http://this.org/blog/2009/03/03/thisability-18-breaking-bad-and-breaking-barriers/

I didn’t expect much to begin with, but the way they showed it in the course of only a few episodes (it’s a TRAGEDY! but he tries to be STOIC HERO! and oooh, lookie, his TOES MOVED! he gets over being frustrated, thanks to able-bodied doctor-friend being all “many people I’ve seen would be GRATEFUL to be in your place!” – and now WALKS AGAIN!) was atrocious. Not only was it yet another Miracle Cure storyline, it was treated lightning-quick, completely superficially – so much so, it actually made me wonder if the actor just broke his foot or something and needed a wheelchair/crutches and that’s how they dealt with it.

Sorry for the capslocking and run-on sentence, but this has been really bothering me and I needed to vent.

I have heard lots of stories about or from actors with dwarfism that finding actual ACTING roles is very difficult and such opportunities are, sadly, few and far between. There may be lots of parts in costumes or suits or to simply be humiliated on national TV by some average height comedian ([redacted for language which appears to violate our comments policy]) but real roles are hard to find, and Hollywood being what it is, doesn’t really want to deal with the fact that a lot of roles could well be played by such an actor without it being made an issue of. Almost anybody on any show could conceivably be played by somebody of short stature without having to rewrite much of anything, and I expect the same goes for most disabilities. In the entertainment world, though, it seems that we are either there to be “Inspirational” or the butt of jokes. Mean jokes at that. There are exceptions, but not very many.

This is an awesome site! I’m so glad I found it.

Speaking as someone with both M.E./CFS and an anxiety disorder: the portrayal of mental illness in television and film frustrates me, but the absence of any characters with M.E. in, well, anything that I can think of frustrates me far more. Though this is one instance where I at least would not have a problem with an able person playing the character, since beyond a certain level of severity I’m not sure how someone with M.E. would be able to manage the energy demanded of a professional actor. It would be lovely to see someone who had recovered from the illness playing such a person, though.

I also wish to share in the Marlee Matlin love. And also display my adoration for David Bower, who played Hugh Grant’s brother in “Four Weddings and a Funeral”. (And is a sign-dancer and choreographer as well as an actor.)

Ruchama – I didn’t even check that link, thanks for pointing it out! The one I looked up and found simply said she went to an acting school for people with developmental disabilities so I went with that.

Anna – count me in as one annoyed by the Miracle Cure episodes. I’m actually a huge daytime soap fan, and I am constantly frustrated by the plot device of someone becoming disabled by an accident or attack of some sort, being told it’s permanent, them being angry and/or depressed, and then seeking out a Miracle Cure and within weeks or months, becoming completely healed. This happens with blindness, inability to walk, a variety of mental illnesses, and so much more.

There are two examples I can think of that didn’t do this. There was a character on The Young and the Restless who was blind and remained blind throughout her life. However, I believe (I wasn’t watching back then) that she entered the show as a blind character, so it wasn’t something that “happened to her” along the way for her to “fight”.

Maurice Benard, the actor who plays Sonny Corinthos on General Hospital, has bipolar disorder and worked with the show writers to make his character also have the disorder. They drew the story out slowly over time of him figuring out and getting help for the disorder, and now he takes his meds and is mostly okay, but they still bring it up from time to time so the issue hasn’t been “disappeared” which I think is good. He’s also really public about his illness and works on advocacy for mental illness (the actor, not the character).
.-= Rosemary´s last blog ..Glee and Beer =-.

I’m not sure yet if it feels like the same old shit, like, Look! She’s not really disabled! since they chose to make her superpower about her disability, or if it subverts the mainstream narrative about disabled people. If they’d given her a superpower that had nothing to do with her ability to hear it wouldn’t be such a question, but it could still go horribly wrong. I’m eager to see how her character develops.

The most recent, big budget (Aamir Khan and Kajol) movie I can think of is Fanaa. Zooni (Kajol) is blind. But lo and behold, her blindness can be cured! (Just before the intermission and twist.)

However, the first half shows a very competent blind woman – she has sex, she explores Dehli, she falls in love with full sighted person. (The issue of her future relationship has a lot to do with marriage in India – so, like in many movies, her first love is her true love.) She is also an accomplished dancer, part of a troupe come to the capital for an exhibition. She is not the “poor blind girl.”

Of course, in older movies and in a southern movie, you can still transplant entire eyes to fix blindness!
.-= Kaitlyn´s last blog ..The Franken Senate Defense Appropriations Amendment =-.

Stephen Fry might be a good candidate–he’s quite outspoken about having bipolar disorder, but I’m not sure he’s specifically portrayed someone with mental illness after his diagnosis. (Speaking of Fry and Laurie, while Hugh Laurie is physically able, I don’t know if I would indicate him as a TAB, as he himself has clinical depression and receives regular treatment for it. But the issues that raises with House and portrayals of disability are really complicated aaaaand probably something for that other post.)

The lists of entertainers and media people (actors, musicians, writers, etc.) who are open about their own experiences with mental illness are fairly immense, but the more I look at them, the more I have a hard time pinning down portrayals on film/TV of illnesses with the people who do state these experiences. Must do more research.
.-= Bene´s last blog ..the birthday of the world…or the writer, as it were. =-.