Disability in Pop Culture 9—Glee

Artie Abrams from Glee

Glee (9pm Wednesdays on FOX) is a musical comedy about a high school glee club. It has a sortof Freaks and Geeks vibe about it in that it talks about the divide and also the overlaps between jock and nerd cliques.One of the members of the Glee Club from the beginning has been Artie.

It has a rather large ensemble cast, so up to this point Artie hasn’t really had an episode yet. Last night it was his turn. The school will only provide a standard bus for the club to go to a competition and the club needs to raise the money to rent a wheelchair-accessible bus

As a bonus, there was a subplot about the evil cheerleading coach allowing a girl with Down Syndrome onto the cheerleading squad. (Also, damn the writers for making the villain of the show into a sympathetic character!) Yes, she has a sympathetic moment even after earlier in the episode she gives a hilariously incomprehensible speech about how wheelchair ramps encourage laziness in the ablebodied students by giving them a way to avoid the stairs.

 

Mobility for Toddlers

It has always astonished me how long it takes kids to get powered mobility. Not being able to move around has profound effects on cognitive and language development. Check out these robots:

(However, please don’t read the YouTube comments. YouTube comments are probably the most cognitively impaired language output on the planet. )

Disability in pop culture 6

I really thought I did this one already. I can’t believe I didn’t blog about this months ago…

Timmy!

Timmy debuted in season 4 of South Park. He has become a fairly popular regular character and some of the funniest episodes have centered around him. Timmy has a developmental disability. He uses a motorized wheelchair for mobility, appears to have moderate mental retardation, and a pretty severe communication impairment (his only speech is “Timmy!”).

Timmy

Let’s get this out of the way now– they play Timmy’s disability for laughs. However, I don’t find his character offensive, and let me tell you why.

First, being offended by South Park is utterly stupid and pointless. The show is intentionally offensive, and goes out of its way to offend you. Everyone gets their turn on this show.

Second, the characters’ reactions to Timmy are universally accepting. While the writers make fun of Timmy by putting him into all sorts of plot situations that emphasize his disability, no character ever discriminates against Timmy (sometimes this is played to humorous effect).

But mostly I’m not offended because South Park is at its best when it takes the elephant in the room that no one acknowledges and instead of just pointing it out, sits it in your lap. Timmy as a character serves an important purpose on the show that no other character possibly can.

In fact, South Park, through satire, has explored aspects of disability in American society more often and with more honesty than any other show on television. That offends me. Where are the rest of the characters with developmental disabilities on TV?

At some point in the future, I’ll do a critical review the Timmy episodes to see what they have to say about society (that is, I’m going to intellectualize them and completely ruin all the comedy). I found them to be surprisingly perceptive and meaningful (for a show about fart jokes).

Things to consider: What are the elephants in the room that no one wants to point out with regards to disability? Whose responsibility is it to point these out? What are the ongoing obstacles to confronting these things?

Architecture

I came across this place.

press to open

Well, this place has certainly made accommodations for customers with disabilities, right?

Let’s take a more critical look…

Disability in pop culture 5

Family Guy

Family Guy has several examples, so it gets a rather more extensive post.

The Griffin Family

The Message

What is the message here?

Handicap entrance in rear.

The floor is lava!!!

Good thing wheelchairs are lavaproof.

lava

Now go play.

AAC toys 1

When I was a boy–and I don’t see any indication that kids have changed any–violent shoot-’em-up play was quite prevalent. I spent my childhood being a Jedi, soldier, superhero, survivalist resistance fighter behind enemy lines, and giant robot mecha pilot.

How might I have engaged in that sort of thing if I used a wheelchair and AAC?

I probably couldn’t. But kids today can. The beauty of the newer AAC devices is that they are fully functioning tablet PCs. The Mercury, ECO-14, and DV all have USB ports just like any laptop.

Oh the possibilities!

Disability in pop culture 1

Charles Xavier

Charles Xavier, leader of the X-Men, is typically depicted in a wheelchair. This character debuted in Uncanny X-Men #1 in 1963.

Professor Charles Xavier

Professor X is a superhero in his own right. The wheelchair serves as a cue that his powers are mental rather than physical. Charles is amongst the most powerful telepaths in the world. While other superheroes deliver physical ass-kickings, Charles’ domain is the mind. Depicting him as an old man (baldness?) in a wheelchair emphasizes this.

Thinking about other examples of how disability is used in popular culture to emphasize some other positive quality…