Disabled person reacts to BAD Disability representation in the media... [CC]
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.พ. 2025
- In this video we discuss the good vs the bad disability rep in the media and discuss how good characters are often played and written by disabled people vs when they are written by non-disabled people and then often can lean into heavy stereotypes. We discuss Glee, The Wicked Movie, Me Before You and Heartbreak high and highlight some of the positives and negatives of this disability representation.
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When you were talking about Artie, one of the issues brought up reminded me of the Doctor Who episode The Giggle. In the episode, the character Shirley, who's a wheelchair user (played by Ruth Madeley, who is a wheelchair user in real life), is seen casually standing up throughout the scene in UNIT HQ, and later on, when Kate Stewart takes off her band to let herself succumb to whatever is possessing humanity and driving them all mad, she starts attacking her coworkers, and one of the things she says is "I know you're not a real wheelchair user, I've seen you walk." Later on, Kate does apologize, because she feels awful for what she said in her heightened emotional state, and Shirley is very understanding. The whole scene was really well done. If you haven't seen the episode, I highly recommend it.
The fact that Jon M. Chu was willing to not only hire an actor who uses a wheelchair but also to have her in the room as they worked on the script for the Wicked movie- plus making the set accessible- says a lot about him. Is he perfect? No. And no one is. But this is a huge deal!
and having the young version of her actually a wheelchair user even tho she is in the movie for like 1 minute
I'm a disabled actor. I have a regular job where I play characters that just happen to be disabled because I'm playing them. I love that.
I've also been in a couple of films (one British and one Bollywood) as a disabled homeless person and a disabled farmer.
One thing I really hate is even when we're not including my disability, the fact that they've seen me move my legs means that my character is faking disability.
Same :/
I love that the characters just happen to be disabled because you're the right actor for the job! More jobs for you, and more visibility for disability, yay!
I'm not an actor, but after working as an extra in a movie I was offered a small role in another one, which I turned down because I was pregnant at the time. They were actually willing to accommodate me, saying that pregnancy would suit the character (a merchant's wife in a historical movie). I still turned it down for health concerns, but having them offer to change the character to suit my needs felt really good.
@@kathilisi3019 more characters need to be cast like that. Is there any reason that character couldn't be disabled? No, then cast it like that.
I was recently given a drugs officer who is known for beating up suspects. I asked to swap. I became the sergeant running a cop shop, makes more sense and fit the plot.
I'm really glad you talked about Artie the way you did. To me it speaks to a broader issue about disability and how able bodied people (and honestly even some disabled people) conceptualize both cures and being disabled. They see disability as a deviation from humanity or normality and cures solely as a way to get you back to that normality rather than an intervention for your quality of life.
I've seen some fantastic stories about newly disabled characters processing their grief or if the root cause of their disability was caused by say capitalism, structural failings like racism, etc which takes a very different context. But the idea that still lurks beneath both heroic and antagonistic disabled characters that no disabled life is worth living and wanting to escape that is the "natural" way to be is a very pervasive idea in how disabled characters are typically written.
There's this stock villain trope, especially in crime and mystery stories that can be summarized as "disabled and desperate" where a disabled character becomes this super evil monster willing to resort to any kind of amoral action if it means they finally have a way to cure themselves of their disability.
I read the book „me before you“ in Book club and I HATED the ending. Being disabled myself I felt the message was somehow that a disabled life is not a life worth living (not even if you have love, family and loads of money 🤷🏻♀️).
Yeah it’s so vile
I hated this book, especially the idea that a young sexy woman was all he needed to make life worth while. The rest of my book club really liked it.
@DisabledEliza what about Becky? I see alot of talk on artie, but not on Becky??
Apparently they've actually tweaked the ending of Wicked for the 2nd film being released next year to remove the ablist part of the storyline - I'm really excited to see what they've done with it.
There's also considerations into how to adapt the stage versions to incorporate some of the changes made for the film, including actually hiring wheelchair users to play Nessa.
Wicked is one of my favourite musicals and I'm so pleased that they're finally improving the disability representation in it, especially as that ties in with a lot of the themes of the story around discrimination and seeing past people's surface level differences.
