{"id":2585,"date":"2018-03-09T15:36:58","date_gmt":"2018-03-09T15:36:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tvndy.ca\/?p=2585\/"},"modified":"2018-10-24T17:06:30","modified_gmt":"2018-10-24T17:06:30","slug":"webcast-archive-disability-stereotypes-and-assisted-suicide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/2018\/03\/webcast-archive-disability-stereotypes-and-assisted-suicide\/","title":{"rendered":"Webcast archive: Disability, stereotypes and assisted suicide"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1180\" height=\"664\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/R5QduYCP6_E?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>In this episode of\u00a0<em>Euthanasia &amp; Disability<\/em>, Amy Hasbrouck, Christian Debray and Taylor Hyatt discuss:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Disability, stereotypes and assisted suicide<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Please note that this text is only a script and that our webcast contains additional commentary.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DISABILITY, STEREOTYPES, AND ASSISTED SUICIDE<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>This week, we\u2019re exploring stereotypes of disability. We\u2019ll be talking about what stereotypes are, where they come from, their purpose, and how they\u2019ve changed over time.<\/li>\n<li>One definition of a stereotype is a \u201c[popular] but fixed and oversimplified\u201d idea about something or someone, often having negative connotations. Since most media are produced by and for the nondisabled majority, disability is shown from the outside looking in. In a 1992 article, Disability scholar Colin Barnes identified the most common and damaging stereotypes of disability from literature, television, music and film:\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Pitiable and pathetic<\/strong>.\u00a0 The perfect example of this stereotype is Tim Cratchit from Charles Dickens\u2019 \u201cA Christmas Carol,\u201d better known as Tiny Tim.\u00a0 This stereotype of the brave and cheerful but incapacitated disabled child was especially used by charities (run by non-disabled people) to raise money to fund research to find cures for disabilities, such as Muscular Dystrophy.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Sinister and evil.<\/strong>\u00a0 In children\u2019s stories, and adult literature, you can always tell who\u2019s the bad guy, he\u2019s the one with the hunchback \/ eye patch \/ scar \/ wooden leg \/ prosthetic hand, etc.\u00a0 Not only is disability an outward sign of the villain\u2019s evil and violent nature, it also stands for his bitterness about being disabled, which drives him to commit crimes.\u00a0 From the Bible to Captain Hook to most of the villains in the James Bond films, evil is represented by disability.\u00a0 This stereotype has been used throughout history to justify the killing and mistreatment of visibly disabled people.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Dependent (and therefore, a burden) on non-disabled people and society.<\/strong>\u00a0 In this view, \u201cdisabled people are helpless and must be &#8216;cared&#8217; for by non-disabled people.\u201d It focuses on the medical model of disability (disabled people as objects of medical care), where the \u201cfix\u201d is provided by medical professionals, and disabled people have no expertise in managing our own lives.\u00a0 The social model of disability, where public policies, environmental barriers and attitudes combine with a person\u2019s limitation to disable them, recognizes that with social supports, disabled people can \u201cachieve the same level of autonomy and independence as non-disabled people.\u201d The burden\/dependence stereotype was popularized by the eugenics movement and is seen most often in media coverage of the murders of disabled people and is an important driver of the assisted suicide and euthanasia movement.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Freak or object of ridicule.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Whether it\u2019s \u201cThe Elephant Man\u201d or Mr. Magoo, disabled people are often shown either as freaks of nature, or as inept objects of ridicule.\u00a0 From Monty Python (Gumby theatre) to Donald Trump, comedians and politicians get laughs by mocking disabled people.\u00a0 An audience that is gawking or laughing at someone is putting distance between themselves and the object of their amusement.\u00a0 They are \u201cnothing like\u201d the person, they have no chance or obligation to learn about disability from people who live it firsthand. \u00a0Again, the stereotype lets non-disabled people justify treating disabled people poorly.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Super-cripple<\/strong>.\u00a0 When talented disabled people are held up as examples for having \u201covercome their disabilities\u201d or having \u201cextraordinary abilities\u201d in films such as \u201cThe Theory of Everything,\u201d \u201cMy Left Foot\u201d or \u201cThe Scent of a Woman\u201d this creates the stereotype of the \u201cSuper Cripple.\u201d \u201cInspiration porn\u201d is the related practice of heaping excessive praise on a disabled person for ordinary activities, like going shopping or to work.\u00a0 The Super Crip stereotype sets up an expectation that all disabled should be able to succeed\u00a0<em>despite<\/em>\u00a0their disabilities; it doesn\u2019t recognize the limiting effects of discrimination and barriers. \u00a0Inspiration porn sets up a standard of behaviour for disabled people; that they should always be \u201cbrave\u201d and \u201cplucky\u201d and never become discouraged or angry at the discrimination they face.\u00a0 Otherwise, they might fall into the next stereotype \u2026<\/li>\n<li><strong>Bitter, self-pitying, our own worst enemy<\/strong>.