Inspiration P*rn: Oscar Bait!
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- Опубликовано: 9 июл 2024
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00:00 Introduction
01:25 What is Inspiration p0rn?
04:52 Inspirationally Disadvantaged
10:36 Oscar Bait
22:34 The Super Crip!
28:10 Consequences
20:41 You Can Do It Well
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the Oscars be like: Disabled people can do anything!...except play disabled characters
Hahaha soo true!
What a great point!!
Lol
Lol, yeah
Or non disabled characters
Would 100% watch a “everything glee gets wrong about disability and sexuality” video
Came here to say this
yES PLS
I’m down too but it would be hours long 😂
Me too
Can you sign language or not
Same
I absolutely hate the "saint mother" trope. It really doesn't take a saint to love my child.
Plus, they never show exhaustion and their house is always perfect and neat.
exactly my parents are ab*sive as hell but get praised for looking after me at all as if its a privilege i even have parents.
Yesss!!! It drives me insane! Either praised or villainified for daring to have a disabled child..
Amen! isn't it normal to love a disabled child? or do people think it's more normal to abuse and in worst cases kill a disabled child?
The "saint girlfriend/wife" trope is just as bad. I'm not better than anyone else because my spouse has a disability. The number of people who have expressed either admiration ("I can't believe you live with that everyday.") or "compassion" ("You're doing such a good job dear.") makes me want to scream.
I tweeted about this re being an adoptive parent and somebody replied that is "honorable" to adopt children who would otherwise be living on the streets in another country and it made me SO angry. I love my son but he doesn't owe me extra because of where he started life. And I didn't adopt him as a heroic effort or as a rescue, I adopted him because I selfishly wanted a family. Period.
And at the same time those adopting from poor countries mainly for the sake of doing good are often seen as naiive. If they adopt several, they may even get a more harsh label. Even outright suspicious.
I believe a good dose of selfishness is healthy when adopting. It is your family, after all, and even giving birth is normally selfish. If a child isn't wanted, who would expect it to be a happy family?
Im adopted was a drug baby... When I started having mental health issues and wound up homeless multiple times I got dropped like a hot rock... Ablism cost me my family.... Contact with my daughter... I missed the death of my father... Im treated like shit by my sisters... Who apparently don't believe mental illnesses are real... I was left on the streets for over five years... I was abandoned by my family when i needed them most... And then disowned when i dared to take issue with it... My eldest sister wrote me the most disgusting text message I have ever read in my life... Directed at me... Who's struggled their entire adult life... Ablism ruined any chance I ever had to interact with my child.... Who I put into the custody of my parents when I became homeless... They refused to help me but did take her in... Hardest decision I ever made and then they used my struggles with being separated from her.... And me not getting my life together fast enough for their liking to justify cutting off all contact with me and disowning me... My father died in December and I just found out cuz i ran into my mother and daughter by accident... We started talking again and then my C word of sisters got them to cut me out again....
I feel this way a lot of the time when I tell people I am a special education teacher. There is the automatic reaction of "oh wow you must be a really good person to work with these kids" and it annoys me. Being a special education teacher is no better than being a regular teacher, or any other job. I wanted to do it because I liked it and it was something I thought I would be good at and wanted to do. I personally find working with special needs students is no more or less difficult than typical students, and can even be simpler in some situations. I feels demeaning to my students, as if they are SO difficult and hard to work with I MUST be an angel to choose to work with them; instead of just like working with these kids. It also feels that there is an assumption the students are really difficult when they are largely just different.
Not a disability but when Chadwick bossman died, a lot of people on social media where saying “see if this man with cancer can do so much then so can you, cancer is not an excuse”. I literally started crying because wtf
I don’t want to rule Wakanda I just want a nap and people to stop bothering me
Honestly I’m sure Chadwick kept his cancer a secret for that very reason. I’m glad he got to live his final years treated “normally” and wasn’t seen as a victim or inspirational solely because of his illness.
Well that's SHIT. See, I have colitis and debilitating enteropathic arthritis, and Boseman managing to do so much despite his colon cancer did make me cry and feel hopeful about my own life, but NO ONE should be scolding at other people in pain about "excuses."
Oof. Cancer and cancer treatments take a lot out of people. Doesn't mean they can't be productive people but often it does make it harder.
And that's supposed to be insepational and not... mean?
The comedian Maysoon Zayid tells a story about trying out for a play in college about a girl with cerebral palsy, which she herself has. She was turned down for the role because there was concern she "couldn't do the stunts." She said, "If I can't do the stunts, neither can the character!"
Kimberly Bega Yes! Thanks! I thought of her, but didn't know her name! Now I will watch her TED Talk again!
She is hilarious
Yes when I way that I had to check out the play
Omg! I need to watch that!
@@Lampshade_productions I found it on RUclips when she said that I had to watch it
Revisiting this in the light of Sia's whole...everything
(autistic btw).
Yeah, that was a right fucking mess, wasn't it.
This happens in real life too. Ages ago a local news channel ran a story on an 'inspirational' 11 year old who did a lot of drawings 'despite' being deaf...like...what about being deaf stops you from drawing? Her art was pretty normal for an 11 year old, but people were going nuts for it. I mean, good for her for making some money out of her art, but a deaf illustrator is not a big deal.
I am so late but couldn't find the story....Probably because there were so many deaf artist articles. The publicity us good for sales but unless they're blind I don't understand how it matters.
Toph from avatar the last Airbender. She's blind and she does have moments where her disability affects her but she's mostly just a badass! The show does a good job of depicting the toph does sometimes need help but is independent and fucking awesome.
In the show her family is all, "awww poor baby" but she's actually a beast! Honestly as a kid I thought she was the coolest.
YES! I love Toph!
She is the best example of a disabled character where her disability isn't ignored nor is it the focus of her whole character. She's extremely opionated, hates authority and has a great sense of humour.
She behaves so normally that everyone forgets sometimes about her blindness. Or she makes a seeing joke from the fact that she's blind. Like even Azula didn't underestimate her that much cos she was blind. She told her she was rolling her eyes. She mocked her for her blindness like it was just a character flaw not something that made her unabke to function. Like if she was excessively clumsy or when she baited Sokka about Suki knowing it was his weakspot.
One of my absolute favorite scenes is when Toph and Sokka and the gang are hiding underground for a minute during the seige on Basingsei. Toph closes the earth over their heads and Sokka cries out "It's so dark down here! I can't see a thing!!"
And Toph goes, "Oh no, what a nightmare." 🤣🤣
I also like how she's open about how much she dislikes her family treating her like she's delicate and in need of sheltering.
Also, her snark levels are just great
i also love how the fact that she 'can see with her feet' is not a cop-out for the writers to just forget she is disabled but acting more like a guide dog or a cane would for blind people in our world. The episode in the desert is one of my favourite examples of good representation as we see toph actually struggle due to her disability and it shows how she is a real disabled person and not just 'my superpower is being blind'.
I'm just gonna wait for the "Everything Glee gets wrong about disability" video....
Yes, it needs to happen!!
gonna have to wait a while, considering just how much there is, lol
If she does, I'd like to interject that Emma's OCD is actually pretty accurate. But Billy Shue's reactions to it is just really glamorizing.
DRAG THEM!
arlothedino Emma’s OCD is not the worst depiction. But I can say for certain and Sugar Motta’s “Asperger’s” was horrendous. Not only promoted, but created stereotypes :/.
theory: inspirational porn exists because if the disabled person or person with disabilities does not succeed it is the person's fault and not societies fault. this style of entertainment is propaganda saying that all hurdles seen in our society from their perspective and any failings cannot in anyway be the fault of society... fascinating
Hard agree.
Most likely true.
Yea the tendency for society to put pressure on disabled people to work really hard and become successful and avoid being inconvenient/have all their accomodations in order has caused me a lot of issues in life with myself and other people. It's even caused me to be neglected by medical professionals and discriminated against by them.
I remember feeling this way about multiple “motivational speakers” who would do speaking tours at my schools. With a few undiagnosed mental illnesses it was really unhelpful to have teachers and authority figures chide me for having an anxiety attack or difficulty with work when so-and-so climbed a mountain as an amputee or became a paralympian... As though the two are remotely related?