Looking forward to seeing her become a tyrant. (It gets glossed over in the stage play)
oh shit! i've heard a lot of ppl speculating on whether they might or might not do that but it's cool hearing it's actually been confirmed!
@@felixhenson9926 I can't remember whose video I was watching, but it was about wheelchair rep in the film and they referenced an interview with the person who plays Nessa discussing her consultation role. They've not confirmed what the change is yet (I think to keep it as a surprise until release), but she has confirmed that they've made the ending less ablist.
As far as I'm aware, the stage stuff is still in the very early discussion stage, but they're definitely open to making changes. I think it will probably also take a while for any changes to propagate to all the different versions (Broadway, West End, etc).
God I hate hate hate the plot of Me Before You. My grandmother was quadriplegic the last 20+ years of her life due to a surgical error and she had such a full life and would have been so angry about that entire story. 😡
It makes me angry as a therapist, too. I'm a music therapist and have worked with newly disabled people in rehab after accidents or illnesses, as well as older people who have become disabled due to various issues accumulating as they aged. My job as a therapist is to help people discover things that they can still achieve that fill them with a sense of self-worth and belonging, explore the resources they have instead of focusing on their problems. I've worked with someone who was quite young who became unable to do their old job due to physical limitations, and they saw it as a chance to start over and start a new career that was less physically demanding but even more interesting and fulfilling.
Humans have an amazing ability to adapt to changes. The mindset of "I can no longer do what I used to do so my life is worthless" is maybe understandable as a first reaction to a shocking change, but becomes toxic when allowed to take root, or when it's pushed towards the general population in movies such as this.
I think it's important to keep in mind that A Christmas Carol was written at a time when being disabled was considered a moral failing, and disabled people were seen as a drain on society and locked away in asylums. We think of asylums as being only for mentally ill people, but there were just as many physically disabled people who were sent there because their families wanted nothing to do with them. It was actually quite progressive at the time for Dickens to write a disabled character who was innocent and wholesome, who brought joy to his family, and whose death was portrayed as a tragedy. Tiny Tim doesn't necessarily hold up as a good example of disabled representation in the modern day, but that's not something Dickens should be faulted for. It's actually a good thing, IMO. It's a sign of how much society has progressed in its views and treatment of disabled people.
I'm so scared the live action Avatar Airbender will be added to the bad list (it kinda already is) I just found out they cast someone with 20/20 vision to play a blind character 😭😭😭😭😭
I'm a disabled, 18yr old who does use an electric wheelchair somedays.
Me before you is one of my top 3 favourite films, and i love the book too.
But i do pretend that she travels the world and hes back home doing something else because it is very disappointing to think that we dont cherish our lives.
I may be 18 and cant move somedays but i love my friends, family, my pets and my life and i have no plans to leave it because im not a 'normal' teenager with a 'normal' life. I adore the love story and love lou but the disabled representation is appalling.
Happy Holidays, Eliza and I hope you're enjoying seeing the beautiful Christmas 🎄 lights in London, England 🏴🎅💚❤️🎁✨️
The Wicked clip reminded me I need to print 3D spikey grip covers 😀😁
I didnt think my life was over or became angry when diagnosed with MS, and even 20+ years after being diagnosed im not angry or all woe is me.(frustrated yes for many reason, the next person to call me brave for just doing 'normal' human thingsis getting my crutch thrownat them🤪), I was extremely relieved drs finally knew what was wrong and I could start taking meds to maybe slow progression and there was a reason for my symptoms. I get not everyone diagnosed with MS is the same, disability isnt one size fits all and people of all walks of life are complicated and are full of a different variety of feelings, its when people just assume things about another person, that is the biggest problem.
I really, REALLY want to see more disabled antiheroes in the vein of Kaz Brekker from Six of Crows
First video of yours I've watched. I like finding new creators who makes me more aware about different topics. Thanks for this video new subscriber here ❤
❤️❤️❤️
I loved this video. The character of Artie, and later the storyline in S3ish for the Quinn frustrate me. I was wondering what you're on Becky is? I love her as a character and feel she's relatively good disablity representation. I adore Chloe and all her work and feel like if you were ever to do a collab with her (wishful thinking for now) you'd both get on so well. I've never seen Me Before You as it's so infamous though
TW Mental Health issues:
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I can sometimes relate to my disablity making it hard to live. Though I acknowledge that this isn't due to me even I feel like it but rather society and system that oppress disabled people in so many ways.
