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Announcing the 2nd Disability in Film Blogathon!
Posted by Robin Franson Pruter on August 19, 2018 in Blogathons
A few months ago, I mentioned to someone with whom I was having a debate on Facebook that I was disabled. (I was born with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a congenital connective tissue disorder.) He immediately dismissed everything I said because I was a “welfare recipient.” Obviously, the fellow was a dunderhead. He didn’t seem to understand that not all disabled people receive disability payments. I don’t; I’m certain Larry Flynt doesn’t. Even if we did, disability payments are not welfare. Even if they were, that wouldn’t automatically negate a disabled person’s opinion. Clearly, this fellow held a belief that disabled people are a drain on society and that they are of lesser worth than their able-bodied peers. I could dismiss the fellow’s reaction as being that of an ignorant fringe-dweller, but his attitude toward disability, while extreme, isn’t an outlier.
Although disability is common in society—about one in five Americans report having a disability—we’re more likely to encounter disability in film than in real life. I’ve seen far more deaf people, blind people, and mobility-impaired people in movies than I’ve met [...]