By BA Haller© Media dis&dat blog
The visibility of people with disabilities in entertainment media helps subtly educate diverse audiences about the disability experience in America. Many non-disabled Americans have little contact with people with disabilities in their daily lives unless they have friends or family with a disability. Therefore, they get much of their information about disability from the media and these images have the potential to change attitudes. (A 1991 Louis Harris poll showed that Americans surveyed were less likely to feel awkward around people with disabilities after viewing fictional TV or film presentations about people with disabilities.)
First, let me say why this essay focuses only on entertainment TV rather than news, which is also the subject of the Media dis&dat blog. Although I am a news junkie like many who read the postings on my blog, in terms of reaching the American public with images of people with disabilities, entertainment TV reaches many more millions of people, when compared to a major newspaper like the NY Times that has about 1 million daily circulation or "NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams," which is the most-watched network evening newscast 12 years running and averages about 8.5 million viewers nightly.
Secondly, let me note that I realize some of the actors or reality TV stars with disabilities on entertainment TV don’t consider themselves disabled, such as members of the Deaf community or the Little People community. I completely understand their perspective, but am including them in this essay because non-disabled TV audiences consider them “disabled” and therefore, they are part of disability visibility on entertainment TV.
The most visible person: Marlee Matlin
The hands-down winner in terms of visibility on TV in 2008, in my opinion, is Academy Award-winning deaf actress Marlee Matlin on the top-rated show, “Dancing with the Stars” (DWTS) in early 2008. The ABC show consistently wins in the rating, averaging about 20 million viewers per show. Even more than when amputee Heather Mills was on the show, I think Marlee Matlin’s turn dancing on the show blew up the audience’s notions about who is “able” to dance. Just her presence gave millions of people information about how deaf people negotiate the hearing world and the relationship they can have to music.
In addition, her appearance on DWTS resulted in features about the deaf community across the U.S. news media. Because she was also “teaching” journalists that deaf people can dance, many reporters found those deaf people in their local communities and wrote stories about them.
Marlee Matlin appeared in other TV shows in 2008, but none as highly rated as “Dancing with the Stars.” She drew controversy when she appeared in the CBS TV movie, “Sweet Nothing in My Ear,” in which she was “voiced” throughout by a hearing person. I personally found it jarring because I am used to Matlin’s voice and like to hear it. I think she does a great service by using her voice because it allows the hearing audience to become more used to deaf speech. She also continued her ongoing role on Showtime’s “The L Word,” which gave visibility to the intersection of the deaf community and the lesbian community.
Marlee Matlin appeared in other TV shows in 2008, but none as highly rated as “Dancing with the Stars.” She drew controversy when she appeared in the CBS TV movie, “Sweet Nothing in My Ear,” in which she was “voiced” throughout by a hearing person. I personally found it jarring because I am used to Matlin’s voice and like to hear it. I think she does a great service by using her voice because it allows the hearing audience to become more used to deaf speech. She also continued her ongoing role on Showtime’s “The L Word,” which gave visibility to the intersection of the deaf community and the lesbian community.
The launch of I AM PWD
Another important actor with a disability who has been very visible on TV for a number of years is amputee Robert David Hall, who plays the medical examiner on CBS’s rating hit, “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.” Hall also plays a significant role in trying to get more visibility for all actors with disabilities through his work as the national chair of the PWD Tri-Union Committee. The committee, made up of members of SAG, AFTRA and Actors' Equity, announced a joint campaign to improve working conditions and visibility for performers with disabilities in October. The campaign, called I AM PWD, launches this month.
As I mentioned, disabled actors as regular cast members on highly rated shows determine the most visibility. A number of network shows hosted guest stars with disabilities like Iraq War veteran and double-amputee Bryan Anderson, who played an ex-Navy Seal on “CSI:NY.” But in terms of visibility, bringing a disabled actor on to play a villain or victim doesn’t help much with what I term “empowering visibility.”
In defining visibility in this essay, I am discussing only people with actual disabilities in the shows, as opposed to non-disabled actors portraying a disabled person. That scenario can be a mixed bag and mostly I don’t believe it contributes to “empowering visibility.” A number of network and cable TV shows tackled disability topics in 2008, (“Eli Stone,” “Medium,” “Cold Case,” Law & Order,” “Law & order: SVU,” Friday Night Lights,” “House,” “Nip/Tuck”), but most didn’t use actors with disabilities.