I love Nessa and love that Melsia
Dude I cried when I saw nessa because it made we feel so seen❤❤
I really liked this and if you do another I would like to hear your opinion on " Out of my mind" I liked it but it isn't one that I know a lot about
Did you know there are actually 2 sequels to out of my mind?
@hearmeout1767 no I didn't thanks for letting me know
When I watch any show or movie i have a little thing in the back of my head for looking at gender, LGBT+, racial, and disability representation. So many shows tick boxes in the other categories but I rarely see good representation of physical disability, alas the show Loudermilk which has a lot about disability (very directly, and the way it's written suggests that the disabled actor with a limb difference was involved in the writing process) was the most racially stereotyped and gay-for-shock-value show I have ever seen. I just want shows with ticks in all the boxes, please!
First time on your channel, really appreciated both the good and bad examples! I enjoyed Glee and Me Before You, but I understand the problematic aspects now in terms of disabled rep. (also let's be honest, Glee had other issues too). I can't wait to see Wicked ❤
And that’s very valid! I think it’s important to note that you absolutely can like these things and point out some of the issues! Wicked is amazinggggggg ❤️
I koved the formant of this video. Balancing positives and negatives. We need more if that in the world.
As someone with a disability and being with someone with them, I always want great rep. I seek to write it in my stories, but accessibility is oke of the most important things to me.
Woah, her headphones must be amazing. I'm in a public area rn where I bring my kid every weekly for a thing... I have new headphones exactly to block out some of the noise here.
Sorry, he went to the doctor yesterday and today he's dancing? Is it a dream sequence? Is this supposed to be a comedy? Wtf?
Yeah it’s a dream sequence I’m pretty sure
Yeah it’s a dream! Xx
In the program lost Locke was put in a wheelchair and he doesn't like being reduced to permanently being in one yet the person who played him can walk.
I do think it's not fair for people with disabilities can't get into acting because of the lack of empathy.
I would just like to say… OMG I LOVE YOUR SHARKS
@12:48 The closed captions may need a slight revison. I don't know if anyone else caught it.
Thank you I will update!
For good representation I also enjoyed “a kind of spark” which is more aimed at children or early teens, but they did a really good job with the casting. I watched the BBC show but I think it’s hard on a book
I do agree with your stand on artie in a later season they actually have a disabled actress in a wheelchair who is a cheerleader but yeah glee as alot of issues
I loved this video. The character of Artie, and later the storyline in S3ish for the Quinn frustrate me. I was wondering what you're on Becky is? I love her as a character and feel she's relatively good disablity representation. I adore Chloe and all her work and feel like if you were ever to do a collab with her (wishful thinking for now) you'd both get on so well. I've never seen Me Before You as it's so infamous though
TW Mental Health issues:
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I can sometimes relate to my disablity making it hard to live. Though I acknowledge that this isn't due to me even I feel like it but rather society and system that oppress disabled people in so many ways.
I love Nessa and love that Merissa is not only disablity representation but also queer representation. Its amazing to see this intersectional representation in main stream media.
Two shows id recommend if you haven't heard of them already are : Special and Geek Girl. Special is about Ryan, a gay man with Cyrbal Palsy and Geek Girl is about Harriet, an ausitic teen who accidentally gets launched into the world of fashion. Geek Girl's author Holly Smale actually got diagnosed as autisic in her 30s after The NAS(National Autisic Soceity) and many of her fans (myself included) noticed that Harriet was accidentally autistic coded.
Thanks so much for your videos and being anothe great representation for disabled community. As a disablity activist, you're one of the people I look up to😊.
Highly recommend Raising Dion for some brilliant disability rep from the most amazing ten year actor.
I thought EastEnders did well with Donna a few years ago. Actor is genuinely disabled and for the most part she was either walking or using her chair as Lisa needed not the script, although they did do some good storylines for her too where it mattered. Including her being hit by a bus and get chair getting damaged. I'm a little mixed feeling on the current storylines though, although they do have a wheelchair user playing one and she's not a good person but done in a way that she just is not because of the disability. We need more bad people who happen to be disabled.
