These days words like “representation” or “inclusiveness” have become lighting rods for discussion. Everywhere you turn on the internet, there are trolls complaining about both, saying that they don’t see the point.
You’ll notice that those who often complain are the ones who have been able to see themselves represented in media their entire lives: straight white males. But as soon as someone else gets just a fraction of that attention, it’s a problem. A lot of it just boils down to the online grifters who make money by pretending to be outraged about everything. They don’t know or care about how impactful for it is for people (especially children) to be able to actually see themselves in a character that actually looks like them, and that isn’t another of the millions of already existing straight, white, or male characters.
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Miles Morales. T’Challa. Kamala Khan. These are just some of the characters that have had strong impacts on people in recent years. It’s been especially cool for people of Hispanic, Black, and Middle Eastern descent to not only see themselves represented in media in general, but to see people like themselves finally portrayed as heroes.
Additionally, each of those character’s respective story has had great little moments that resonate with the cultures they represent. For example, there’s a scene in Across the Spider-Verse where Miles gets a ‘B’ in his Spanish class, and his mom gets mad. As someone who also has a Puerto Rican mother, I related to that part quite a bit and might have laughed just a little too hard.
As great as the landscape is for representation in the media right now, there’s one group of people that hasn’t gotten a whole lot of attention: those with disabilities. However, that seems to be changing. There is a legitimate problem with the way media portrays people with any kind of disability. Oftentimes you see dramas portray the disabled as being completely incapable of living fulfilling lives. Or if a show has a disabled character, that character has the most extreme case of a certain condition. Rain Man is a perfect example. If you haven’t seen the film, it stars Dustin Hoffman as a man with autism and savant syndrome. Savant syndrome is a rare condition in which a person exhibits exceptional aptitude in one particular subject. For example, they can be really good with math, words, or even music. As great as this representation was, this led to many people incorrectly assuming that everyone with autism was also a savant. That is obviously not the case. Yes, it’s possible for someone to have both those conditions but it doesn’t happen often. The 2018 film The Predator went even more extreme with it’s depiction saying individuals with autism were actually all advanced geniuses which was… a choice.
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Recently, I’ve been watching Doctor Who and there’s a character in that series who uses a wheelchair. In those episodes that character can be seen crossing her legs and standing herself up at certain points. That particularly surprised me because – and I’ll admit to my own ignorance here – I didn’t know that wheelchair users who could do that. But I blame the media. In every piece of media I have ever seen that depicts someone using a wheelchair, they only ever focus on people who are completely paralyzed and can’t move their legs at all.
Now, I was born with a physical disability called Erb’s Palsy. I’ve discussed it on the site before. It’s basically a type of paralysis in my right arm. Throughout my life I’ve had to explain to people that I can still move my arm, but it’s just much weaker than my left. So, I should have known that there had to obviously be other people in similar situations, but it just never crossed my mind because I’d never seen it before.
Both the character and actress, Ruth Madeley, do actually use a wheelchair. They just have a different condition than what’s normally shown in film and television. In the show there’s even a moment where another character attacks them saying “I’ve seen you walk.” Now, in context of that moment, the character was being influenced by the villain, but you could still interpret that as being a thought they’ve had in the back of their head. That’s another reason why representation is important. It can help educate people. Madeley also spoke about how showrunner Russell T. Davies changed the look of the show’s time machine the TARDIS by including a wheelchair ramp and altering the inside of it. He did this after hearing from a fan who said they wished they could go in the TARDIS ,but knew they couldn’t because it wasn’t wheelchair accessible. While some might view that as “pandering,” I think it’s a really beautiful example of the power of inclusion. For all the love fans give, it’s nice to have that love reciprocated.
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When Stan Lee created Daredevil in the 60s, he was worried that it would cause controversy and backlash from the blind community. He thought that they may be insulted, but the opposite happened. He got letters and calls from people who worked with blind children telling him how happy they were that there was a blind superhero. Daredevil had a similar effect on me as well as a child. I’m not blind, but growing up with my own disability for a while I don’t think I ever truly had a period in my childhood where I felt like I could actually imagine myself as Spider-Man or any other hero. In my mind I always thought it was because of my arm. So, when I was introduced to Daredevil and found out he was blind I thought that if there was someone like that became a superhero, then perhaps anyone really can be a superhero.
And I know that happened on a greater level with the recent release of Echo on Disney+ and Hulu. The series follows a character who is both deaf and an amputee; however, in the comics the character is only deaf. Real life star Alaqua Cox is deaf and uses a prosthetic leg. In a recent appearance on Jimmy Fallon, series star Alaqua Cox opened up about receptive Marvel was about incorporating her addition disability into the live-action version of the character. And the show’s success is a testament to how much more receptive the world is to more diverse characters.
To finally see a series focused on a disabled person that portrays them as a cool action hero is truly amazing. I hope we continue to see even more kinds of representation and inclusion going forward because it’s the only way to truly reflect the world we live in.While the usual suspects continue to whine and complain, I’ve noticed that their voices have started to become drowned out by the overwhelming love and support for those who have been voiceless for so long.
