Comments on: So sorry your disability tragedy porn isn’t sad enough, Ian Buckwalter

By: Nym

Nym — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 16:17:36 +0000

But we only exist for two reasons:

1. To be Supercrip and give cripspiration to those poor CABbies a boost when they’re down.

2. To show CABbies how lucky they are/act as a moral lesson about ~taking things for granted~

We can only exist as embittered, sobbing shut-ins in darkened rooms, or all-conquering ~survivors~. Regular people who eat, sleep, fuck, work and pay taxes? That’s unpossible!

It’s a sign of how pathetic media portrayal of PWD is when bloody Family Guy of all things, has probably the best consistent portrayal of physical disability. Joe Swanson is a paraplegic active duty cop, a husband and father. He chases down criminals, goes hunting and fishing, and the only time his life was bad? When experimental surgery gave him working legs. By the end of that episode he’d returned to normal. Yeah Hollywood, NORMAL, #normalisrelative

If that isn’t a sad indictment of entertainment media I don’t know what is.

By: Catherine

Catherine — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 03:46:53 +0000

Dear Mr Buckwalter,

A few years ago I was temporarily disabled. From my through-a-glass-darkly view, I feel the need to clarify some tings for you.

1) not being able to walk was not even close to my rock bottom experiences.

2) I didn’t climb “all the way to the top”. I can however, keep up with the universe as well as my permanent injuries allow.

3) strangely enough even though I did not hit either extreme (let alone both), I suspect a few people might find a bit of inspiration anyway. Sometimes you need a human-sized hero.

4) this is fine, because I’m not in it for an Oscar. Most of us aren’t. I’m in it for the best quality of life I can manage. If a few of my clients work out that nasty knee surgery doesn’t get in the way off happiness, so much the better for us all. I think I can convey that without climbing Everest.

By: Oz

Oz — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 14:11:27 +0000

Mr Buckwalter seems to have missed the point a bit with two of these movies, or at least gone in (having pre-categorized them as tragedies) without having watched a trailer and received a nasty shock at the outcome. The write up from IMDB for “The Sessions” reads: “A man in an iron lung who wishes to lose his virginity contacts a professional sex surrogate with the help of his therapist and priest.” Does this sound like a tragedy? Virginity, sex surrogate and priest – that sounds at least odd with a potential for amusing.

In the final paragraph of his rant, Mr Buckwalter claims that protagonists of successful Disability films must hit rock-bottom and then crawl all the way to the top so that we may be inspired. However, while a snappy montage of painful rehab may get your Oscar going, it overlooks the actual experience of being disabled – because that’s not glamourous enough for Disability Porn. After the film we don’t all go out and regrow our arms and legs and cure all diseases. We have friends and jobs and lives, none of which can be done while perpetually mourning our disabled bodies.

Get your feel-good inspiration somewhere else, Mr Buckwalter. A Rocky movie sounds just your speed.