I'm going to keep thinking of examples and running back to the thread lol
Ellie Henry is unsing a wheelchair and acted in the series "Hollyoaks" as a wheelchair user. I don't know the series (no broadcasting, where I live) but she has a youtube channel sharing her life and also disability (awareness) content.
I recommend the movie Out of My Mind, it has representation of many disabilities. 🥰🤗
What is your opinion of the wheelchair user representation in the book trilogy out of my mind, out of my heart, and out of my dreams? Good or bad? Accurate or not? I'm so curious.
Do you think able-bodied people cannot write disabled characters at all? I'm curious, because authors usually write about something that's at least partially outside of their own experiences, so I'm not sure if reserving certain topics to certain types of authors is an okay thing to do. It's similar for actors, they do always pretend to be something they're not, although here I can understand why it's better to hire a disabled actor for a disabled role, because they cannot just play an able-bodied person unless their disability is invisible. Still, I think that it may be a slippery slope (I know it doesn't have to be, I'm afraid it may be) where you can only play a character if you're exactly like the character in real life, which would complicate things a lot in my opinion, as well as limit the idea of acting.
It’s not saying you can only play people with your disability. But you can’t play an able bodied person either. So when a non disabled person gets the pick of both then disabled actors get no hope of a role. I can tell straight away if a story has been written by someone who knows about disability or has had input from disabled people. Stuff that people Think would be a big deal..isn’t like all I want to do is walk. Then little stuff that’s really annoying …people leaning on your chair for example is not picked up on
@@egriffiths8993 I see - as I said, it makes more sense with actors. And yes, you should know something about a disability when writing a disabled character, I just don't think you should *be* disabled to do that.
i would love to hear your thoughts on atypical!
I would love to see you react to Josee, the Tiger, and the Fish (2020).
I agree with Artie one as a person with disabilities I can tell you there times in my life where I wish I can get rid of my disability but it’s impossible. I agree if you play disability part you need to be a disabled . Because kind helps them play part better
Yess for sure!
9:03 I saw a video where this happened to a woman. I would rather someone had helped her instead of filming it.
Me Before You was based on the true story of a London sportsman, but it should have been classified as a documentary rather than a film.
It’s definitely fiction! She mentioned she was inspired by someone she heard about but it isn’t a true story as from everything I read she didn’t interview or meet the person who was was ‘inspired by’
@DisabledEliza Okay. I only researched because I found the premise unrealistic, especially regarding Louisa's lack of experience in such a role. I was a caregiver for my elderly father.
I love out of my mind
I wonder what you think about the series 'see'. It is set in thé Future and everyone has been blind for centuries. Apparently many People from the cast and crew are really blind and you van see that in thé series because they really thouht about how a blind society would function. Like for example they had a war flag that you could hear and feel and their wedding gowns where fill of flowers that they could smell
I would like to hear your thoughts on Out Of My Mind and Champions
I’m not disabled myself, but I think Reggie on Call the Midwife is a good representation 😊
I’d like to get your take on Geordie LaForge in Star Trek Next Generation.
The actor is not blind, but the character is. He uses a special [insert technobabble here] visor to sense the temperature spectrum. In scenes where it shows his pov, it looks like something you might see through a heat sensor on a camera. I have heard arguments that he’s both bad and good representation.
Bad, because it’s high-tech [read: magical] healing, assuming every disability can be fixed and every disable person just wants to be fixed.
Good, because he’s not completely healed, but the visor makes the world accessible to him and thus it’s similar to a text-to-speech reader that many blind people use in the present day.
Any comments on Geordie, or on general representation in sci-fi/fantasy media?
It's NOT magical healing.
I'm not upset or anything, just emphasizing with the capital letters is all.
He still has limitations, he has side effects of the visor and also talks about being blind, in a way that's very relatable as a disabled person, not a previously disabled person who was cured. It's an accessibility tool, not a cure. 🙂
Leaving a comment for the algorithm
A really good film is "Out of my mind" is in disney plus
Absolutely agree. The actor is actually disabled, and the message is basically to just include us, to give us opportunities to offer our perspective and actually listen to what we have to say.
Oh this sounds amazing will definitely check it out!
