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untonugganOK, first, as someone who's a white woman, I see a lot of that aspect of my identities on TV. I see some portrayals of queer women on TV, but there's a lot of problematic stuff. Like, "And how long until one of these characters meets a horrible fate?" is basically how media has gone for a long time, or the film was made by an indie company because that is how they could get funding and so it's not terribly well made. And please don't get me started on the L-word.
OTOH...there's not that many great depictions of disability in television media? Also, usually when disability is portrayed people pick something very visible ("look this is the character who's disabled you can tell by looking at their accessibility device or some sort of visible difference") and making the Entire Fucking Storyline about the fact that they have a disability. And it's basically the ooooonly thing you know about them. And that they're inspirational and brave. *barf*
So along comes Switched at Birth, which I know I have raved about before. I am raving again. Partly because *look here are lots of intersectional identities* and *here are Deaf people arguing about disability politics and toeing the 'party line' and cochlear implants on ABC Family*. Also, they're multi-dimensional characters.
Yes, Daphne is Deaf. Her main storylines (to where I am in season 2 *don't spoil the rest I know there's more*) are about the whole switched-at-birth thing, her complex relationships with her now-blended family, class differences, "wait technically I am white but I was raised Latina til I found out about the switch so...", all the boyfriend drama, and aspirations to be a chef. Probably more things too. Like I said -- so much more than "she's the Deaf one" because there's LOTS of Deaf Characters. Also, it's a very "social model of disability" show.
Ahoy be spoilers for a couple points in the show where I felt the show did things *really well*, just so I can truly convince you to watch it. Also, links to a couple clips.
In season one, Emmett gets arrested. Here's a blog post about the scene -- which is not an easy watch just FYI but is a short clip -- which also portrays what it's like to experience interactions with the police from a Deaf perspective. (They handcuff him with his hands behind his back, for example, so he has no way of communicating.)
Ahoy be more spoilers...
In Season 2, there's a pilot program for Hearing students at Carlton School for the Deaf.
In the first clip, Bay and Noah (two students in the pilot program) are going to a school camping trip to help reduce conflict between Deaf and Hearing students at Carlton. Noah has to sit down because of vertigo, and reveals to Bay that he is actually Hard of Hearing but hasn't told anyone at school because he doesn't like to talk about it. (And the show does present that as a valid choice, btw. Which is also its own level of awesome.)
I really liked that there was a scene of someone "coming out" as Deaf/HoH, and some of the nuances of "but you're around all these other people with the same issues, why would you not say...?" and that's treated as one way of dealing with "holy fuckballs I am still trying to deal with a lot of internalized stuff and how I feel about this, I am not ready for talking about this with the entire world."
Also in the camping episode, Noah has a conversation with Daphne (Bay's "sister"). Daphne is upset because she's just found out that her mom has carpal tunnel and it's so severe -- due to cutting hair and signing for years -- that if she doesn't stop signing, pretty soon she won't be able to open doors. (Some of this is covered in other parts of the episode). Daphne, at this point, does not know Noah has Menieres or is HoH.
So basically we have this beautiful conversation where Daphne is talking about her mom's disability and how it affects her, and she's like, "But you wouldn't understand you're not Deaf," and Noah is not "out" about his hearing but totally *does* understand and he says, "If it makes you feel any better... she's probably a million times madder than you are. It sucks to feel like your body's betraying you."
Can I just marvel at a moment in which two characters who are either Deaf or HoH have a very nuanced conversation about the health and ability of a third (off screen) character and how it affects their varied relationships? On ABC Family? And they all have very different yet *equally valid* ways of dealing with what's going on?
Can I tell you that I had to pause the show because I was *losing my shit* over that line of Noah's? Because he's a character coping with a new diagnosis (Menieres disease) and how it's changing his life and feeling like his body's "betraying him" and dude, I have BEEN THERE. And yeah, there's bits you're "supposed to embrace" regarding your own sub-community's set of politics, but I think for any big change/loss of privilege like that there's an adjustment period.
(NGL, I had a big depressive swing when I first came out to myself as a flavor of queer. Would not trade it now, but honestly I'd recently watched "Boys Don't Cry", had very confusing pants-feelings, then been terrified. So. This is why we happy-ending stories! To prep baby dykes!)
Also note: I'm not using the word "disability" to refer to characters in the Deaf community here, because I know that is an entirely different topic of conversation, so I'm trying to find alternate words for, "Holy fuckballs look ABC Family is 'normalizing' people with bodies that are kind of like mine navigating the world!"
Also also, minor spoiler alert, there are some classes in Deaf Studies that are covered in the show (just snippets of them). And it's really interesting to see various reactions to what's being covered in class and also be like, "Hello, rest of the world! Have a brief intro to some topics in Deaf Studies."
There are even more good things, but this post is long, and that's enough spoilers for now.
I just.
Bring the teenage soap opera drama. Bring it all. I lurv you so much, this show.
P.S. I've been off-and-on pondering some thoughts on Daredevil and disability. This blog post has a lot of the things I had feelz about, as does this science one. I just...feel like while there's some good "here's accessible devices in action" and "here's the occasional person being a douche," Matt Murdock doesn't actually lose that much privilege via being blind-with-superpowers. That would not be such a big deal except for general lack of representation, because then Average Person gets tons of misconceptions about being blind. But there is no *one* experience for any one disability. Just, I think Matt Murdock is very outside the average range.
