Disability

In her article "Picturing People with Disabilities: Classical Portraiture as Reconstructive Narrative," Rosemarie Garland-Thomson writes: "a portrait [. . .] tells viewers that the subject of the portrait is worthy of commemoration and honour because a portrait has been made of that person" (25). This line made me think immediately of portraits (both paintings and photographs) created of army veterans, generally in higher ranks, who have historically been honored in images that commemorate their great accomplishments. Sometimes this means that the subjects have war wounds--often amputations from battle.

I didn't upload the duet because it is longer than a minute, but you are welcome to watch it (linked here). The description of the video reads, "Kiera Brinkley, a quadruple amputee, and her sister Uriah Boyd perform SOAR, choreographed by Melissa St. Clair. Clips from the duet appear in a documentary of the same name that follows these two beautiful young women as their paths pull them in opposite directions." The documentary site includes even more information if anyone would like to follow up on that (linked here)

http://mic.com/articles/97880/a-mother-took-stunning-photos-of-her-disabled-daughter-to-show-her-beauty-knows-no-bounds

I came across this article last December. Someone must have posted it on Facebook. It's about a Swiss charity that created mannequins based on seven people with disabilities. The goal was to raise awareness that there's no such thing as a perfect body. 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2518194/Pro-Infirmis-advert-creates-mannequins-based-bodies-disabled-people.html

In addition to the series of photographs of the mannequins the charity created, there's a video of the process and several reactions to the mannequins being placed in the windows of storefronts. 

National Disability Awards Ad - 2010

The text of this commercial reads like a poem and strikes an important chord in the hearts of those who care about the portrayal of disability:

This image is, for me, one that epitomizes the 21st century concept of “slacktivism.” I don’t want to say that it’s specific to my generation, as it certainly is not; rather, it is specific to those communities—generations, populations, classes, communities—for whom the Internet holds a presence. This particular image is one of many of its kind circulating on Facebook: images and trends meant as a way to demonstrate awareness and support of a disease, disability, or disorder. Sometimes it’s about finding a cure (like the pinkwashing of literally everything during Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October), while other times—as in this case—it’s in promotion of regarding those who have said disease/disability/disorder with love and affection.

I recently stumbled across a series of images that depicted Jes Sachse, a 25-year old college student with Freeman-Sheldon Syndrome, in her own recreation of the provocative American Apparel adveritsements that are seen pasted all over newspapers, billboards, and the Internet. More often than not, these ads display young, able-bodied, attractive young people in sexy poses and scenarios while they sport minimal amounts of American Apparel merchandise. Sachse took these images into her own hands and created her own ad campaign: American Able. The American Able ads feature Sachse in the typical scenes that one would find in your everyday American Apparel ad while she displays her disability. Sachse's ads show us that those with disabilities are still sexual beings and can instill desire.

Reading both Rosemarie Garland Thompson's and Eli Clare's descriptions of how disability is represented in the media, I couldn't help but think of an episode of the 1980s show The Facts of Life. For full disclosure, the episode (titled "Introducing Cousin Geri") is the only episode of The Facts of Life that I've seen. I happened upon it last summer when purusing the internet – I followed a link about positive portrayals of disability. The episode is about a group of girls at a boarding school who come from a range of backgrounds and learn important lessons in their interactions with one another.