I have always felt pushing that 'so-and-so-achieved-this-and-that' narrative is wrong towards everybody. As if we all were obliged to have the will-power and mental strenght of top athletes. (And have you noticed that athletes not succeeding because of something mental are scorn at?)
While the two are not related, everyone has their own "mountain to climb". Doing it with any kind of disability makes it much, much more difficult. I get comments all the time, usually on the lines of "I could NEVER manage all you do if I had so many problems!" Well, yeah, I have problems. We all do. Some people are disabled by wilful stupidity. They still manage to do what they need to do, and no one ever responds with lines like that. Maybe we ought to start. Or not. It would only drag us down to their level.
I remember there was a motivational speaker who came to my high school. He was a veteran and he talked about how his ADHD helped him as a soldier because he would notice every small background noise. All it did was make me feel bad about having problems with my own ADHD and sensory issues.
I remember being a kid and telling my dad I got an 8 on a test (equavalent of B- or C+) and he praised me for it. (I mean, I was pretty proud, I studied hard for the test). Next day my sister got scolded for having 8 1/2 (B to a B+) on a test on the same subject. This was the first time I realized my parents have waaaaay lower expectations for me, just cause I have a disability. I studied to become a chef, because I knew what I wanted to do, and didn't need 3 years in high school to figure that out. I got praised again. My brother however, who have wanted to become a chef from like age 5, was "meant for so much more, than a labour job. Look at your sister, The doctor. AIM higher". Like thanks, what am I, chopped liver?
That shitty of your parents to do. It's unfair both to you and to your brother to not see you both for who you really are and who you want to be and support you and praise you for whatever your dreams are. I hear you.
on the one hand I advocate for praising kids to their ability (one student can get a 9 without any effort, while another gets an 8 with top effort and that needs to be praised) but, even indirectly, telling a child that they don't need to aim high is mental abuse.
I've handed out a 6/10 to a student and told them I'm sure proud of their hard work because I knew how hard that unit had been for them, while another student got a 6 too and I asked them to stay behind after class to see if they were having problems since usually, they do much better and I know they understood the coursework during class.
I'm a firm believer in listening to kids, they're the ones who figure out what they want to be in life and then have to live with the decisions they made. Doctor, chef, line cook, bartender, lawyer, or nurse ... if they want to do that job, let them.
Honestly I have more problems with how they parented your siblings than you, but also yes generally very unfair.
I know how it is being seen as less capable too. I have autism and SO MANY people kept trying to "protect" me from entering college. My own therapist kept saying "are your sure you want to take five classes your first semester?" I literally had to tell her to shut up about it, I was already worried enough about attending college for the first time. Well my first semester I got all A's and had joined a club. My second semester I took five classes again and had been promoted in my club with more responsibilities. By graduation I was taking 8 classes regularly (many honors level), was an officer within four clubs (one of which was the student government), and graduated Suma Cum Laude. My mother didnt believe any of this until my graduation where I was one of only four students presented with a rather large medallion and the president mentioning me by name in her commencement address. Sadly I must have "taken the honors away from a hard working student" because of special treatments due to disability.
I imagine that if your brother had also been encouraged to become a chef (like he wanted) it could have been a wonderful opportunity for the both of you to open a restaurant together in the fullness of time.
I like Hawkeye (Clint Barton) in his comic runs. He jokes about his deafness, will lines like "I can't see you, so your words mean nothing", and in an issue with Deadpool, Wade would pull up his mask to show his lips and sign while talking to Clint. It's not portrayed at all in the Cinematic Universe, but it's handled in a nice cheeky manner in some of the comic books.
I was so sad they left that out, but I should have known :/
I did not know this but I am glad that now I do ☺️
The whole Hawkeye run by Matt Fraction is great.
i’m poisoned by 2020 and i got so upset by the phrase “pulls up his mask” before i rethought it
Something something Deadpool is also disabled when the writers remember he not only has like several psychological problems but also experiences chronic pain from the cancer healing factor thing (fantastical disabilities like that that don’t actually exist in real life like the cancer healing factor thing, or the after effects of some fantasy disease or like dragon or whatever related injury would be an interesting topic)
⭐️ I would love to see “What the movies get wrong about chronic illness.” I mean, how do these very ill women confined to their beds still have perfect hair, skin, and no bags under their eyes? Is is just me who feels frustrated by this?
As a bedridden chronically ill person, I wish I were magical like that! Between my memory problems and physical difficulties, I can't remember the last time I took a shower lol 😅
Oh blame that on the Victorians. They thought consumption/TB made women seem more precious. Its stayed in media like a stain
oh I feel this with mental health representation too.. Like why is this depressed person like in great shape and flawless skin and light makeup when they are portrayed as not being able to get out of their bed tf
On hard days it's all I can do to remember to eat or drink anything, forget about brush my hair or put on war paint. The neighbours have just gotten used to seeing me with messy hair and still in my jammies at 4 in the afternoon if it's a bad pain day. To the point that it is shocking to them to see me up early, showered, dressed appropriately and outside the house before 10am.
I am thankful every day that I still have some remaining mobility. When a business owner I applied for part time work with told me (to my face while I leaned on my cane in obvious pain) that I don't LOOK disabled, I briefly made myself feel better by imagining shoving my cane up his arse until it came out his mouth, just so he would acknowledge its existence!
And one day they suddenly are cured by just trying harder and not dwelling on thier disability. Cue sappy music. Oh toto if only I believed in myself before..
Not to mention the "reality show" disability porn. It is so hard to watch American Ninja Warrior because they are constantly looking for an Inspiring Story for their athletes and so often it is a sibling/friend/spouse with a disability. It's GROOOOOOOSS.
Fun deafness fact about One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest-both of Louise Fletcher’s parents were deaf. When she received the Best Actress Oscar for her role as Nurse Ratched, she became the first Oscar recipient to use sign language during her acceptance speech. She said and signed the words, “For my mother and my father, I want to say thank you for teaching me to have a dream. You are seeing my dream come true”.
Cuckoo's nest didn't really belong here for me, I mean the book does heavily have a theme of addressing the systemic issues that put those men in that institution, and with both McMurphy and Bromden it's kinda heavy on the fact that they might not be, or likely aren't mentally ill at all right?
You didn't mention the episode of Golden Girls where Dorothy gets diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and publicly yells at a doctor who dismissed her because she was just ~getting older~ when she had an actual diagnosable condition!
Yes! I remember that!
I watched that episode when it came out, and it has stuck with me, 30 years later. I will never forget how she was all "I don't care what he says, I know something's wrong, and I'm going to keep fighting to find out what it is."
Now THAT'S some inspiration. Everytime I wanna say "Well, I guess if the doctor says so" when I know they missed the mark, I have Dorothy yelling in my head "Don't you dare! Say something!!" 😂
I'm overweight and female, according to society, bosses, and doctors that means I have an IQ of around 60. The way I get treated is amazing to me. The amount of people that have been shocked that I have a brain and emotions is a number much larger than you'd probably guess and incredibly depressing.
@@yiotatort ❤️❤️🙏
I love this episode!
The second she said “disabled characters who are too good for this world” I was transported back into my first year of high school while reading Of Mice and Men
6:35 I've literally had a dude stop and SALUTE me just because I was going down the street in my wheelchair.
That's how low their expectations are.
My bf and I were waiting for a bus and two guys ran up and asked if we needed help. My partner is a wheelchair user. I'm autistic and was very confused and asked them what they were talking about, and they wouldn't give me a straight answer and slunk away.
Man, people are weird. I think the most I've ever done for someone in a wheelchair was vacating the wheelchair spot on the bus.
This is why im scared to use mobility aids in public
My favourite disabled character is Toph Beifong. She is just a really well-rounded character.
@@lavender_evie but her superpower is actually a common thing among everyone, she teaches aang how to do it, I think it's different because it's more like she learned how to do things a different way but it's not like the only reason she can do it is because of her disability
@@Marianasia12345 good point
@@lavender_evie but Toph's character focuses on her being able to do things others can too despite her disability and also focuses on the fact that although she is one if not the strongest earth bender (more so because of her disability), she is still a disabled person that needs help in some areas. I really found her a well written disabled person, it was very realistic.
