I thought the short movie we watched today was well-done in the way that it got a very clear message across without being too cliche. From the opening scene, the tone is set. It is clear that the people in the meeting do not really care about the disability act which they are meant to enforce. In addition to this, they show that the only reasons they have for enforcing it are completely the wrong reasons. They bring up the issues of money, business competition, and good public relations, however, they never stop to think why changing their practices towards the disabled is simply the right thing to do.
However unbelievable the fantasy world which the main character enters is, where everyone is disabled and he (being "able-bodied") is unusual, it serves as a good example for how you can not really understand the situation of another person until you've seen the world from their perspective. I would never expect anyone to truly understand my feelings at all times; they are so tied up in my personal history and way of thinking. It is therefore almost insulting for someone to assume that they "know what's best" for someone else, especially in the case of disability. Until you make a true personal connection with someone, you cannot understand what their daily experience is like.
The movie showed how people with disabilities cannot escape their situation, it is simply a part of their life at all times. Small things which "able-bodied" people take for granted are sometimes impossible tasks. The movie makes the point that it is one thing to talk about change (like I am doing now). Talking about change is really easy. However, the real challenge is creating change. The movie makes the point that we (society) need to do more and talk less.
2 comments:
I agree that it did a decent job of relaying the message of what people with disabilities must feel like being in a mostly "able-body" friendly world.
It doesn't seem realistic though (i'm guessing that's not what they were going for) because in the attempt to talk about "doing" something about the problem and being open-minded to people with disabilities and giving them equal rights and access, they ended up doing the exact same thing to him that they say is important to avoid.
I really appreciated the message of the film and it spoke to a lot of problems that we have with this issue.
As always, I'd like to ask the question of what can we do NOW to help this cause?
I also enjoyed the movie because it illustrated many things about our society that we, as abled body people, take for granted. For example, the scene with the bus that was only for wheelchair users was particularily striking. When I get on a a bus, I don't ever think to see if it is wheelchair accessible or what I would do if I were not allowed on because of my physical form. All I am thinking about is going, going, going to the next part of my day. I think a lot of this goes back to the fast paced life that society expects of us. If I were not so concerned with going, I might consider everyone else. But, as it stands, the fast pace of life makes us all concentrate more on ourselves than on others.
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