#disabilitystereotypes

Avatar (2009) ends with Jake transferring his consciousness to his Avatar body, ultimately erasing disability in this society and planet. Angry Hippie  emphasizes the ability to move consciousness is a profound question and says, "While many thought they were being clever by dissecting this movie to exploit  its' flaws, they were merely peeling the first layer of the onion." (AVATAR: In-Depth Analysis) 

In my opinion, there are layers of ableism that Angry Hippie missed. His favorite scene is when Jake (who has paraplegia) runs for the first time in his Avatar body. This scene I dislike the most falls into tropes of disabled people wanting to be "fixed" or "better." I cannot speak to how it feels to become disabled later in life, as Jake was. But I can say that these ableist messages portraying disabled people as weak and valuable only as inspiration are not helpful for anyone, disabled or not. 

Internal ableism comes from society. Angry Hippie points out that Jake running as a person with paraplegia is only surface level. This I agree with, but he goes  on to say, "it was a brilliant way to build an emotional connection to the  audiences" and "on a deeper level, however, the visual representation of Jake, a  crippled man, is a reflection of the state of the human race."  (AVATAR: In-Depth Analysis) 

In my opinion, the word "crippled" is somewhat offensive, but others have reclaimed it. The comments here demonstrate ableism because he's saying that Jake running is inspirational or at least emotional for the audience. Inspiration is what disabled characters are usually meant to convey on screen. My first impression of the film was that the disabled representation was adequate because the film did not revolve around disability. 

That is a double-edged sword highlighting the line between erasing disability and presenting a fully realized character that happens to have a disability.

Sources

Jake Sully’s body is used as a world-building tool. A dystopian Earth is paralleled with a disabled body. 

Saying Jake's body represents what's wrong in society is ableist. This assertion also perpetuates internal ableism by reinforcing the need for disabled people to be the ones who obviously want and need to change. The deeper meaning goes beyond saying the world needs to change its ways to avoid becoming a dystopia. Jake is "someone who does not want to be treated any differently than someone able-bodied. In this way, Jake not only agrees with but also extends the long-standing perception of disabled people as inferior because they need and want help from others. His attitude, we are told later by  Jake, remains unchanged" (Holtmeier & Park-Primiano, 8).  

The perception of disabled people is not addressed in other adaptations of these historical events. And popular films don't often tackle multiple issues in separate minority groups. 

Intersectionality is ignored because it's too complicated and not as entertaining or easy to accept that racism and ableism can occur together.

Of course, those are not the only biases in the world, but they are the two that intersect here. 

The perception that disability cripples the individual and represents what's wrong with the world perpetuates ableism. The possibility existed to write Jake in a way that would not have perpetuated stereotypes. Showing him as "relentlessly self-reliant,  promoting a reactionary portrait of himself as the ideal disabled person" (Holtmeier & Park-Primiano, 8). This "ideal" is meant for able-bodied people, not people who are actually disabled. This makes it impossible for me to think of the world we're shown as real. It is a movie with an agenda concerned more with the evils of Westernization than with disability representation. 

The film simply copies and pastes an idealized version of a  disabled person for plot convenience.

Source

Going to the Mat establishes Jace Newfield as a blind musical savant. But the film focuses on Jace desperately not wanting to be seen as a stereotype. His resistance is a sign of ableism because he doesn't want to be the one-dimensional character he sees in the media; he assumes everyone thinks of him that way.  

"The problem is that fiction has the capacity to initiate this very fear, meaning that when left unaddressed literary representation itself functions as an Unseen  Starer, potentially making Unseeing Victims of not only blind characters but people with impaired vision." (Bolt, 26) The impact of such media representations can be expressed or even develop into personality traits. In my personal experience, the more I was called "courageous" and "brave" about my disability, the more stubbornness became part of my personality. 

Beginning in childhood, I felt I had much to prove for people to ignore my disability.

Due to my disability, I was often singled out. To avoid that, I became very stubborn in insisting on doing things the way able-bodied people do. Fortunately, that belief has lessened with age.

Jace's assumption that people automatically can't understand his struggles is challenged when he attends music class taught by a visually impaired teacher,  which Jace was unaware of. Jace acts out by playing a drum solo in the middle of classical music. He then defended himself by saying the teacher wouldn't understand what he's going through. Then Jace is told, "he's just like  you." and jokingly, "talk about the blind leading the blind." Mr. Wyatt immediately recognizes Jace's problems stemming from the "chip on his shoulder" related to his being blind.

The dynamic between Mr. Wyatt and Jace is mentoring and falls into the same category as the magic black guy trope. "In order to show the world that minority characters are not bad people, one will step forward to help  a "normal" person, with their pure heart and folksy wisdom. They are usually  black and/or poor… and the wisdom in some way enriches that central character's life." (Tvtropes.com) Mr. Wyatt gives him the wisdom that 

"People  will always treat you differently because you are different." 

This is hard to hear because of Jace's natural desire to fit in, especially as a teenager.

Sources

Bolt, D. (2005). Looking Back at Literature: A Critical Reading of the Unseen Stare in Depictions of People with Impaired Vision. Disability & Society, 20(7), 735-747. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09687590500335741

Don’t Say “Epileptics Everywhere.”

During the Super Bowl a person I know posted something about Weeknd’s halftime show and in the comments Epilepetics everywhere are not having a good time atm. Jesus, I can’t even have my head in the same direction as the TV. Random Facebook Person And I got a bit tweaked. I don’t know the person who posted that comment. I don’t know if she has epilepsy, but I do and her generalization? It…