I love Toph! She’s my favorite ATLA character, maybe tied with Sokka. She has some of the best lines and moments in the show. About the superpowered disabled person trope, I always thought she was the best earth bender because she was taught how to earth bend by badger-moles who were the first earth-benders. Sure her being blind did contribute to her getting lost and the badger-moles finding her, but it always seemed incidental to her power, not a reason for it. She does have the ability to see kind of, by making a mental map by feeling vibrations, but mental maps are a very common way that blind people navigate in everyday life so it’s not that big of a stretch.
Totally agree! I also admire Amaya from the recent Dragon Prince series. She's a cool deaf chief of the Guard (and I guess she now has a gf)
You should do one on poverty p*rn where people quite literally cash in on filming poor people receiving something they should have been provided with in the beginning. There’s a famous South African youtube doing just that.... 🤬
Daniella H - there’s an Australian series called Struggle Street that was similarly criticised for being this, too.
"How did he know itd be a good idea? He didnt hes just really lucky"
Me and my adhd ass doing everything impulsively and just hoping for the best right there
HAHAHAHAHA kinda can relate to that even tho i don't have adhd. "You are so confident to do those things!" to which i answer in my head "not confident, just did without thinking about it"
LMAO I'm right there with you, my friend 😂
I remember this book/movie "wonder", where the little boy with facial disfigurement graduates his class at the end of the book, and he recieves an *award* from the school for - being there and being brave, I guess. And then he gets a standing ovation from the whole room.
Like... wow.
Yeah that book is a mess
@@quirkyblackenby I actually did like aspects of it very much, at least the book. It was kind of charming in big parts. Hated the movie though.
I agree, but like, don’t they clarify in the book that it’s *not* because of his disfigurement, but because he’s actually a really smart and good kid? It’s been a few years since I’ve read it, but I remember that being one of my major complaints with the movie, cause they made it seem like he got an award just because he was “different.” Plus, the book talks about the bullying and discrimination he faces, from multiple perspectives. I’m not trying to defend all of the book, there are definitely some problematic and bad parts of it.
My university has 'my disability is my ability' posters in the stair cases and just like... who approved that? why would they do that?
Ugh. That’s almost as bad as being called “differently abled”. Which just makes me shudder every time I hear it. It’s just so, so incredibly patronising.
Yikes
@@katherinemorelle7115 for me at least, it's patronising that it's on the staircases exclusively. Those faces are almost mocking sometimes when I see them
Chloe C that’s definitely an extra level of condescension and ableism, that’s for sure!
That’s really bad. Has to be a They Knew!
For me the worst part of inspiration p*rn is that all the disabilities are visible in some way (even mental health disabilities are obvious to everyone through movement or speech), and as someone with an invisible disability I feel invisible as unless I'm in a wheelchair I pass as an abled person, and therefore everyone assumes I am able to do things I physically can't. Once I tell them I'm disabled I usually get 'but you're so young' (because disability only affects the elderly apparently), followed by 'just be more positive and you can achieve the thing you just told me you can't do because xxx can do it'.
One thing that has really helped recently is actors coming out as disabled, and I mean that as often they were hiding those disabilities because they knew they were less likely to be cast if people knew, and only feel able to be open about it now because they are established actors, but even that is jarring because now they have become inspirational for being able to do a difficult job with no help (not that every disabled person needs help, but it is not inspirational to not get the help you need and that message stopped me using a wheelchair which meant I had a lower quality of life than I could have had). Sorry this comment has got away from me. Thanks for making this video, as this is a conversation everyone in media should be having, even when (perhaps especially when) it makes abled people uncomfortable.
And then the times when my invisible illness flares up so bad I have to use my wheelchair I'm also attacked for not only "not looking sick enough" but also for "falling a disability" because only full time wheelchair users are allowed to use the tools they need to get around and do life apparently. Gosh I hate non disabled people gatekeeping disability "on our behalf".
What do you mean by "even mental health disabilities are obvious to everyone through movement & speech"?!? Even if you mean intellectual disabilities- which aren't mental HEALTH disabilities, btw- that's not always true, but as for people with a mental illness, like bipolar, scizophrenia or depression, there's absolutely no way you can tell unless they're having an episode, & even then only when it's quite bad. It's DEFINITELY invisible, & people suffer from that just like you do.
@@beth7935 they meant in media representation of disabled characters, even those invisible disabilities are made visible through mannerisms and things. They weren't talking about real life. This person clearly knows what it's like to have a truly invisible disability in reality.
@@TheApplianceDirect Ok, gotcha.
inspiration porn always makes me feel inferior for not being “independent” and unable to do other things that are easy for ableds to do
Oh mood. As a disabled person who isn't successful or independent - I'm 3 years held back in university due to depression, and struggling to graduate because I'm physically disabled, autistic, and nonverbal - I really can't have a "normal" job or make any abled/ableist person feel good. And I feel worthless for that.
But you and I, we shouldn't have to be made to feel worthless by society! Because we are not worthless. we have worth, and we're amazing as we are, though we cant do things abled people can. We're not less of a person just because we can do less things!
Star Trek and disability needs to be a whole video. Geordie and his prosthetic eyes (and later eye surgery). There was an episode of Deep Space 9 where a gal from a low gravity planet needed special braces to get around and her room had to have specialized gravity so that she could breathe and sleep comfortably. But she got angry when people treated her as less than normal or tried to bend over backwards to help her. She considered herself capable and just had to work around things that others didn't. That episode really left an impact on me.
The thing I've noticed in Star Trek re disability is, well, really, disability is made to disappear as conveniently as possible, either by having super-dooper tech like Geordi's VISOR, or Worf taking a chance on crazy surgery that magically fixes his paralysis in a single episode, so he never has to adapt to life with it (after they finish making sure he won't kill himself).
They don't "include" disability in Star Trek. They ERASE it.
In that case my friend with the coclear implant shouldn't count as disabled and we should just stop making medical advancements to improve quality of life.
I know, I'm blowing your argument out of proportion, but Star Trek helped me cope with reality and you telling me that examples of inclusion that I found encouraging is actually all just in my head and they were never inclusive in the first place is kind of defeating the point of Star Trek's episodic nature.
@@sdsures Star Trek has a long history of being so ahead of its time that we expect it to stack up to modern ideals.
TW for suicidal ideation and ableism in the Worf paragraph:
The episode with Worf did some important work discussing disability and culture, and the idea that becoming disabled means your life is over. The whole time, the other characters were struggling to find the right path to help their friend because they didn't want to erase his culture or force decisions on him but also thought it was horrific that he was considered useless and expected to off himself. To them, the surgery wasn't even the best option as they felt his life was worth preserving regardless and the surgery was too risky. He was only even offered it in the first place because it was the only option he'd accept where he had a chance at living. The show took the easy way out and in a Trek show today I'd expect better, but even now it's rare to get that depth of discussion without it being a Me Before You scenario and all that implies.
Geordie's visor is no different from a hearing aide, and it is actually shown to have its downsides. He likes it partly because its very well adapted for his particular field of work, but it isn't a direct imitation of sight so much as a highly advanced prosthetic. In a modern Trek I'd expect more reference to the differences, but it was canonically discussed that he is blind, with or without the visor.
Nog has a prosthetic leg that IS a direct imitation of a naturally grown leg, but his difficulties adapting to it mentally are explored (albeit kinda lazily given they have him get over it pretty quickly and neatly) and the impact of losing his leg in the first place isn't shied away from.
There's a lot of work to be done, no doubt about it, but for 90s episodic television I'd say it's still holding its own against most modern offerings. We can only hope the newer shows continue the progress so that we get fewer convenient one episode plots and fix-alls and more genuine character stories. Given their progress with queer representation just lately (canon gay and trans characters - and possible canon bi or pan Kirk in future according to TPTB) I have some hope. Especially as one of the not-yet-released shows is about Pike who got the beep-boop wheelchair box in the original series.
