Media shapes the way people view others. From newspapers to television, and now to the usage of social media to share stories and ideas, there has always been discrimination on who and what gets viewed by the wider world. If we look back to the first movie, a stop-motion two-second film in 1888, it’s unbelievable to see how far media has progressed in the past century. However, the representation has remained unaltered, which comes from the lack of representation of different communities in media. For example, the first person of color to win lead actress was Halle Berry in 2001, and only three disabled individuals have won Oscars as of 2024 (“The 74th Academy Awards: 2002.”) While Oscar nominations and winnings aren’t a surefire way to show diversity in media, it is a good reference point. Thinking about how disabilities are shown through media, along with actors and actresses that portray these disabilities, doesn’t give us a good idea about the life of someone with a disability, and are often caricatures of those living with disabilities.
Defining what good and bad representation is important when arguing a case for how we consume media. The University of Alabama at Birmingham published an article expanding on Paul Hunt, a disability rights activist focused in the United Kingdom, a list of disability tropes seen in media. The victim- typically an individual who has to be saved from their disability and often “saved” from their disability by the end of the movie. The evil villain- typically someone with a mental illness such as DID or schizophrenia, depicts the main villain as a violent monster, or their mental illness as an “alter” in the case of M. Night Shyamalan’s Unbreakable trilogy.
And finally the inspirational hero- an individual who “overcomes the odds” of their disability, putting disabled people on a pedestal for living with their disability (Misleading Media: Disabilities in Film and Television). Knowing what bad representation is, it’s also important to know what good representation is as well. Disability Portral in Film: Reflecting the Past, Directing the Future has a similar belief that film and cinema are how the general public learns about disabilities, which, with bad choices of directing, writing, and casting, can lead to poor outcomes for real people with disabilities that we interact with. The paper reflects on other stereotypes shown in cinema: framing individuals with autism as having a “hidden genius”, portraying individuals with disabilities as “monsters” such as in Jekyll and Hyde, and viewing a disabled individual as an “eternal child”. It also delves into statistics within the film industry, such as how many Academy Award-winning films depict individuals with disabilities, being 16.7% on average between the years 1927-1996, and the total of disabled actors winning awards being only three, as mentioned above (Safran, Stephen P.). This lack of representation of disabled actors has a strong reflection on why film is the way it is, which, in most cases, is discriminatory and ableist.
When it comes to what bad representation is in a modern sense, there are a lot of examples to point out. One that is particularly bad, however, is Music directed by Sia. It stars a young, nonspeaking autistic girl Music, played by a non-autistic actor after Sia said that casting and directing a nonspeaking autistic individual was “unpleasant and stressful”, as quoted by The Gazette. The movie, overall, pushes harmful tropes that we have seen again and again surrounding neurodivergent individuals, especially those on the spectrum.
Music is often talked down upon by people, including her sister who gained custody of her after their grandmother passed away. One particularly harmful idea in the movie, however, is two instances where Music becomes overstimulated, one from her sister, Zu, breaking her morning routine shortly after gaining custody of her, starts grabbing onto her and telling Music to calm down, while Music is hitting her head with her hand and hitting her head against the wall. Her neighbor overhears, and puts Music into a restraint, bringing her to the ground and stating “I will crush you now, and make you feel safe… I am crushing her with my love.” This then again happens publicly in the park when Music is overstimulated. This mindset has killed and physically harmed many autistic individuals, especially children. Multiple pieces of evidence refute the usage of these restraints towards individuals, such as “Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder at a Pediatric Hospital: A Systematic Review of the Literature”, which goes over research studies focused on autistic children, showing that positive reinforcement, a posted schedule and communication between both the child and their caregivers work best. Also, these holds are more likely to be performed incorrectly. A 2022 study on the usage of restraints in hospital settings showed that healthcare providers said their knowledge of ASD is poor or fair, and, because of this, will choose restraint over less deadly methods of helping calm an individual down (Salvatore, Giovanna L.). This means people such as Zu and the neighbor had no right to put Music in that hold, nor does anyone, because of the other methods of de-escalation that can be used.
Another part of this portrayal of Music that is harmful is the way Music is treated as an autistic individual. Music is often talked down upon by her sister, not monitored as carefully as she should be and, a trope from the paragraph above, framed as a helpless victim. A reason for this idea of infantilizing autistic individuals can come from the marketing and social ideas around autism. Nine out of twelve major autism non-profits were founded by parents of autistic children, with a lot of promotion of said non-profits having children as the faces of their companies. This shows in media, such as in Music, where the autistic characters are typically children. This stigma causes immense amounts of social barriers for autistic adults because of said infantilization, such as job barriers, lack of supportive accommodations, and social barriers (Inclusiveteach.com). There are numerous other media with similar tropes, but Music is the biggest modern offender of both of these bad examples of representation.
Media can shape our view of others, for better or worse. The lack of representation in film, particularly, for those with disabilities, hinders the community as a whole, and without stories written by and for disabled individuals, there’ll be repeats of Music, Jekyll and Hyde, and other stereotypes aimed against disabled individuals, which will be taken at face value and lead to abelism in our society. The problem and debate of how we should implement this diversity and accessibility in media is a major one in film, but it’s best put by Dom Evans, a disabled, transgender film writer, and consultant on disability and LGBT+ representation in film. His main points are to audition disabled actors, consult disabled individuals, and, most importantly, write about people who just happen to also be disabled. Without disabled writers, actors, producers, or consults, there is no such thing as a good film centered around disability, because it doesn’t use real-world stories of these individuals.
Works Cited
inclusiveteach.com. “Infantilizing Autistic Adults: Why We Need To Stop.” Special Education and Inclusive Learning, 13 Sept. 2023, https://inclusiveteach.com/2023/09/13/infantilizing-autism-why-we-need-to-stop/.
Important Tips on How to Portray Disability Accurately in Film – Dom Evans. 1 Feb. 2016, https://www.domevansofficial.com/2016/02/01/important-tips-on-how-to-portray-disability-accurately-in-film/.
Johnson, Norah, and Dana Rodriguez. “Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder at a Pediatric Hospital: A Systematic Review of the Literature.” Pediatric Nursing, June 2013, https://epublications.marquette.edu/nursing_fac/282.
Misleading Media: Disabilities in Film and Television – UAB Institute for Human Rights Blog. https://sites.uab.edu/humanrights/2019/11/27/misleading-media-disabilities-in-film-and-television/. Accessed 8 Apr. 2024.
Safran, Stephen P. “Disability Portrayal in Film: Reflecting the Past, Directing the Future: Exceptional Children.” Exceptional Children, vol. 64, no. 2, Winter 1998, pp. 227–38. EBSCOhost, https://doi.org/10.1177/001440299806400206.
Sia Needs To Face The Music. https://www.thegazelle.org/issue/198/sia-needs-to-face-the-music. Accessed 9 Apr. 2024.
Salvatore, Giovanna L., et al. “Physician Perspectives on Severe Behavior and Restraint Use in a Hospital Setting for Patients with Autism Spectrum Disorder.” Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, vol. 52, no. 10, 2022, pp. 4412–25. PubMed Central, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05327-8.
“The 74th Academy Awards: 2002.” Oscars.Org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, 2002, http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2002. Accessed 03 Apr. 2024.
Sprockets and Springes 
Thanks for this. I call a lot of what I see “disability porn” – the noble person who overcomes their disability. It is for the people who are not disabled to not worry.