Hi Phyllis and All,
I haven't yet, since the idea just occurred to me. But I'd be happy to have
the idea conveyed and discussed. I'm not sure if David is watching this
list.
Best,
Lennard
At 03:25 PM 10/1/1998 -0400, you wrote:
>Hi Lennard,
>As a board member of the Society for Disability Studies I'm interested
>in knowing whether you've shared your thoughts with anyone on the board?
I'm
>sure David would be interested in your thinking; you certainly have my
>support. Look forward to hearing from you.
>Phyllis Rubenfeld
>
>On Thu, 1 Oct 1998, Lennard Davis wrote:
>
>> Hi All,
>> I'm looking forward to the letter from the director of the documentary, as
>> well as to the documentary itself. But I think the main point is not that
>> there were people who were experts about polio, or even people with polio
>> and post-polio who were consulted, but that directors, producers, and
>> writers should feel that they need to talk with folks who are familiar with
>> the overarching issues about disability. I agree with Phyllis that the
>> disability studies perspective is one that needs to be acknowledged as
>> legitimate. I'm not counseling that there be thought police or required
>> oversight by a monolithic group of censors, but that there be something
>> more than the current attitude which is that a writer like the one on ER
>> could talk to, through an interpreter, a few Deaf people and feel as if he
>> or she did his work. In other words, we need to help the media think out
>> loud about the things they are producing; we need to give them resources.
>> The current situation is one in which disability issues appear in the
>> media incredibly frequently, specifically in studio movies, and there is no
>> sense at all of accountability. The same stereotypes are promulgated
>> repeatedly. I just watched "Dangerous Beauty" on video, and one of the
>> Venetian aristocrats, played by Fred Ward, is shown using a wheelchair (in
>> Renaissance Venice?!!). He is doing so because he has sores on his feet,
>> and he is the only one of all the men in the movie who has a "paternal"
>> relationship to Veronica Franca, the courtesan and poet whom the movie is
>> about. All the other men have sexual relations with her. Instead, she
>> washes his feet. OK. That's only one example. I'm sure you all have
more.
>> So what is the next step? I think that, through an already existing
>> organization like the Society for Disability Studies, a committee should be
>> formed to look into (sounds pretty bureaucratic already) the possibility of
>> setting up a standing body that would publicize its own existence to, at
>> least, the major studios and television production companies. Some high
>> profile publicity should be distributed to the major print and visual
>> media. There might even be some investigation into what protections are
>> afforded by the ADA for defamatory or demeaning images of PWD (I'm only
>> guessing here).
>>
>> It's always easier to speculate on paper than to take action, but why
>> should organizations that represent other identity groups have
>> anti-defamation committees and PWD not?
>>
>> Best,
>>
>>
>> Lennard
>>
>>
>
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