart and folksy wisdom. They are usually  black and/or poor… and the wisdom in some way enriches that central character's life." (Tvtropes.com) Mr. Wyatt gives him the wisdom that 

"People  will always treat you differently because you are different." 

This is hard to hear because of Jace's natural desire to fit in, especially as a teenager.

Sources

Bolt, D. (2005). Looking Back at Literature: A Critical Reading of the Unseen Stare in Depictions of People with Impaired Vision. Disability & Society, 20(7), 735-747. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09687590500335741

Tv Tropes. (n.d.). Magical Negro. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MagicalNegro

[capableism]

The Upside (2019) tells its’ disabled story through able-bodied saviors

The Upside focuses largely on the able-bodied characters as saviors. While the characters grow together, both deal with discrimination and stereotypes. Dell references Philip's white and economic privilege throughout the film and assumes he's being racially profiled.  The first meeting with Philip's assistant involves her saying she doesn't like Dell being hired because "As powerful as Mr. LaCase is, he's a vulnerable man.  So does it scare me to think of him in the wrong hands? Yes, it does."

Dell is not seen as less capable for the role because of race but because Philip is fragile and needs a suitable caretaker. Philip needs more than physical help; he needs  an attitude adjustment, and Dell does that better than any candidate because he doesn't walk on eggshells in response to Philip's disability. Dell holds Philip accountable for his actions.  

Photo from Tuyen Vo from Unsplash

Dell is held back by his past as an ex-con who was "welcomed home" by his  father when he arrived in jail. Dell is fighting to change that future for his son.  When a resident brings up Dell's past, and Philip says it doesn't matter, the  resident responds 

"Philip, I get second chances, but how many chances has this man had? He's done real-time, and you have him working in a building we all work in." 

Philip says, "which is my right." The resident's emphasis on "We all gotta live here." is an issue of profiling.

 It is unclear if it is influenced by race or  by Dell's record.  

Dell learns to take care of other people and show compassion; and Philip finds love with his assistant, who doesn't see his disability. 

Through the course of the film Dell learns how to take care of Philip and becomes a savior; . 

Philip is stereotyped as a burden and self-pitying. He's not the ideal disabled person, but the type that needs to be "cured" of a bad attitude.

[capableism]

The Upside (2019) misses opportunities to explore beyond physical discrimination

"Starring Bryan Cranston and Kevin Hart, 'The Upside' (2019) recreates  the story of its 2011 counterpart 'The Intouchables: Cranston's Phillip Lacasse, a wealthy quadriplegic, employs Hart's Dell Scott, a former convict, to be his caretaker, or 'life auxiliary.' The pair soon form a  humorous and heartwarming friendship that ultimately changes their lives." (Brunjes, 4)  

The film was far from critically acclaimed, earning scores in the 40s on MetaCritic and Rotten Tomatoes. The film missed many opportunities to explore complex racial and socioeconomic inequality issues. It focuses solely on disability.  The plot is set in motion because Philip needs a full-time caretaker.  Because of his wealth, he has many qualified applicants to choose from. Dell Scott, an ex-con, was not meant to be a candidate. He is searching for a signature to satisfy his probation officer and to avoid serving more time. 

"He stops at a luxury Park Avenue apartment building for a  janitor position, but by luck and inattention ends up in the penthouse awaiting an interview to be a live-in life auxiliary for Phillip." (Brunjes, 4).  

Dell's first scene with Philip starts with him barging in on a candidate  interview, saying, "relax, it's not a hold-up." He surveys the room and  immediately goes to Philip, who he addresses as the boss, and demands a signature. 

Philip asks Dell, "how would I sign it?" 

Dell responded, "I don't  know, slowly?” 

"Phillip, a billionaire seemingly accustomed to blind obedience and an infantilizing sensitivity to his disability, is attracted to  Dell's brazenness" (Brunjes, 4). 

Dell declines Philip's offer by saying,  

"Look, I think your plantation is bananas, but unfortunately, I don't wanna  be nobody’s servant.”

Everything Dell says here assumes Philip and his assistant Yvonne are  racially profiling him before he speaks. Dell's egocentrism and experience  with racial discrimination help him win Philip over by treating him as  "everyone else." 

The similarity between Dell and Philip's experiences with  discrimination is addressed through a scene where 

Dell corrects a cashier when he tries to ask him what Philip wants. "Look, man, don't do that; talk to him."

The cashier apologizes, and Philip thanks Dell, saying, "Thanks for  speaking up. I get treated with such (he pauses and does not complete this thought and continues) 

“Or I’m invisible. Unless they know I have money." Dell responds, "Welcome to my world, except for the money."

Dell’s response is a hint at socioeconomic issues. The film chooses to remain surface level by only referencing physical attributes of race and disabilities.

Source

Brunjes, Alexandra. "Cranston Shines in Remake of 'The Upside'." UWIRE Text, 18 Jan. 2019, p. 1. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A570116350/AONE? u=nysl_oweb&sid=sitemap&xid=0f5ad4e9. Accessed 1 Jan. 2023.

[capableism]

Look Kyle, just because you're hurt doesn't mean you're broken.

Dolphin Tale