Disability in Film, Television, and other areas of Modern Culture

So fair warning, for the first time in a long time (if ever) I'm about to get a bit..well, I'm not sure whether this can be considered political or not, or what to call this 'rant', but whatever...

I was watching the Grammy's a few weeks ago, and caught Stevie Wonder's performance with Pentatonix before they announced the winner for Song of the Year. Good performance, but what caught my attention was what Stevie said afterwards before he read the announcement. He made a joke about being blind and being the only one able to read the announcement (it was in Braille), and then made this statement: "We need to make every single thing accessible to every single person with a disability..."

Amen, Mr. Stevie Wonder, A-freaking-men.

The audience was clapping and cheering, but I honestly have to wonder who in that audience - whether physically at the Grammy's or watching on TV - actually heard that message and took it to heart. That's admittedly a harsh way to talk after that, but after seeing so often people talking about racial and gender equality - which DO NOT misunderstand me, they are also important issues to talk about - I've noticed the topic of disability isn't brought up often, if at all.

As a young adult guy with a disability myself (spina bifida), unless you step into my shoes (or in my specific case, my wheels haha...ok, that was bad) I really don't think I can accurately describe to you how, in everyday life, it pisses me off sometimes when I want to go somewhere with friends and/or family, and come to find out the place we planned to go isn't accessible. Sometimes it's just a matter of getting through the door because there are steps out front, so that in and of itself isn't *that* big of an issue. It's still an issue, of course, but I can at least work around it. That being said, there are other times and activities where it's virtually impossible to even enter the place, let alone do the activity planned with whoever I'm with. That's unfair to both the person with the disability, and their friends/family who want to spend time together.

With things like living at home/being independent, my definition of 'accessible' and apartment/rental houses definition of 'accessible’ are apparently entirely different. I won't name any names, but I recently was looking for an apartment, and found out the hard way that some apartments' definition of 'accessible' is if I can get through the front door or not. Once I'm in, I'm on my own. Can I get through the bathroom door? The bedroom door? No? Well too bad, so sad. To them it's accessible. I had to specifically ask for an ADA (American Disabilities Act) compliant room before I found a good apartment.

I could go on and on, but I'll take it easy and leave it with this: If there's to be change several things need to happen.

1. Buildings and other environments should automatically be accessible for *all* disabilities. Yeah, I know, there's the Disabilities Act, which supposedly makes sure any buildings are automatically accessible to all. As mentioned above, though, there are ways to get around it. Those loopholes need to be closed. For buildings already built as of right now, I'm not saying do a sweeping deconstruction and rebuild everything. I'm not sure what the answer should be as of this particular point in time, but something needs to be done.

2. I've found in doing activities such as going to sports events and concerts, that certain venues will only allow me to have one person to sit with me. If I have others in my party, they have to have separate seats. I've gotten around this at certain venues, but still - to have that as a rule where I can't be with my entire party is freaking bull crap! Sometimes that feels like some sort of weird punishment for having a disability, which I had no control over, nor did I ask for this.

3. For TV/Movies/Broadway, I want to see more characters with disabilities. Not only that, but actors and actresses who actually have disabilities in some of those roles. To be fair, there have been some fine performances, but I think it would add quite a bit of authenticity if a disabled character were actually played by an actor/actress who legitimately had that disability. Unless you've been in that position, there's not really any way you can 100% accurately portray that type of character. You can come very close, but most of the time it doesn't come off very believable, at least to me. This is one of the reasons I love watching NCIS: New Orleans. There's a character named Patton Plame played by Daryl Mitchell. He's in a wheelchair, both on the show, and in real life. NCIS: New Orleans has done a fantastic job with his character and not putting so much focus on his disability, but rather on his personal strengths (for those who don't watch the show, he's the computer wiz). Breaking Bad is another show which had a character with cerebral palsy, played by Rj Mitte. I never watched Breaking Bad, so I can't comment on whether the show did his character justice, but I am glad Rj Mitte was given the opportunity to play that character. I understand that there are just some roles where a disabled actor/actress won’t work, and I respect that, but there should be more opportunities available.

4. I'm also tired of seeing disabled characters in roles where they are pitied, somewhat heroic (in the sense where they’re working to overcome their disabilities), a burden to those around them, etc. I had hopes for a TV show a few years ago called Ironside - which happens to be a reboot to a 1960's show of the same name if I'm not mistaken - who had a main character who was wheelchair-bound due to being shot and paralyzed. My personal problem with that show (besides it being pretty boring with no real action and suspense) was how the show always seemed focused on the chair, and not the character himself. It was almost as if the show was screaming "Hey, look at this guy! He's able to be a detective despite being disabled!" Personally, I thought it was both annoying from a storytelling aspect, and quite frankly insulting as someone with a disability. I want to see producers/studios take a chance and place actors with any disability and hire them in whatever role the script calls for. Heck, for that reason alone I would actually like to see a reboot of Ironside. I believe it could be a game changer if done right. Obviously it's already happened with some projects like NCIS: New Orleans and Breaking Bad, but I'd like it to happen more often so that it basically becomes the norm.

I'm sure I could keep going and list a few more issues both in everyday life and in public entertainment, but hopefully this at least begins the conversation towards including people with disabilities. As mentioned, I don't want to ever take away from the discussion of racial and gender equality, but rather add to it.