I would like that, too - a video on Star Trek handling the disability topic. I have watched a lot of Star Trek, but not under that perspective. For me, TNG starting with the intellectual disability of being human, as Q played high judge, and I thought that two starting episodes were mind-blowing. I often wonder, why people can be so competitive, reduce their ethical understanding to what they think they can have an impact on (to be more precise, how on earth can we have a specific "fair trade" system in which I, as a consumer, have to pay more rather than those companies doing unfair trade having to pay a fee for their criminal actions). I often feel disabled by being so naive and confused with my perception of the world and my lack of easy and correct adaption. In one episode, it was about changing the DNA of an unborn child, so that it would not come out the same way as the mother, that kind deal with specific traits of herself. That was another important one for me.
i would also love a video on Star Trek and disability
There’s nothing quite like that surreal Hunchback of Notre Dame adaptation where he reveals in the end that his back is hunched because he had wings! Angel wings! And flies away.
No way!
WhATt thE HeLL ANd FhUckkk???
@@glittery_cucumber It's absolutely wild. I can't remember if it's the same one where love also renders him handsome.
@@LadyAhro What is that adaptation?! Is it live action?
I truly hate "hunchback" stuff as someone with spinal curvature. It was the bane of my life. I can tell you I do not have fucking wings either :'(
Edward Elric I rather like as a disabled character. And I get rather cranky when people try to claim he's not disabled just because he does typical shonen protagonist things. Like, yes. He's disabled. His prosthetics need maintenance and repairing. There are multiple points in the story where he can't fight because a screw is missing or someone literally blew up his prosthetic. And even when the automail is just fine and working he still has issues like...It's very cold and causes him nerve pain at times. Or how he has issues with it being too cold or too hot because his prosthetics are made out of metal. These difficulties he has are shown but they're never like...Weirdly fetishized for non-disabled people can feel warm and fluffy.
Also, I always really liked the way he made use of his automail. As an alchemist he can change the shapes of things and the like. And one of his common ways of fighting is altering the arm prosthetic into a having a blade. It looks really cool and it kind of reminds me of like...It is not good that I've gone through trauma. It's really not. But I make use of that experience when I write my poetry. Ed's use of his arm like that reminds of things like that. A sort of clever use of a thing. Which I really like. Because it's not a super power that he got just because he lost an arm and a leg. He's just making clever use of his circumstances. It's a show of his cleverness and also a show of what a skilled alchemist can do in a fight. Not everyone with automail can do that. Ed can because he's a trained science boy and martial artist.
Wow I love this comment. Especially because it made me sit up and go OH Shoot! Edward Elric IS disabled! I don't know why it never struck me? I'm able-bodied, so it could be that I'm not um keenly looking out for it? But it could also be that I was so captivated and charmed by who Ed was as an older bro, empathetic alchemist, someone prickly about their height (lol) and as you put it 'trained science boy and martial artist'. But as you were recounting the various instances in your comment, I was like oh yes yes yes absolutely.
I don't know where I'm going with this reply tbh. Something along the lines of- oh that was a cool way to show a disabled character, their struggles with their condition and how it fashions their life and choices but without reducing it to tropes like "my disability is my magic power", "poor, weak disabled character who triumphs against all odds to become like an able-bodied person". There are instances where Ed is a better fighter than his able-bodied adversary, instances where he's just as good/bad as his able-bodied companions, instances where he's at a clear disadvantage because of his prosthetics. I think that the show shows that full range is what makes it so good.
Heck yea! I was going to mention Fullmetal Alchemist. I love how he takes advantage of his automail. It's cool to see a disabled person take advantage of their assistive tech. I walk with a cane. If someone ever attacked me, you bet your skippy I would use my cane to defend myself. One of the canes I have is a self defense cane from United Cutlery. It has features specifically for self defense.
My dad is really involved in the “maker” community and has a friend who’s also a huge nerd like that who doesn’t have one of his hands
My dad actually did some stuff with a 3D printer and some special resins that would be able to stand up with daily use to make like a cool automail-ish looking cover for his prosthetic hand
@@phoenixfritzinger9185 Oh, that sounds really rad and very sweet. Makers and builders can create some really cool stuff. And it's really cool hearing that like. Those skills get used for things like making prosthetic covers and the like.
His ability to do alchemy without a circle is technically related to the circumstances he lost his limbs to but I don't doubt he'd have figured out a work around if he didn't have that (like Roy with his gloves). Because yeah, he's great as a character because he's so resourceful to use what he's got/been through to move forward. Probably sounds bad, the way this started, but I really like this comment.
I have autism and my mum used to believe that all people with autism couldn't lie or do it well. I changed her mind, I think?
I'm writing a story about a woman on the spectrum who is a seer, but they don't use their powers to benefit non disabled people, but use their power to survive the world they live in
@@RandomSkyeRoses That's so cool!
@@nicothenecromancer My character also has their own goals in life
@@RandomSkyeRoses I so wanna know more about this if that's okay
@@nicothenecromancer what else do you wanna know?
One portrayal of a disabled character I really liked (disclaimer: I’m not disabled so please let me know if there is actually an issue with this character!) was Walt Jr. in Breaking Bad. The character has cerebral palsy but he’s also just a normal teenager who’s sometimes sassy, sometimes kind, and usually just struggling with his ass of a dad. Also the actor has cerebral palsy as well, if I remember correctly!
I have cerebral palsy, too, and I appreciated the character in Breaking Bad not being turned into inspiration porn.
That's cool that you watch this channel!
I was looking for this comment!! I love Walter Jr
There was a dark moment where Walter Jr. defended his mother from the unstable dad, and while it was a terrible moment it was also a great moment, and I appreciated how the writers didn't treat him like a baby. The bar is so low pfffft but Breaking Bad shows you can write good characters if you are a good writer. Shocking!
I feel like the inverse of the inspirational disabled character is the plethora of lazy writers who use diagnoses such as dissociative identity disorder (formerly Multiple Personality) as a plot twist to make that sympathetic character suddenly the horrific villain of the episode. 😒
There was a Murdoch Mysteries episode where it made the horrific villain a sympathetic character...
YES.
@@bunhelsingslegacy3549 This comes up every other episode of Wire In The Blood. The pilot, though... there's a Silence Of The Lambs joke that sums it up better than intended.
“If you’re going to get hit by a car, make sure it’s a limo” lmao thanks for the advice Jessica!😆
One time i had a woman who I'd never met on a bus legitimately *shake my hand* and tell me how brave I was
Shit was so weird
You’re sooooo right. I used a wheelchair frequently, and every now and then some well-meaning person tries to “help” me by just casually pushing me. I’m basically not a nice person - like, not ever - and when I ask people what the F they think they’re doing, I get SUCH shocked expressions. If you shoved a stranger around because you thought they were in the way, you’d get punched. I don’t know why people think I should be grateful. My kids say I should just smile sweetly and run over their toes….
I loved it when someone once told me that they would use my correct pronouns because they liked me as a person, but don't agree with being transgender... like, wow, thanks for the crumb, mate!
Imagine clarifying that being respectful is contingent on personality differences 🙄
A few years ago my cousin said “look at you, you’re married, you have a family, you have a home….” Really? What did you expect me to do? 🤔🙄
It's still a dream for many Disabled people. I grew into adulthood before Disability Discrimination legislation was a thing
Tbh as an able bodied youngen sometimes this seems like a dream I'll never achieve due to incompetencey on my part.
I mean, honestly finding someone, being able to buy a home and having a family is really hard nowadays. I’ve been feeling like I’ll never get there.
I think it's difficult for anyone to have these things right now, but it is extra difficult for a disabled person - not because of our disabilities but because of the systems we have to force and fight our way through to have the chance of having what abled people assume is their right. You're inspirational in the sense that you had to work a lot harder to get it, but that says more about society than you.
