Clearly, ly, Unabashedly Disabled

[Guest guest]

Clearly, ly, Unabashedly Disabled

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/13/fashion/13disabled.html?

(photos at link)

WHEN Josh Blue won NBC's " Last Comic Standing " last season, he did

so with riffs like this:

" My right arm does a lot of crazy stuff. Like the other day, I

thought someone had stolen my wallet. "

It's funny only if you know that Mr. Blue has cerebral palsy.

The public image of people with disabilities has often hinged on the

heroic or the tragic. But Mr. Blue, 28, represents the broader

portrait of disability now infusing television and film. This new,

sometimes confrontational stance reflects the higher expectations

among many members of the disabled population that they be treated

as people who happen to have a disability, rather than as people

defined by disability.

" What we're seeing is less `overcoming' and more `just being,' "

said Lawrence -Long, the director of advocacy for the

Disabilities Network of New York City, which last year started a

film series, " disTHIS: Disability Through a Whole New Lens, "

celebrating unconventional portrayals of the disabled.

" More people are saying, `This is who I am. If you have a problem

with it, that's your problem,' " he said.

Because the entertainment media often function as a bellwether of

changing attitudes, the drive to expand beyond the stereotypes is

particularly visible on television. The heart-wrenching movie of the

week and fund-raising telethons striving for cures have given way to

amputees rock climbing on reality shows like " The Amazing Race " and

doing the jive on " Dancing With the Stars. " Sitcoms and crime shows

have jumped onto the bandwagon, too: an actor who is a paraplegic,

for instance, depicts a member of the casino surveillance team

on " Las Vegas. "

" It used to be that if you were disabled and on television, they'd

play soft piano music behind you, " said Hall, a double

amputee who plays a coroner on " CSI. " " The thing I love about `CSI'

is that I'm just Dr. Robbins. "

In film, too, tragic stories starring able-bodied actors,

like " Million Dollar Baby, " are being countered by depictions

featuring the disabled themselves, from the wheelchair rugby jocks

of the 2005 documentary " Murderball " to the 2005 Special Olympics

romp, " The Ringer, " by and Bobby Farrelly.

Hollywood's embrace of a franker depiction of disabilities is

mirrored in everyday life in trends such as the jettisoning, by both

child and adult amputees, of cosmetic covers for prosthetic legs.

Instead, prosthetics experts say, many patients wear their legs

openly, often customizing them with designs that are flaunted like

tattoos.

" Some people say, `That's really cool' and some people don't act

very nice, " said e Haddad, 40, a mother of two from

sville, Md., who decorates her prosthetic leg with palm trees,

fish and the American flag.

Ms. Haddad, whose right leg was amputated below the knee in 2003

after a car accident, said she has no problem wearing shorts when

she goes shopping. Neither does she shy from removing the prosthesis

in order to swim at the neighborhood pool.

She said people gawk and some have even tapped her on the shoulder

to ask her to put her leg back on. She said she's been told, " It is

upsetting my child. " But she refuses to hide.

" You either accept me as I am, " she said, " or you don't have to look

at it. "

Jillian Weise, 25, a teacher and doctoral student at the University

of Cincinnati, released a poetry book this year to undermine what

she called " the stereotype of the disabled as asexual " and " to try

to get away from the idea of the disabled as freak. "

She titled it " The Amputee's Guide to Sex " and filled it with deeply

personal verses. " You trace the scar along my spine, and I imagine

what it must feel like, " reads one poem.

Ms. Weise, who was born with a rare disease that led to the

amputation of one leg below the knee when she was 11, said that in

the United States " there's a history of don't look, don't stare,

just ignore the disability. "

" I'm hoping that there's a middle ground, that this is just another

kind of difference, " she said.

The hunger to be regarded like anyone else means even negative

portrayals can be welcome. When Simon Cowell of " American Idol "

teased a Special Olympics athlete with a mental disability about his

weight during this year's televised auditions, he was widely

criticized for having crossed a line. Special Olympics International

fired off an open letter. It thanked the show for ribbing the

contestant, as it does nearly everyone.

" Whether on the stage of `American Idol' or on the field of

competition for Special Olympics, people with intellectual

disabilities don't want to be pitied, " the group's statement read.

