By Ariella Barker, Special to the Observer
Posted: Saturday, Jul. 19, 2014
Ms. Wheelchair NC-2014 Ariella Barker met last week with DHHS Deputy Secretary Dave Richard and Jessica Keith to discuss issues that people with disabilities face.
It happens all the time: People shockingly tell me how “beautiful” I am because I’m in a wheelchair. Odd how that works. If you’re attractive and able-bodied, that’s nice. If you’re attractive and a person with a disability, that’s news. People with disabilities should look … well, disabled.
For years, people with disabilities were hidden from society. We were placed in nursing homes “for our own good.” But once the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed in 1990, we left our houses, abandoned our nursing homes and escaped our special education classrooms to join the world at large. But sadly, many of us are still regarded as curiosities.
Consider the way people with disabilities are portrayed in popular entertainment. Too often, we’re shown as child-like, uneducated or a bit “slow,” no matter what our malady. Or, going in the other direction, we’re cast as geeky nerds, or savants. And, almost always, we’re portrayed as asexual – people whose lives end at the waist.
Take “Artie,” for example, the paraplegic character in the popular television show, “Glee.” The guy can’t seem to catch a break. Does he really have to be the only nerd in the glee club? Couldn’t someone besides the student with a mobility impairment have the honor of being the socially awkward one for a change?
In one episode, Artie gets set up on a prom date with – who else? – a wheelchair-bound girl. Why? Because society and the media are ignorant enough to think that this is a perfect match. Think of the statement “the blind leading the blind,” and you’ll understand why this is not a match made in heaven.