Disability Representation in Media

    After reading “Disability” by Nancy Mairs, I was curious to see what progress has been achieved in the last 38 years since Mairs published her piece in 1987. Shockingly or un-shockingly, the change has been near zero.  

    The statistics show that “in the top 100 films of 2022, only 1.9% of characters with speaking roles were depicted as having a disability.” And even that minimal representation hasn’t been sufficient because oftentimes disabled characters on television are played by able-bodied actors. 

             One of the most controversial cases of this is in James Marsh’s ”The Theory of Everything.” This movie, released in 2014, depicts the life of Stephen Hawking and his diagnosis. A little similar to Mairs, Hawking had a motor neuron disease called ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease (named after the famous baseball player). ALS presents with the primary symptom of muscle weakness which results in spasms and difficulty in coordination. The last thing you’d expect the actor who played Hawking in this movie is to be perfectly (temporarily) able-bodied the way Eddie Redmayne is.  

    What’s more, is that the film was nominated for numerous BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) and Academy Awards. And Eddie Redmayne? He won a Golden Globe for his role. Many critics have compared Redmayne playing a disabled character the equivalent to a white person playing a person of color’s character.  

       So, even in the limited instances when people with disabilities are highlighted in the media, they don’t receive the proper representation they deserve. Hopefully we’ll see some progress in the next 38 years.  

  

https://slate.com/culture/2015/01/the-theory-of-everything-and-disability-why-eddie-redmayne-shouldnt-get-the-oscar-for-playing-stephen-hawking.html