Writings on the depiction of race and gender in films are plentiful but I've
seen very little on disabilities.
 
It seems to me that disabilities are portrayed for several limited purposes:
 
1. To show that a person is immoral-i.e. that he/she is morally as well as
physically disabled. (Richard III [1995] ; the financeer in When Worlds
Collide [1951];
 
2. To evoke pity and underline a villain's cruelty. (Richard Widmark as Tommy
Udo in Kiss of Death [1947] rolling an elderly woman in a wheelchair
downstairs.]
 
3. To heighten tension and a sense of vulnerability. ( Audrey Hepburn in Home
Before Dark [1967]; Jimmy Stewart in Rear Window [1954] and Madeleine Stowe
in Blink [1994]).
 
4. In biographies for purposes of historical accuracy. (Nelson in That
Hamilton Woman [1941]).
 
5. To discuss the nature and consequences of particular disabilities.
Children of a Lesser God (1984).
 
Forest Gump (1994) is a happy exception to the foregoing. But even with this
exception, however, it seems that individuals with disabilities have seldom
appeared in films as "naturally" as other minorities now do.
 
I hope that I am overly pessimistic, but if I am not, I hope for change.
 
Any comments would be deeply appreciated.
 
Peter L.
 
P.S. My interest in this topic stems in part from my role as co-founder of
the National Center for Law and Learning Disabilities.
 
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