The drive for more participation is not new, but it is finding

strength in numbers. The government census and population surveys

have expanded the definition of disability over time to reflect more

conditions and impairments, including mental disabilities. The most

recent population survey, in 2002, showed the disabled population to

be the country's largest minority: 51 million, or 18 percent of all

Americans. Most — 32 million — suffer from a disability classified

as severe.

Hall, a double amputee, plays a doctor on " CSI. "

Although this huge and complex group includes both the man with a

$30,000 computer-controlled prosthesis and the brain-injured woman

who is immobile, stereotyping and stigmatization are still a

problem, particularly for the mentally disabled.

And while public perceptions about the capabilities of the mentally

disabled have improved, said Dr. B. Corbin, a senior vice

president of Special Olympics International, they are still " mixed

and inadequate. "

Nevertheless, the gradual gains in access to education and

independent living have allowed many disabled people to take their

place in society's mix. Surveys show that people with disabilities

are voting and going to restaurants, for example, at rates

comparable with the non-disabled. With increased access has come

visibility.

The public image of the disabled is increasingly " informed by actual

experience of disability rather than an imagined understanding of

it, " said T. , an associate professor of disability

studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Mr. , who

is also a filmmaker, uses a wheelchair because of a neuromuscular

condition. His 1995 documentary, " Vital Signs: Crip Culture Talks

Back, " focuses on the concept of a cultural identity.

But, he cautioned: " We shouldn't go too congratulatory yet. Our

progress is largely a measure of the fact that we were so regressive

for so long. "

The arts have become one of the most visible vehicles for

participation. In the last few years particularly, said Kari Pope,

the coordinator at the National Arts and Disability Center at the

University of California, Los Angeles, there has been more exposure

of disabled artists " getting out there " through film festivals,

dance companies, theater and the visual arts.

In Hollywood, disabled members of the Screen Actors Guild and other

entertainment groups are agitating for plots that include more

disabled characters and for the hiring of more disabled actors to

play both disabled and nondisabled roles. Though jobs are still

scarce, the quality of roles and the diversity of characters has

improved. Some disabled actors noted that they are no longer

relegated to maudlin or villainous roles.

It is a sign of the times that Marlee Matlin, a deaf actress, who

won an for the 1986 film " Children of a Lesser God, " has been

playing roles as varied as a political pollster on " The West Wing "

and the love interest on " My Name Is Earl. "

Meanwhile, the Farrelly brothers are at work on a pilot for a comedy

for Fox with Danny , an actor who is a quadriplegic, in a

supporting role. And NBC may produce the first comedy starring

disabled actors to air on network television. The pilot for this

show, " I'm With Stupid, " is based on a BBC series of the same name,

which revolves around an apartment building designed for the

disabled whose tenants include a wheelchair user with cerebral palsy

who speaks via a voice box, and a double amputee with high-tech leg

prosthetics.

" All the actors feel this is not a television show, it's a

movement, " said Wil Calhoun, the executive producer. " People will

begin to look at things in a different way. "

Mr. Calhoun, who was an executive producer of " Friends, " said the

comedy is an attempt to depart from the predictable, but the

material is considered risky because of concerns that viewers may

find it sad or in bad taste. On the other hand, Americans already

have been exposed to fuller portraits of disabled people, especially

through reality shows.

" The representations on reality television tend to be much higher-

stakes than the fictional narratives because that's how real people

behave, " said Kathleen LeBesco, the chairwoman of communication arts

at mount Manhattan College.

She said that there's debate over whether some representations

are " exploitative or affirmative, " but said that the depictions

parallel the trajectory that gays and racial minorities also tread

as they gained more visibility.

Reinertsen, 31, an athlete who runs with a prosthetic leg, is

a member of the hard-charging vanguard. She was a contestant on

CBS's " Amazing Race " last year (her team came in 7th of 12) and has

no qualms about competing against the able-bodied.

" Believe me, I get a thrill when I do pass two-legged people, " she

said.

But she said she never leaves the house without sunglasses.

" People always stare, " she said. " It's part of human nature and it's

tough to be this animal in the zoo. "

But Ms. Reinertsen said people have stopped looking at disability

as " total tragedy. " " People have changed a lot, " she said. " They

ask, `Are you wearing one of those cool legs?' "