By Anna on 31 December, 2010
That’s right. And we’re tired of preaching to the converted. I mean, we’re all sitting here, all of us here are sitting in the room talking about these things that we talk to each other about all day every day. It would have been nice to have someone like Ryan Murphy sharing practices that those people, like the Breaking Bad people, sharing their best practices with those who could learn something. But, it didn’t happen.
Posted in disability activism, how to be accessible, identity, invisibility, justice, media and pop culture, mental health, movies, normality, othering, politics, race, representations, social attitudes, television
By Anna on 23 December, 2010
I don’t have a t.v. at home so I don’t actually watch a lot of advertisements, but when I do, there’s one thing I notice: Unlike the rest of my life, advertisements only include people with evident disabilities when they want to make some sort of point.
I’m really bothered by this. I know, I know, it’s advertising. We also don’t get excited about brighter brights in our laundry and aren’t followed around by wind machines when we get new shampoo. It’s certainly not supposed to represent “real life” in any way, because it’s all fantasy to sell you stuff. But part of what advertising sells us is ideas about people. And part of what I think it sells us is that disability is a punishment, a novelty, a metaphor, or a joke.
Posted in gender, invisibility, media and pop culture, representations, television, Videos | Tagged advertisements, advertising, disability, self esteem
By s.e. smith on 8 November, 2010
I am slowly catching up on all the television I missed while AT&T left me without phone service for over a week (long story), so this writeup is actually about an episode of Private Practice that aired, uh, two weeks ago, but it filled me with rage, so, there you go. Spoilers ahead! Additionally, please [...]
Posted in media and pop culture, sexual assault, television | Tagged institutionalisation, marital rape
By s.e. smith on 5 November, 2010
Content note: This post contains critical plot elements from ‘Massage Therapy,’ the fourth episode of season seven of House. Watching the House episode ‘Massage Therapy’ and approaching the grand denouement, I got ready to be infuriated. The storyline involves a character, Margaret, with schizophrenia. She conceals it from her husband and when she gets sick, the [...]
Posted in media and pop culture, mental health, television | Tagged House, mental illness, relationships, schizophrenia
By Anna on 28 October, 2010
I think it would be awesome instead of telling me how much they cared, they’d show it. And one way of doing that would be subtitling their ads, so everyone can know what their message is.
Posted in accessibility, how to be accessible, invisibility, technology, television | Tagged accessibility, canada, canadian politics, captioning, closed captions, conservative party of canada, Deaf, disability, green party of canada, hard of hearing, invisible disability, liberal party of canada, NDP, new democratic party, political ads, subtitles, voting
By s.e. smith on 21 October, 2010
I’ve been rather behind on my television viewing lately, and I only recently caught up on ‘Selfish,’ the second episode of the new season of House (please be advised that this post contains significant spoilers for said episode). After watching it, I needed several weeks to ponder it before I could write about it, because [...]
Posted in media and pop culture, television | Tagged disability on television, disabled characters, House, medical ethics, wheelchair users
By Chally on 20 October, 2010
Spoilers for Farscape: the third part of “Liars, Guns and Money” in Season 2 and, in Season 3, “Season of Death” and something you really really really won’t want spoiled for the second part of “Self-Inflicted Wounds”. I like to keep DVD boxsets on hand for my study breaks, and my latest show is a [...]
Posted in media and pop culture, representations, television | Tagged Farscape
By s.e. smith on 22 September, 2010
Here in the United States, the 2010/2011 television schedule is kicking off, and my mind naturally turns to representation for people with disabilities. I decided to compile a list of actors with disabilities playing characters with disabilities. This list is not necessarily complete; there are probably characters and shows I am forgetting about and unaware [...]
Posted in 101, creative work, media and pop culture, television | Tagged CSI, depictions of disability, disabled actors, disabled characters, glee, Lie To Me, private practice, The Secret Life of the American Teenager
By Anna on 6 September, 2010
On the surface this probably looks like a good thing, but digging a bit deeper: For many people, this is one of the few times they’ll see images of people with disabilities on their t.v. screen (and from a noted authority and beloved celebrity), and the entire thing is one drawn out pity parade.
Posted in activism, autonomy, bodies, disability activism, events, history, i'm right here, identity, invisibility, media and pop culture, news, politics, social attitudes, television
By abby jean on 13 August, 2010
I’m watching “Dating in the Dark,” an ABC show in which contestants, yes, date in a completely dark room. They go on some number of group and individual dates – all in the dark room, all displayed to us with night vision goggles or somesuch – and then decide whether or not they will date [...]
Posted in media and pop culture, representations, television | Tagged dating in the dark, reality tv, why am i watching this
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