When someone suddenly thinks that you can't have ADHD when you graduate high school and start college 😡🤦
in the dragon prince on netflix there is a character named amaya, and she is deaf and uses an interpreter, and everyone is amazing about it, (and she’s also a lesbian so that’s fun too) but anyway you should go watch it, it’s a cartoon but it’s a good show with good representation that you should watch
Bad disability portrayals irritated me even before I was disabled. Now they really irritate me. Especially when other people point to them as proof that I'm "Not trying hard enough to overcome my hardships". Yes, please, go ahead, use a very inaccurate portrayal to make me feel worse about myself. Thanks, that really helps me do stuff.
gosh same
I love speechless!!
Also, when talking about "magical" native Americans, I was reminded of Ken Hotate from Parks and Rec. He loves to mess with people and push the boundaries to see how much they will believe. So funny, while also educational, reminding us of these ridiculous stereotypes.
I love Parks and Rec 💜
Ken is amazing!
YES!
(probably misquoting)
"White people will believe anything."
"Two things I know about white people they love matchbox twenty and they are scared of curses." lmaoooooo
One character I find really interesting in terms of the “super crip” troupe is Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist (and for that matter, Al as well). Because he does have super abilities far beyond other people’s and he achieved those powers through the same event that took away his arm and leg, but he also has issues with his prosthetics constantly and deals with negative affects of his disability in addition to his extra powers. I think it’s really cool that his being an amputee is a huge factor in the plot and his character and that his powers don’t really “make up” for his disability
he is not the only one either... the Teacher, missing internal organs and coughing blood when exerting... she is there badassing, and then suddenly needing to rest.
I love fma's depiction of disability myself. I also like how trauma is depicted in the show.. Although I do have rosy glasses for the show since in came into my life in a very difficult time
Also much of Ed and Al's "super powers" are from hard work and intense studying and determination. Oftentimes the "super crip" trope shows people gaining superpowers just for being/becoming disabled, as if it is implied, or that it is done with ease--whereas in FMA they gained some alchemic abilities by going thru an intensely traumatic experience that was handled in a complex way.
Dark, on Netflix, has a deaf pre-teen girl, younger sister of one of the main protagonist. I am no deaf person myself, so I cannot say this is accurately portrayed, but she is treated as a "normal" human being. She fights with her sister or parents (just with sign language instead of yelling), has her own mind, her own interests, and she even becomes some sort of a leader later in her life. Mostly, it's treated as a feature, not a bug.
“Mermaids and vampires know what they did” 🤣🤣🤣
FriskyFlores Wait! What did mermaids do? Using a fork for brushing her hair? Gossiping with fish? Drowning sailors? And are they called mermates in Australia?!
I personally love “Special”, the story of a 20-something year old gay man with cerebral palsy, who struggles with internalised ableism, and uses his car accident as a scapegoat for his physical quirks; and really just wants to find a boyfriend. It’s also written by, and played by, the guy that it’s about Ryan O’Connell.
I love this show!
Omg, I love Special too! Having only one season is a travesty.
Sounds cool...
YESSSS
And he has actual flaws!!!
Honestly, I'd rather watch disabled people with superpowers than watch disabled people be "cured" by their superpowers. I was watching an anime where people gain powers by merging with swords and there was a disabled character in a wheelchair that I absolutely loved and was so glad to have found. That was until he merged with a sword and gained the power of not being disabled I fucking guess. He's still my favorite character from that anime, but oh my fuck did the ableism the writers channeled through that character piss me off. I hate finding a character I relate to as a disabled person and then just suddenly they're not disabled anymore because ✨magic✨.
As an autistic creator, I am actually working on a story like this. So like Yeah nice to know theres a market
Exactly Sam. Hate that bullsh*t!
what anime is this?
@@karinvasu3005 Sword Gai the Animation. It's on Netflix. The character I'm talking about is named Marcus.
There is a anime called "Yuki Yuna is a hero" where one of the main characters Mimori Tougou, who becomes a magical fighter to fight evil, is in a wheelchair and gets, among many things, a transformation gear up that carries her - still paralyzed - legs when she snipers and fights. If I remember correctly that show is pretty respectful towards her. Didn't watch it to the end, yet, but it sure was/is cool and will get a new season in the future.
She has an immaculate sense of style, beautiful voice AND is a lesbian.
This woman is perfect.
The perfect woman exists
One of the films I grew up watching was 1937's Heidi. Someone give Clara a rewrite so she can just be a wheelchair user in peace! That probably goes for other adaptations too.
Heather Fiske I'm with you! ❤️But I would add a cat, ...if she wants one.
Oh fuck true, I hate Heidi so much for that. I need a change.
Yeah... thanks to Heidi, I grew up thinking that if only wheelchair users* would actually *try* to walk, and would practice walking, then they'd be able to walk again and wouldn't need a wheelchair!
*people with some use of their legs; I did understand that some people were paralyzed, but I thought literally everyone else could build up to not needing a wheelchair
I mean, I'm sure that trained physical therapists could help certain wheelchair users in certain contexts, but a 7 year old, a 15 year old shepherd and a mountain grandfather do not medical professionals equal, y'know?
Tbh, I had parents who just didn't bother with treating my chronic illness. So in a way people who do have caring parents (aka normal parents) are lucky. I have complicated feelings on this topic, haha.
My mom is only just now accepting that yes I was mentally ill from a very young age and she has probably at least partially caused it too.
Never helped at all and only did the bare minimum.
@GozerTheTraveller Yes, they inflicted other forms of abuse and neglect as well, so it wasn't an isolated issue. Generational trauma is so complicated and pervasive!
⭐
@@DieAlteistwiederda meeee toooooo
The abusive parent who gave me my disabilities still loves being congratulated on what a wonderful person she is for simply living with a disabled child.
Thank you so much for watching! Who is your favourite fictional character with a disability? 💖
Watch speechless with a California vpn 👍
On Hulu!
The entire MCU. Steve Rogers has mild depression; Bucky Barnes is missing his left arm; Stark had PTS; Thor had Imposter Syndrome; Hawkeye is Deaf; on the TV show Perception, the main Professor was trying to treat this schizophrenia while teaching abnormal neurology.
Toph Bei Fong from ATLA: blind
JJ from Speechless. I love his wit and how clever he is.
General Amaya from The Dragon Prince. She is deaf and uses sign language/ an interpreter to communicate.
I loved the snl skit that was kinda about this where a bunch of kids keep convincing their friend to get out of his wheelchair and try to walk because of an inspirational video
GO AWAY!! PLEASE!! LEAVE ME BE!!!
Representation I liked as a disabled person:
A Quiet Place
A Silent Voice
Mary & Max
Speechless
King of Staten Island
Away (Netflix)
Little Shop of Horrors
OH MY GOSH in a support group I’m in they literally said we couldn’t complain bc it was “unhealthy” and “wouldn’t help us” get through what ever is going on, but when talking to the parents of the group they encouraged them to “release the stress” of everything that’s going on with their kids
"I'm not disabled because I'm not training for the paralympics" got me.
Idk how to explain it but you're like... magical. I'm autistic and due to sensory issues I have to multitask and do multiple things at one time otherwise I tend to have a meltdown.. but I can actually watch your videos without doing anything else at the same time.. it's amazing I love u so much
Ah please dissect Glee, I watched all the early series as fabulous escapism, but now I’m going “Oh...right...”
I always think of Toph from Avatar the Last Airbender, she's blind and an incredibly powerful earth bender - she was taught to 'see' through her feet by feeling the vibrations in the earth. Her parents think she's a delicate and vulnerable child who needs protecting but she asserts her independence and becomes the Avatar's earthbending master; she's a grade A badass too. She does need help sometimes from those around her when she isn't able to see through her feet and constantly makes fun of her companions for at times forgetting she is blind. Being blind is part of who Toph is and presents challenges for her but it's not everything about her.
Walter Jr in Breaking Bad was beautifully written. He was just a kid who wanted to have breakfast with family 😥
I wish someone would remake Forrest Gump completely from Jenny’s point of view and give us her story but in a no problematic way
@Mister Squiggles I’m not saying it shouldn’t talk about the issues and trauma Jenny faced but showing her story in a more raw real way and less of Forrest swooping in to save her or diving deeper into her issues
Marlee Matlin recently starred in The Magicians, which in the US you can see on Netflix. The character she plays is deaf, but it's not written into the plot. She's just a person who happens to be deaf. As she is. You know, like any other person why happens to be deaf, or blind, or disabled in any way.