Cable visibility
We have to travel to the cable channels to find more shows that have regular cast members with disabilities. RJ Mitte, a young actor with cerebral palsy, was a bright spot in cable offerings. He plays the son of main character in AMC’s “Breaking Bad,” who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and decides to cook meth to raise money for his family. It’s quirky show that’s finding its audience, but it has been renewed and will return in 2009. What I love about Mitte’s character is that he is a regular snarky teen whose disability is only a peripheral part of the show’s storyline.
One of my favorite shows on cable is TLC’s “Little People, Big World.” The reality show follows the lives of Amy and Matt Roloff, Little People who live on a farm in Oregon with their four children, one of whom is also an LP. What I love about the show is that they are just so ordinary (except for being on a reality TV show J). Matt annoys Amy with his grandiose plans for the farm, the kids bicker and screw up, but they all love and care about each other and that subtext is always there. What’s wonderful about the show is how people with no connection to the disability community like the show. Several of my students have told me how much they enjoy the show because it is so much fun to watch how a family that resembles their own navigates life. (The Roloff family even appeared on “Oprah.” You don’t get more visible than that!)
Another show that deserves mention is “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” on the ABC Family Channel. It features Luke Zimmerman, an actor with Down syndrome, as the brother to the main character, a teenager who gets pregnant. I haven’t actually seen the show, but the San Francisco Chronicle gave Zimmerman’s role kudos in a review Jan. 3. The show’s second season premiere is Jan. 5.
Wheelchair user Carlana Stone on the ABC reality philanthropy show “Oprah’s Big Give” added another dimension to disability visibility on network TV, and although I liked her on the show, it was upsetting to see accessibility issues sometimes get in the way of her success on the show.
Documentaries
Several documentaries that explored the disability experience appeared on premium channels like HBO or on PBS. Those that I felt added to more visibility of people with disabilities were “Autism: The Musical,” about an arts program in LA for kids with autism, and “Hear and Now,” about an older deaf couple who decide to get cochlear implants. Both were on HBO. On PBS, shows like “POV” and “Independent Lens” broadcast documentaries like: “Today’s Man,” “Body & Soul: Diana and Kathy,” “Beautiful Son,” and The Key of G” (There may have been many more that I missed.)
The Sundance Channel aired the documentary “Body of War” Nov. 11, and I found it to be a powerful documentary about one member of the growing community of people with disabilities who acquired a disability from their U.S. military service. The documentary explores a myriad of issues from relationships to disability rights to protesting the Iraq War.
Negative visibility
Most of what I have talked about in this essay is “empowering visibility,” but there are instances in which actual people with disabilities reinforce negative imagery. In my opinion, the most negative visibility of people with disabilities on network TV is on ABC’s ratings winner “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.” It really embodies a “tragedy/charity model” in which people with disabilities become objects of pity. The show averages 10-12 million viewers and that’s a lot of people who basically are being told to pity the family receiving help. I understand that the people who agree to be on the show really need the help. But as I have written on the blog, I believe something is wrong with American society when a family has to go on a reality show to get the accessible home they need. I just wish for an accessible, inclusive society where no one ever had to go on a show like “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” to have their needs met.
Finally, the “Saturday Night Live” parody of N.Y. Gov. David Paterson, who is blind, also added to negative imagery in entertainment TV, especially given the resurgence of popularity of SNL due to Tina Fey’s brilliant portrayal of Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin. And I don’t believe the blind community’s criticism of the Paterson skit was a plea not to parody blind people. The problem was the skit focused on Paterson’s blindness, not on his behavior as a politician. As I wrote on the blog, if you want to attack Gov. Paterson, stick to his policies, his rhetoric or gubernatorial behavior, not his blindness. His blindness is something he can't change, just like his race or gender, and I doubt SNL would try to get laughs with racist jokes. And their jokes at the expense of Paterson's blindness are ableist jokes, which are just as inappropriate toward the disability community as racist jokes directed at the African American community are.
What’s happening in 2009?
So what do we have to look forward to in 2009? I hope the advocacy group I AM PWD has much success. I have always wanted someone to go to the annual rollout of each network’s new TV season and ask them how many actors with disabilities will be regular characters in that season’s lineup. Maybe if we ask the same question year after year, they will finally remember to hire more actors with disabilities.
Also, the innovative news program, “How’s your News?” completely staffed by people with disabilities will be appearing on MTV in February. I highly recommend it. It’s fun and unique and allows people with a variety of disabilities their own voice to discuss what’s important to them.
