In honour of Disability Pride Month, I just wanted to spread a message that I haven’t really seen anyone talking about yet.
Artists, writers, creators of any description: when you’re creating a character that you wish to portray as less intelligent, creepy, or just unappealing in general, DO NOT give that character features that are typically associated with disabled people. In particular, do not give them crossed eyes, a lazy eye, or anything of the sort.
Think about it; almost every character you see on the big screen who has lazy/crossed eyes is either stupid, ugly, a creep, or is just weird in general. Lazy/crossed eyes are used as shorthand for “this character is meant to be ridiculed and seen as lesser than everyone else”. This is particularly a problem in cartoons - in children’s media. Here’s some examples from the top of my head:
And there’s countless more examples of this trope out there. As someone who was born with Ptosis, basically a lazy eyelid, this trope definitely affected me from a young age. When the only characters you see that look like you are weird or stupid or ugly, you internalise that shit. So my hope is that maybe a few people will see this post and become a little more educated about this issue so that we can put an end it.