A disability is not a character trait.
As an Audiologist, I regularly have to say “sorry, not that kind of doctor” and that movie sounds horrifying.
that reminds me of this shirt my mother has that says “not that kind of doctor” since she has a doctorate lol
Another aud here and same! Thanks for telling me about your vision problems, but uh, that’s really what I meant by “Anything else I should know?”
It should be obvious enough. In a few days I am going in for a hearing test and then seeing an head and neck specialist. Hooray for a ruptured eardrum! I know that I am seeing these folks for my ears. So it would never cross my mind to ask them about my asthma. I have an allergist for that.
"because the only disability is a bad attitude" I lost it at that (in a laughing way). ★
Aubrey from The Adventure Zone: Amnesty is a great example, she is bisexual and has ADD and the person who plays her also has ADD, and she’s just a great character and I love her so much
In one of my favorite book series Magnus Chase, there is a deaf elf named Hearthstone and he is extremely sarcastic and I think really well done. He only uses ASL to communicate and the series does a great job acknowledging his deafness.
Kris Berardi With him I've learned so much about ASL and being deaf. I hope he is portrayed realistic....
Let's call it inspiration þorn, because that first character is called a thorn, makes a TH sound and this particular film trope is a thorn in my side.
This! ^^^
i LOVE THIS
Why can't I look that good with a migraine? I look like a zombie with a drug addiction and Covid hair.
fred6059 How does covid hair looks like? Like a crown? Slightly too long? Or as a mask over the mouth?! I'm just curious... maybe add a picture...😉❤️
@@thereisalwaysmore4582 It looks kinda like you crawled backwards through a gorse bush then rolled around in a hay bale full of burrs. Occasionally it looks kinda choppy if the person has gotten desperate enough to try and cut it themselves.
All in favor of an entire video of Jessica tearing apart Glee's problematic treatment of disability, raise your hand!
*raises hand*
Helen Keller is one of my fave people... Her story is amazing... And her quotes are so salty... She was an amazing woman and gave as good as she got... I can only imagine when that first spark of association opened the world to her... I had a very very very different time learning how to read... And when I finally mastered it I devoured books like Helen feasted on life... That sudden moment when things just click has always rung so strong with me... And has always made Helen one of my favorite historical woman... And her nurse Ann Sullivan was just as amazing...
What about the TNG episode where Riker becomes a Q and "cures" Geordi La Forge's blindness? La Forge takes his visor off, looks around briefly, and then tells Riker that he was fine before and wants to go back to the way he was. dOr the episode where the technology used in La Forge's visor saves a planet inhabited by humans who had eliminated disabled people (through genetic engineering or terminating fetuses)? La Forge has a very smug moment, and essentially tells one of them that while they might be "perfect", they'd all be dead without people like him.
DS9 didn't really talk about physical disabilities, but they did explore mental disabilities and trauma.
What about the episode Melora where a science officer uses a wheelchair due to growing up in low gravity and starts to be "cured" but in the end chooses not to? There isn't a ton of representation but I like what we get in Star Trek. It makes it feel like I could exist in the Star Trek universe and be a Starfleet officer, which is especially nice considering that before I got severely ill I wanted to be an astronaut.
In DS9 we had the story of Dr. Bashir, though. He was born with a cognitive disability, but his parents decided to put him through gene enhancement.
I found that interesting.
Also: Is Geordie's visor not able to see more wavelengths than human eyes or something like this? If so, I can totally understand why he wouldn't want to give it up.
@@johannageisel5390 Interesting, I haven't gotten to that part (I'm still watching through DS9) And yes his visor allows him to see more wavelengths but it also gives him migraines so there are ups and downs.
@@mithril3966 Oops, sorry for spoilering you. ^ ^
@@johannageisel5390 The visor didn't change the fact La Forge was still blind. Sure, it gave him the ability to see things humans' normally can't, but does that really matter? A person with glasses still lacks 20/20 vision, a hearing aid doesn't mean someone no longer has hearing problems. La Forge had the chance to be just like the majority of humans and turned it down. He showed that he accepts who he is as he is.
Daniel Sousa from Marvel’s “Agent Carter” is probably my favorite disabled character I’ve seen in a tv show so far. Like he’s just a great agent who happens to be disabled.
Thank you for this. The issue of casting non-disabled actors as people with disabilities is something that isn't brought up enough in the performing arts and, as a playwright/actress who happens to be visually impaired, it's endlessly frustrating.
RIP Stella Young - she was so brilliant and fierce and an extremely important advocate for disability here in Australia, not biased because she was from Melbourne too :p
⭐ I would absolutely watch an entire video about Glee's approach to disability, and I have been *loving* your media analysis vids.
Their approach was tokenistic.
IMO it had disability representation when not many major TV shows aimed at teens did... and that's as good as it did
Ditto, though I feel like there’s a bunch that glee handled really badly. From disability to eating disorders to a variety of hard topics that they didn’t want to really talk about but wanted brownie points for mentioning.
Oh, so it WAS conditioning from the media that made me start being obsessed with being “the smart one” in elementary after I started being allergic to everything
AND why I immediately started fantasizing about having ~badass superpowers~ to make up for it somehow
Nice to finally have that loose thread tied up
I imagine someone has already pointed this out, but the character Riva (the deaf and telepathic one) in Star Trek TNG is actually played by a deaf actor, Howie Seago. The episode focuses on his relationship with his three hearing-capable companions who are telepathically linked with him. They're both his companions and his accessibility aids (they can do the hearing for him and relay what was heard via the telepathic link). Before I spoil, It's season 2, episode 5. Now for the Spoiler: one of the three companion people dies and he is understandably incredibly upset at the loss of both a person he cares about and one of his connections to accessibility. The episode's plot involves him traveling to mediate between two warring planets, and ends with him deciding that spending the time to teach the two cultures a common language to communicate via sign language (can't remember if it was ASL) will be the key to getting the two cultures to set aside their differences.
I am not disabled myself, but from an outsider perspective I think that episode really made an effort to portray this one-off character as a person who relates to the world differently through his deafness and that this can both cause him difficulty (if his accessibility aides are incapacitated) but can also enable him to consider solutions that hearing people may not have thought of. I would not be surprised if Howie Seago contributed to the screenplay for the episode.
The Owl House's portrayal of Eda's curse is something interesting to me.
When I first saw the episode where Eda says something like 'no one likes a curse but if you take the right steps it's manageable', I felt represented in how I take my meds daily to manage my mental health. Sure, it's nice to be someone who doesn't need meds, but I need them, and that's okay. It was nice seeing the show say that about Eda's daily elixirs.
But then, the storyline would ultimately be about curing/defeating the curse, so it's not the one-to-one parallel or the explicit disability representation that this video is about.
There's an Israeli tv show about autistic people called "On The Spectrum" that was critically acclaimed by tv critics and pretty much hated by almost everyone I know. It was basically made by neurotypicals for neurotypicals. They made 3 stereotypical presentations of autism as main characters, and the "story" 100% fits the definition of inspiration porn. I myself quit after the 5th episode because I realized they really had nothing to say about that was actually insightful regarding autism. It wasn't as offensive as Atypical though, I'll give them that. But it was still the same old obnoxious observation: "oh these people are not that different from us". And it never really felt representative, to me anyway (I'm one of those people that "don't look autistic").
The Netherlands now has a similar series. I rejected it as soon as the trailer labled it as a "feel good drama". I sense inspiration porn coming. Really I hate it when people say it is inspirational or "defying all odds" when someone with autism has a healthy relationship or a job. Many people with autism have been able to do these things even before the word autism existed so why is it so unique all of the sudden?
Edit: There have never been bad odds for those people to begin with. The ability to live life the way they do has always been there, so the bad odds where just made up by people around them.