OTOH...there's not that many great depictions of disability in television media? Also, usually when disability is portrayed people pick something very visible ("look this is the character who's disabled you can tell by looking at their accessibility device or some sort of visible difference") and making the Entire Fucking Storyline about the fact that they have a disability. And it's basically the ooooonly thing you know about them. And that they're inspirational and brave. *barf*
So along comes Switched at Birth, which I know I have raved about before. I am raving again. Partly because *look here are lots of intersectional identities* and *here are Deaf people arguing about disability politics and toeing the 'party line' and cochlear implants on ABC Family*. Also, they're multi-dimensional characters.
Yes, Daphne is Deaf. Her main storylines (to where I am in season 2 *don't spoil the rest I know there's more*) are about the whole switched-at-birth thing, her complex relationships with her now-blended family, class differences, "wait technically I am white but I was raised Latina til I found out about the switch so...", all the boyfriend drama, and aspirations to be a chef. Probably more things too. Like I said -- so much more than "she's the Deaf one" because there's LOTS of Deaf Characters. Also, it's a very "social model of disability" show.
Ahoy be spoilers for a couple points in the show where I felt the show did things *really well*, just so I can truly convince you to watch it. Also, links to a couple clips.
In season one, Emmett gets arrested. Here's a blog post about the scene -- which is not an easy watch just FYI but is a short clip -- which also portrays what it's like to experience interactions with the police from a Deaf perspective. (They handcuff him with his hands behind his back, for example, so he has no way of communicating.)
Ahoy be more spoilers...
In Season 2, there's a pilot program for Hearing students at Carlton School for the Deaf.
In the first clip, Bay and Noah (two students in the pilot program) are going to a school camping trip to help reduce conflict between Deaf and Hearing students at Carlton. Noah has to sit down because of vertigo, and reveals to Bay that he is actually Hard of Hearing but hasn't told anyone at school because he doesn't like to talk about it. (And the show does present that as a valid choice, btw. Which is also its own level of awesome.)
I really liked that there was a scene of someone "coming out" as Deaf/HoH, and some of the nuances of "but you're around all these other people with the same issues, why would you not say...?" and that's treated as one way of dealing with "holy fuckballs I am still trying to deal with a lot of internalized stuff and how I feel about this, I am not ready for talking about this with the entire world."
Also in the camping episode, Noah has a conversation with Daphne (Bay's "sister"). Daphne is upset because she's just found out that her mom has carpal tunnel and it's so severe -- due to cutting hair and signing for years -- that if she doesn't stop signing, pretty soon she won't be able to open doors. (Some of this is covered in other parts of the episode). Daphne, at this point, does not know Noah has Menieres or is HoH.
So basically we have this beautiful conversation where Daphne is talking about her mom's disability and how it affects her, and she's like, "But you wouldn't understand you're not Deaf," and Noah is not "out" about his hearing but totally *does* understand and he says, "If it makes you feel any better... she's probably a million times madder than you are. It sucks to feel like your body's betraying you."
Can I just marvel at a moment in which two characters who are either Deaf or HoH have a very nuanced conversation about the health and ability of a third (off screen) character and how it affects their varied relationships? On ABC Family? And they all have very different yet *equally valid* ways of dealing with what's going on?
Can I tell you that I had to pause the show because I was *losing my shit* over that line of Noah's? Because he's a character coping with a new diagnosis (Menieres disease) and how it's changing his life and feeling like his body's "betraying him" and dude, I have BEEN THERE. And yeah, there's bits you're "supposed to embrace" regarding your own sub-community's set of politics, but I think for any big change/loss of privilege like that there's an adjustment period.
(NGL, I had a big depressive swing when I first came out to myself as a flavor of queer. Would not trade it now, but honestly I'd recently watched "Boys Don't Cry", had very confusing pants-feelings, then been terrified. So. This is why we happy-ending stories! To prep baby dykes!)
Also note: I'm not using the word "disability" to refer to characters in the Deaf community here, because I know that is an entirely different topic of conversation, so I'm trying to find alternate words for, "Holy fuckballs look ABC Family is 'normalizing' people with bodies that are kind of like mine navigating the world!"
Also also, minor spoiler alert, there are some classes in Deaf Studies that are covered in the show (just snippets of them). And it's really interesting to see various reactions to what's being covered in class and also be like, "Hello, rest of the world! Have a brief intro to some topics in Deaf Studies."
There are even more good things, but this post is long, and that's enough spoilers for now.
I just.
Bring the teenage soap opera drama. Bring it all. I lurv you so much, this show.
P.S. I've been off-and-on pondering some thoughts on Daredevil and disability. This blog post has a lot of the things I had feelz about, as does this science one. I just...feel like while there's some good "here's accessible devices in action" and "here's the occasional person being a douche," Matt Murdock doesn't actually lose that much privilege via being blind-with-superpowers. That would not be such a big deal except for general lack of representation, because then Average Person gets tons of misconceptions about being blind. But there is no *one* experience for any one disability. Just, I think Matt Murdock is very outside the average range.
no subject
Date: 2015-09-13 11:47 am (UTC)In most cases we're lucky if they get further than the mobility device. Talking about the disability is a bonus, and god forbid they should address an invisible disability!
Oh, that's a really excellent way of expressing what Elsa Henry talks about in her blog (still haven't seen Daredevil, so I'm reliant on other people's reportage).