20. feeling seen by a whale shark: disability representation in media

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hi hello hey, happy May!

First, we hope you’re having a lovely spring no matter where you are. Even if you’re not for whatever reason, we hope our little show can be a bright spot in your day, or, in today’s case, make you think.

Today, we explore disability representation in media. Growing up, we hardly had any disabled role models in media, much less blind ones, but representation goes deeper than even us feeling seen. Often, people’s only experience with disability is through media, so we’ll discuss some stereotypes inaccurate presentation creates. Then, we’ll talk about some of our favorite examples, and finally, we’ll play a movie game!

As always, have a lovely week, and we’ll see you in two weeks!

show notes

• Hey to all our new followers! If you’re new, please follow us on social media and shoot us an email at hello@rarewithflair.com with any questions, comments, or fun stories.
  • @RareWithFlair on Twitter
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• Be sure to follow Case on Tiktok!
• Speaking of Case, she got a new bioptic! While you can use bioptics for driving, Casey will primarily use hers for distance viewing like theater shows and watching her nephew play soccer, although we may do a low vision driving episode sometime in the future.. 😉
• Cass mentions her subscription to New York Times Cooking, which she highly recommends to anyone who really loves to cook!
• Case gives some “statistic sad facts” on disability representation in media and acting:
  • 1.6% of speaking characters in movies have disabilities vs. 25% of American adults that live with a disability of some kind (PR Newswire)
  • Only 5% of disabled characters are played by disabled actors (Washington Post)
• Cass mentions blind influencer Molly Burke
• Cassandra talks about how sign language in film is often inaccurate (Pop Culture Uncovered)
• Casey mentions actor Gaten Matarazzo who plays Dustin in “Stranger Things” (Rutgers), a disabled actor cast in a non disability-exclusive role
• Case and Cass explore their favorite blind and otherwise disabled characters:
  • Jack Damon from “This is Us” — played by a real legally blind actor, Blake Stadnik (IMDb)!
  • Toph Beifong from “Avatar the Last Airbender”
  • Garret from “Quest for Camelot”
  • Chirrut Îmwe from “Star Wars: Rogue One”
  • Destiny (the whale shark) from “Finding Dory”
  • Vanellope von Schweetz from “Wreck-it Ralph”
  • Nemo and Gill from “Finding Nemo”
• Casey mentions going to open calls for actors with disabilities
• Cass and Case play a movie game!
  • Case’s faves
    • My Girl
    • 13 Going on 30
    • Legally Blonde
    • Anastasia
    • Bridesmaids
    • 500 Days of Summer
    • The Sound of Music
    • Moulin Rouge!
    • Now and Then
    • Princess Diaries
    • Little Women (2019)
    • The Parent Trap
    • Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
    • Wonder Woman (2018)
    • Wizard of Oz
    • Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
  • Cass’ faves
    • Monsters Inc
    • The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
    • You’ve Got Mail
    • My Big Fat Greek Wedding
    • Shrek
    • Toy Story 2
    • Nacho Libre
    • Monty Python and the Holy Grail
    • Chef
    • The Sound of Music
    • Princess Diaries
    • Napoleon Dynamite
    • Pride and Prejudice (BBC)
    • It’s a Wonderful Life
    • Guardians of the Galaxy
    • Ant-Man
    • Scott Pilgrim vs. The World