I liked Atypical because I liked the lesbian romance a lot and I liked Sam's girlfriend. And Sam's coworker is great. The people he cares about in his life treat him like a normal human, which is good. Sam's girlfriend is great. She seems autistic in the way that a lot of girls can be so it felt like good representation of some female experiences of autism. I related to her a lot myself.
Also, the reason the show feels inspiration porn-y is because it's "feel good", which is fine, but the parents are shown struggling immensely with their child because that's reality and they're shown to be overbearing, especially the mother. His dad is a really good dad. And his sister is a great sister with her own problems and they fight like normal siblings and her boyfriend is also really great guy but they have their own issues. It's complex. Each character feels real and we'll rounded, including his asian therapist, she gets her backstory told as well.
I think it does a good job at showing how parents can fuck you up because they don't understand. His mom tries to keep him as her little boy forever and his therapist has to tell her that he's becoming an adult and she needs to let him be an adult.
Like, I've seen all of it and I enjoyed it and I also have a BFA in this subject but I personally love Abed from Community and I hate The Big Bang Theory.
Jessica's video on autistic characters in media was really good!
I personally loved the representation of an autistic boy in the 60's in Umbrella Academy, I've seen both seasons and the last season was amazing.
@@Aliceintherosegarden I agree with you but I also enjoy watching feel good tv shows because they make me feel good. And just because it's got a "feel good" tone doesn't mean the representation in the show is bad.
Not every show needs to be drama or dark and gritty depictions of life. "Feel good" is just a genre, like "romcom" or "thriller".
I just binged a tv show called Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist and it's a feel good romcom but it has really good representation. There's a deaf character and her father is disabled and it's all handled extremely well. One of the shows main characters is played by the person who played Alex in Glee. The show was created by a guy who's dad had the disability that Zoey's dad has, the show is about his father and his life just with a lot of changes and additions, but it's inspired by what him and his family went through. The tribute to his father is actually beautiful. The whole show is based around the idea of empathy. It's amazing.
So nice to see that I am not the only Israeli here.
I will say that Pascale Berkovitch makes all able-bodied people look like major slackers.
I have complicated feelings about inspiration p*rn. I have a chronic illness that makes life hard. I do my best to hide how hard it is (except from my partner) because I don't want anyone's pity. But it's still FRIGGIN HARD and my ability to keep the worst of the knowledge away from the rest of my family often means they don't really believe that I'm ill. The other side of this coin is that in the beginning, when everything sucked and was newly terrible, my family still didn't really believe I was ill, and couldn't really fathom the seriousness of my situation.
Actually, now that I'm verbalizing it, I think my family just has issues and it has nothing to do with inspiration p*rn.
My favourite disabled characters from my childhood (and honestly the only ones I remember seeing) are Bethany Hamilton from Soul Surfer, Toph from Avatar, and Ron's friend in Kim Possible who tricked out his wheelchair to help on missions. I also remember watching an episode of the Proud Family where Penny dates a boy in a wheelchair who's kind of a jerk out of pity then realizes the chair doesn't give him a pass to be mean, that was the first time I'd ever seen a disabled character as not the good guy and it kinda blew my mind as a kid
The fact that I only found out that my fainting spells are because of a chronic illness and none of the doctor even mentioned it or thought it was odd that I seemed to faint quite often is telling to me how often disabled people get overlooked by even the people who are supposed to be helping them. The worst case of this was when after I had fainted in the office and was still a little delirious one of the male nurses asked me if I was faking it WHILE I WAS IN THE AMBULANCE ONE MY WAY TO THE HOSPITAL. Btw funny story I found out what it was because of fanfiction. So yeah fanfics were more helpful to me then my own doctors.
Edit: in case someone wanted to know what is was it’s called Vasovagal syncope
My husband has severe OCD and really loves Michael J Fox's character in Scrubs and Monk because he finds them relatable. He is definitely aware of the abled lens they're portrayed with, but likes that they are always right. He feels like most portrayals of OCD show the characters as irrational and paranoid for no reason, but likes when the advantages of hyper-alertness are shown.
As someone with OCD, this has started a thought-train for me on an aspect of my illness that I often find is maligned. I've always had my hyper-alertness labelled as a fault and a burden - something bad, weak and disgraceful. Whereas I do reject these narratives and absolutely posit some of the benefits of having a brain like mine, I hadn't thought of hyper-alertness as being something that could be an advantage outside of very survival-based situations. Thank you for sharing this, it's really given me something to think about.
⭐ it's a thing i dislike in representation of disease, too: people treat people with conditions like cancer as though they're too good for this sinful earth and it ticks me off
I have Fibromyalgia and a chronic autoinflammatory complex condition. There are days I am in constant pain and have no spoons. Thanks for the reminder that I am not somehow "broken" because I can't change how I feel out of sheer will power and I am no less valuable as a person.
THANK YOU! I have a dear friend with a child with autism. He will never be able to vocalize, he is still in diapers, he hugs, and holds hands with people and enjoys company and he is an adult. He enjoys several things, his personal choice, not because he is "autistic". It's just what he likes, and no he doesn't do anything "incredible" though people often ask about his "art". No, he does not do anything that "makes up" for his disability. He is loved and fine a good human, without having to have some genius aspect.
Please make “everything glee gets wrong about disability” I loved that show until they added Sugar and it caused me to debate driving my head into a spike every time she was on the screen I swear.
I also want to see everything glee gets wrong about disability!
I tried to watch Glee but when they did the Arty dancing episode and then it ending sadly as he'll never dance I had to switch off. lol
wasn't Sugar that so called "autistic" character?
Yeah that didnt really make sense to me... I have asd but sugar used that as an excuse to just be... gratuitously rude? And that's a really inaccurate portrayal. Even if I dont understand social norms sometimes I wouldnt just go up to someone and insult them for no reason?
@@kirjom2505 I’ve seen people debate whether Sugar is actually autistic or if she’s supposed to be a representation of some people who self diagnose. But from what I’ve seen, she was always very aware of how others would perceive her words and actions. Sugar only said she was on the spectrum so she could say things she knew were ignorant and insulting.
Yes I hate inspiration porn. A good story with a disabled character? Sure. A plot all revolving around a romantic image of illness? Get out of here with that crap. As a schizophrenic there isn't many examples of inspirational stories around my illness (usually we are shown as killers or freaks), but the one I know and hate is "A Beautiful Mind". Being psychotic isn't some super power. It can be scary as hell and confusing and many of use suffer cognitive decline as the illness can literally break down brain tissue.
@Fairyface @Gozer - I have never watched A Beautiful Mind because it seemed so dishonest. I Never Promised...was a fantastic counter to that romanticised and frankly dangerous bilge. I twice saw people with serious brain ilness put into dangerous and potentially lethal situations whilst so called carers ascribed magical qualities to their medical crisis. I keep parts of Rose Garden's honesty with me to this day, it was such a powerful book.
@@sianharris2984 I have a series of me medicated reacting to writings from episodes. I feel that is a good look inside the mind as my writing was an attempt to make sense of a muddled reality and racing mind.
I really really hate how "A beautiful mind" depicts those of us with schizophrenia. There sure as hell isn't anything beautiful about my psychosis and lack of motivation and anhedonia. Check out my channel if you want, I'm definitely not inspiring anyone, just giving my experience and advice getting through life as an average person.
I always thought the main character in "A Beautiful Mind" was just a brilliant mathematician who happened to also have schizophrenia.
Never read it as if the illness has somehow given him his abilities.
@@johannageisel5390 plus A Beautiful Mind is actually a true story (dramatized obviously). His intelligence was inherent, not due to his mental disorder ❤.
I’m just realizing that maybe the reason I never realized I might be autistic, is because they don’t portray it realistically in the movies I saw. The exaggeration of symptoms made me think “well, I can’t be. I don’t have anything like that.”
On The Young & the Restless Victor married a woman who is blind (I can't recall her name, it was decades ago)...the show addressed many of these tropes. I learned a lot about the day to day life of the vision impaired from her. Not sure how it would hold up today, but it seemed to be an excellent step back then. Small things, like knowing when your coffee cup is full without scalding yourself....I had never before considered how difficult things I take for granted could be for others. Thanks TY&TR for helping to build my empathy during my formative years! Ditto Benny & Joon(probably doesn't hold up so well today, but it opened my eyes at the time), & Jewel's character in Deadwood. Plus I love that Becky from Glee can be a stone cold bitch, & a confident sexual being. Awesome.
