Dear Glee: Please Stop Using Disability as Plot Device

[fleete]

 

 

*grits teeth*

 

Okay, I was sort of on the fence when Glee went there in "Wheels."  Remember "Wheels"?  Artie, the student who uses a wheelchair, finally finally got a storyline (which is, to date, his ONLY storyline).  It was nice.  I was disappointed that his only storyline HAD to be about his disability, but it wasn't badly done I guess.   I was less excited about the portrayal of the characters with Down Syndrome, whose presence in the episode has no purpose beyond humanizing Sue.  Jane Lynch did a great job of making those scenes as heart-warming as possible, and the return of actress Lauren Potter (who plays Becky and who actually has Down Syndrome) was nice, for continuity, but still.  Neither Becky nor Jean (Sue's sister) are there as characters with stories of their own; they're there as props for Sue's story.

 

And then last night.  In which a parapalegic character is brought in for the express purpose of cementing Finn's concern for Rachel and allowing Rachel to Learn a Lesson from the Wise Cripple and Grow as a Person.  DNW DNW DNW. 

Also, it was weirdly reminiscent of the scene in "Hairography" in which the glee club sings "Imagine" with the Deaf show choir. You have outside characters who are not as "good" at singing as are the glee members, but from whom the glee club learns valuable lessons about...stuff.  Being oneself, accepting oneself, growing from adversity, blah, blah, blah.

I want a character with a disability to do or have or be something that is not about making able-bodied people wiser or better.

 

*sigh*

I guess there's some solace in the fact that, while offensive, this scene was definitely not the craziest thing to happen in this episode.

What is the craziest thing?  I DONT KNOW B/C THAT WOULD REQUIRE CHOOSING BETWEEN MERCEDES/PUCK AND BRITTANY/KURT.



 

Comments

[flourish.livejournal.com]

Aaaaand this is why I don't watch Glee - well, this and the skeevy race issues.

[fleete.livejournal.com]

*sigh* They have SO MANY skeevy issues.

And yet I keep watching it. Why? Because I am a whore for musicals. There is a fair to middling chance I'd sell my soul for a pretty song.