On Tue, 12 Mar 1996 Peter S. Latham wrote:
> 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:
(snip)
> 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.
 
Peter--
May I immodestly refer you to a book I published in 1994 through Rutgers
U. Press called _The Cinema of Isolation: A History of Physical
Disability in the Movies_?  In it, I examine the stereotypic images found
in almost 100 years worth of American mainstream movies and also attempt
to locate them within their socio-cultural and industrial contexts.  It
addresses many of the points that you raised in your post.  You might also
look over Lauri Klobas's _Disability Drama in Television and Film_
(McFarland, 1988) and John Schuchman's _Hollywood Speaks: Deafness and
the Film Entertainment Industry_ (U. of Illinois, 1988) for additional
perspectives.  In 1991, Routledge published a book called _Images of
Disability on Television_, but I'm afraid I don't have the authors' names
handy.  Finally, the Mugar Library at Boston University has a 1993
Masters thesis by Jennifer Kaplan called "Images of Disability in American
Television."  I only learned about it several days ago, however, and I
haven't had the chance to check it out yet.
 
Hope this information helps.
 
--Marty Norden
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  OO       Martin F. Norden
  [_]<|    Dept. of Communication                 [log in to unmask]
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           Amherst, MA  01003     USA             tel: 413 545-0598, 545-1311
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