I like how you talk about the “I should be grateful” whilst having a disability. I am a college student writing a paper on emotions, emotional expectations and emotional labor. Suffice to say, someone with a disability being told they should be forever grateful I can imagine is exhausting emotionally, and obviously not a correct thing to say to anyone! Also I like how you talk fast. At least living in the US, school hones in on speaking slower, especially when speaking publicly, and some ppls style of speaking become monotonous, but you keep it speedy and lively XD
I liked Switched at Birth. I feel like the part about Deafness it was done pretty well. It taught a lot of people about Deafness and Deaf Culture, and had Deaf/HoH actors. If it wasn’t for that show I wouldn’t have gone to school for ASL, and I wouldn’t be in the field I’m in now.
I'm HOH & have many Deaf family members & friends. We *LOVED* the first season because it NAILED it. Particularly the scene where the hispanic lady grabbed the other mother's hands and told her to "use these" to communicate with her biological daughter instead of forcing her to read lips.
But it went off the rails in the second season onward & it turned into more of a teen drama than anything else, & it was disappointing. Some of my friends continued to watch it because "When have we ever gotten a show that centered around a person with our disability?" but I didn't. Particularly when the hispanic mom developed tendinitis in her hands due to signing & the girl *magically* knew exactly what her mom was saying? Completely unrealistic & fell into the tired old tropes again, which really pissed me (& a lot of people I knew) off.
Though I watched the show all the way through, I was deeply disappointed in how the cinematography went off the rails after the first couple seasons and they stopped deliberately framing the shots to include the hands for the sign-language using characters.
As I remember Dustin Hoffman character is actually based on real person.
I'm not disabled, but I was recently diagnosed with ulcerative colitis and like okay, yes I might be tired all the time and therefore unable to do all my homework but can we please stop congratulating me for getting results that were rather lower than usual? just accept them as disappointing and move on - this doesn't make me less able to achieve my goals, people
I have a complicated relationship with Flowers for Algernon because, indeed, it was a story written for an abled and neurotypical audience for them to feel pity over a mentally challenged man. It does not hold up to me now, either. But when I was in 8th grade I felt a horrible recognition in Charley both pre and post operation - how I was sometimes too trusting and took people at their word/was unable to see any subtext beyond words, how I struggled to make friends, sometimes because I was too slow to grasp a conversation, sometimes because I brushed past them without knowing and making them feel bad or ignorant, and especially how so many instances in my childhood were just like how people would pick on Charlie and I had no idea what was going on until several years after. And it was both relieving and terrifying to see myself reflected in a disabled character, when I had always grown up sheltered and separate from them and saw them as strange and impossible to understand. I guess I should have known then I had ADHD and autism that severely impacted my social abilities, but you know. If you have good grades in (a very mediocre) school then nothing could possibly be wrong with you. Not even if you end up in an accident because you couldn't handle the urge to bite something as a stim! In that case, you're just told to stop, shut up, never mention it again, or you'll be committed. Lovely.
Big mood
"Jesus, why do we have holes?"
- One more for the out of context sound board. 👍🏼
This needs to be on merch for sure.
Jessica you are such an incredible educator. I love how you used the actual outdated terms so we’ll be aware of them, and educated everyone on why not to use them. rather than skipping over the info completely.
I love that you love Speechless! It’s one of my favorites as it pokes fun of so many things that is seen in the disabled community! (Inspiration porn, helicopter parents, disability camps, etc.) It’s an all time favorite of mine!
I have tried to tell a certain someone why saying "you're so brave" (and being used in their book and seminars about an inspirational example of someone with psychosis and trauma climbed out of addiction, became an artist, learned about the truth of suffering and stayed "so kind") this has happened many times.
"You are so brave" always makes me wonder "what would not being brave looked like?" I have been told I could not care about others, I could "give up" (what does "giving up look like"?)
We have no choice to be brave. And being down and closed off, even suicidal, is not weakness. It is more than symptoms. It is systemic. If only I were just treated as a person capable of self advocacy, not forced into coercive help, not shamed, not abused or targeted, life would be far more simple.
And being immune difficient and post viral has made things much more difficult. Sometimes I forget what day it is. I miss an assignment in University. I had to leave my work. I have not been as active in my art either as a hobby or for money. I am just as "brave" as I was before. For someone of us, survival is bravery. Forgiving those who already hit us while we're down is bravery. Waking up in the morning, even if we can't out of bed some days, is bravery. Tolerating doctors who often make things worse is bravery. Dealing with being economically disadvantaged, or having friends abandon us because "our pain is too hard for them" is bravery.
You are amazing. Not just you, but all of you. Each one of you. We are all people and that is enough to make us worthy of everything beautiful. My sexuality and appearance, my Jewish ancestory, my politics, have led to further fetishization, inspiration porn, demonization, othering.
But I forgive you. I don't hate you. Even though you think I am not a valid person capable of rationality, kindness, hard work, and a good life. And even if I wasn't. I would still deserve rights
They think we're brave JUST because we're daring to live as less than perfectly functional humans! That's why some of them will be like "If I was disabled like you I'd probably kill myself!"
@KStar So true. For some people being "brave" could mean getting out of bed. Or just existing.
But even then that still makes some people a "coward." It seems like something some more able people say to help boost the morale of people who a) must feel broken and b) are treated by society as broken. But to try to pedastolize and build up someone who is judged harshly...I don't know anyone who likes it. I think most people just want to be treated as a human being, have a voice that is valued, and positive judgment doesn't help me deal with negative judgment. No judgment sounds nice. Just having a chat, some access, making it easy and not a focus.
Definitely a bootstrap ideal. The yay you did it all by yourself, got to the top of that mountain in a wheelchair, are still a good person despite all that trauma and healed yourself, etc... Even the whole "getting help is brave" narrative still means a person has to be able to access and pay and problem solve to find "help" and "get better" by themselves. Ick.
Just make it easy and treat people like people. But that's not just a problem with disability. All people should be treated better and life be easier. No bootstraps needed :)
While the daredevil show defiantly does fall into the "disabled superhero" trope, I perceived it as doing a good job, most notably when Matt is doing his day to day life. The show talked to blind people to understand how they went about their life, and included some great moments where Froggy (Matt's longtime best-friend) subtlety adapts his behavior as to aid Matt. For example, Froggy often describes visual clues to Matt, and indicates when the road is clear so they can cross the street. Matt is also deeply flawed, he is insufferable at times, and the show gives him consequences for this. All this said, I myself have very limited interaction with the blind community, so I would love to be educated more on the subject.
Lol I just finished the first season today, and I love it a lot!! I'm not disabled, but I really like Matt's character, and I love how the show does little things to acknowledge his blindness without making it seem like a burden on others. As awesome Charlie Cox is though, it would be nice if the actor himself was blind. I've just started reading the Waid comics, interested to see how those check out.
I really like his "powers", they are pretty much spot on to my senses, well other than how he can just deal with them like it's not causing lots of pain
I loved the way they showed Matt and foggy and the blonde lady (can't remember her name) interacting and that Matt's blindness was just treated as normal, but the overall plot felt very stretched out and I ended up getting bored with all the other characters.
A similar representation to that of Augie in Covert Affairs, I think. Augie is also a sex god. (Played by a sighted actor, of course. :-( Though that did allow them to have flashbacks to a sighted Augie before he was injured in a few episodes.)
I would like to throw Jessica a parade for the absolutely stunning red dress outfit! As well as her truly excellent content :)
I was pleasantly surprised and excited to learn that the blind character in Season 4 of This Is Us is played by a genuinely blind actor.
I loved the fact that the blind character was also independent and treated like everyone else. He also had his own dreams and a full life that didn't just focus on his blindness
@@RandomSkyeRoses The fact that he's really attractive doesn't hurt either.
@@sadfaery I think more disabled characters should be written like that