@@DisabledEliza it started out as a book and it is now a trilogy with 3 books. I actually just made a comment about it because I was curious about your opinion on it, no pressure though.
I was coming to comment about this movie.
I don't know if this is a disability or not, but it is definitely a disorder. In Heartstopper(I don't have it, but I think it is a good representation), there is an Eating Disorder Representation. But I do not know if it's a good representation or not, but I think it is a good representation. If it's not, someone tell me cause I don't know what it's like to have an Eating Disorder and oh god I'm talking way too much(ADHD) I will just stop right here.
It wasn't too much. ❤
Now I kind of want to know why you dislike the good doctor and that other show I've never seen
Hey Elisa, will leave a longer comment later. Hope this isn't too self centered but I did my entire bachelors thesis on media representation of autism comparing Atypical to the Chloe and Jessica Kellgren-Fozard's videos. It's actually how I found out about Chloe before she got super big. I was wondering if you'd interested in reading it. No preusure if you don't 😊/lh
Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but has Jessica Kellgren-Fozard said she's autistic? I thought she only shared about having ADHD?
First like! 8 seconds ago!
May I ask what disability do you have
Quinny's actor dosent belive autism is a dizability😪
Not sure where you’ve got that from as everything online I’ve seen has said differently 😊
I loved this video. The character of Artie, and later the storyline in S3ish for the Quinn frustrate me. I was wondering what you're on Becky is? I love her as a character and feel she's relatively good disablity representation. I adore Chloe and all her work and feel like if you were ever to do a collab with her (wishful thinking for now) you'd both get on so well. I've never seen Me Before You as it's so infamous though
TW Mental Health issues:
.
..
..
...
..
I can sometimes relate to my disablity making it hard to live. Though I acknowledge that this isn't due to me even I feel like it but rather society and system that oppress disabled people in so many ways.
I love Nessa and love that Melsia
I loved this video. The character of Artie, and later the storyline in S3ish for the Quinn frustrate me. I was wondering what you're on Becky is? I love her as a character and feel she's relatively good disablity representation. I adore Chloe and all her work and feel like if you were ever to do a collab with her (wishful thinking for now) you'd both get on so well. I've never seen Me Before You as it's so infamous though
TW Mental Health issues:
.
..
..
...
..
I can sometimes relate to my disablity making it hard to live. Though I acknowledge that this isn't due to me even I feel like it but rather society and system that oppress disabled people in so many ways.
I love Nessa and love that Melsia
I loved this video. The character of Artie, and later the storyline in S3ish for the Quinn frustrate me. I was wondering what you're on Becky is? I love her as a character and feel she's relatively good disablity representation. I adore Chloe and all her work and feel like if you were ever to do a collab with her (wishful thinking for now) you'd both get on so well. I've never seen Me Before You as it's so infamous though
TW Mental Health issues:
.
..
..
...
..
I can sometimes relate to my disablity making it hard to live. Though I acknowledge that this isn't due to me even I feel like it but rather society and system that oppress disabled people in so many ways.
I love Nessa and love that Melsia
I loved this video. The character of Artie, and later the storyline in S3ish for the Quinn frustrate me. I was wondering what you're on Becky is? I love her as a character and feel she's relatively good disablity representation. I adore Chloe and all her work and feel like if you were ever to do a collab with her (wishful thinking for now) you'd both get on so well. I've never seen Me Before You as it's so infamous though
TW Mental Health issues:
.
..
..
...
..
I can sometimes relate to my disablity making it hard to live. Though I acknowledge that this isn't due to me even I feel like it but rather society and system that oppress disabled people in so many ways.
I love Nessa and love that Melsia
I loved this video. The character of Artie, and later the storyline in S3ish for the Quinn frustrate me. I was wondering what you're on Becky is? I love her as a character and feel she's relatively good disablity representation. I adore Chloe and all her work and feel like if you were ever to do a collab with her (wishful thinking for now) you'd both get on so well. I've never seen Me Before You as it's so infamous though
TW Mental Health issues:
.
..
..
...
..
I can sometimes relate to my disablity making it hard to live. Though I acknowledge that this isn't due to me even I feel like it but rather society and system that oppress disabled people in so many ways.
I love Nessa and love that Melsia