\u00a0 This story begins with a person who is having trouble adjusting to a new disability.\u00a0 He needs a non-disabled person to set him on the road out of self-pity to acceptance and productivity.\u00a0 This is shown in films such as \u201cBorn on the Fourth of July,\u201d \u201cPassion Fish\u201d and \u201cComing Home.\u201d\u00a0 The stereotype gives society an excuse to ignore the frustration expressed by disabled people at barriers and discrimination by chalking it up to the person\u2019s own lack of adjustment.\u00a0 It also paints the non-disabled person as hero for helping the disabled person see the light.\u00a0 It\u2019s interesting to note the twist on this plot which has become popular in the past 20 years; salvation through assisted suicide.\u00a0 The disabled person is no longer required to \u201cget on with his life.\u201d\u00a0 A heroic disabled person (such as Maggie in \u201cMillion Dollar Baby\u201d or Will in \u201cMe Before You\u201d will die rather than give up his non-disabled view of himself.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Sexually abnormal<\/strong>.\u00a0 If you believe the media, disabled people are either asexual, impotent (until helped by a non-disabled person), or sexual predators.\u00a0 The pathetic disabled person is forever childlike, with no sexual feelings, function or needs.\u00a0 This stereotype applies more to disabled women than men, who are often shown as bitter and self-pitying because they have lost their masculinity; that is, until a non-disabled woman helps them to get it back by having sex with them.\u00a0 The other stereotype is applied especially to people with cognitive and psychiatric disabilities, and that is a person who cannot control their sexual feelings and are therefore a danger to the public, such as Erik in the Phantom of the Opera. Creating stereotypes about the sexuality of a minority group is a common practice of oppression, and has been used to justify the killing, jailing and institutionalization of black and disabled people over the centuries.\u00a0 The asexual stereotype was used to justify the \u201cAshley treatment\u201d named for a disabled girl who had surgery to prevent her maturing into an adult.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Normal<\/strong>.\u00a0 In TV shows such as \u201cStar Trek, The Next Generation\u201d disability is portrayed as a normal, accepted part of life, as long as the technology keeps working properly.\u00a0 The disabled character is not looking for a cure, doesn\u2019t have a chip on his shoulder, and isn\u2019t freakish.\u00a0 If disabled people are \u201cjust like everyone else,\u201d there is no reason for them to be mistreated or excluded from society. But this line of thinking also means that nothing needs to be done to change attitudes or remove barriers. The denial of disability as an important aspect of identity also has profound social and psychological effects.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Since Professor Barnes\u2019 paper was written 25 years ago, there have been important steps toward barrier removal in transit, housing, and other areas of daily life. Although these developments have brought more people with disabilities into the public sphere, they have only caused a shift, not a decrease, in the use of stereotypes.<\/li>\n<li>Because we\u2019re steeped in ableist imagery, it\u2019s hard to realize or admit that we carry these images with us. The danger related to assisted suicide arises when a person becomes disabled as an adult, and suddenly applies all of those negative stereotypes about disability to themselves.\u00a0 It makes the adjustment process that much more difficult.<\/li>\n<li>The solution to this ignorance might seem simple at first; if nondisabled storytellers can\u2019t get it right, disabled people should be telling our own stories. \u00a0But like women, people of colour, indigenous people and LGBT folks, disabled people face discrimination when looking to take their place in front of, and behind the camera. \u00a0As these other groups have discovered, getting rid of stereotypes like \u201cthe ditzy blonde,\u201d or \u201cthe alcoholic Indian,\u201d is not easy, because they are used to maintain the social order.<\/li>\n<li>Next week, we\u2019ll talk more about the connection between stereotypes, violence against disabled people, and medical killing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n   ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-summary\">\n<div class=\"entry-summary\">\nThis week, we&#8217;re looking at disability stereotypes &#8211; everything from the object of pity to the overtly &#8220;normal.&#8221;\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/2018\/03\/webcast-archive-disability-stereotypes-and-assisted-suicide\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Webcast archive: Disability, stereotypes and assisted suicide&rdquo;<\/span>&hellip;<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/2018\/03\/webcast-archive-disability-stereotypes-and-assisted-suicide\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;Webcast archive: Disability, stereotypes and assisted suicide&rdquo;<\/span>&hellip;<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[92],"tags":[233,121,244,118],"class_list":["post-2585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-webcast-archive","tag-charity","tag-euthanasia-disability","tag-stereotype","tag-webcast","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2585"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2585\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3451,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2585\/revisions\/3451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvndy.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}