Some of the less offensive representations of disability on film (21 titles)

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Friday The 13th - Part 2

On the one hand you could argue that this is a negative depiction of people with an intellectual impairment because Jason (who is learning disabled) kills people. On the other hand, this film contains my favourite depiction of a wheelchair user that I've ever seen in a film - a character that is fully inegrated into his social group, a sexual being, and someone that meets the same fate as his non-disabled friends.

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• Friday The 13th - Part 2 on DVD (1981)
  Starring: John Furey,  Warrington Gillette,  Walt Gorny
  Director: Steve Miner
  Certificate:
  The second instalment in the long-running horror franchise. Set five years after the first film, the action takes place in the vicinity of the infamous Camp Crystal Lake, where the counsellors from the neighbouring holiday camps come visiting and thus make themselves available to the grisly ..read more »
  
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50 First Dates

Would most people consider Drew Barrymore's character in this film as disabled? Even though she's had a severe head injury which has caused her a lifelong impairment? Or do they simply see Drew falling in love with Adam Sandler?

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• 50 First Dates on DVD (2004)
  Starring: Adam Sandler,  Drew Barrymore,  Rob Schneider
  Director: Peter Segal
  Certificate:
  Romantic comedy starring Drew Barrymore as Lucy Whitmore, a beautiful woman suffering from acute short-term memory loss. After a car accident several months before, she has been left with a rare brain condition that causes her memory to be totally erased every night when she goes to sleep. Adam ..read more »
  
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The Ringer

When watching this film you have to pay attention to the positive plot, and ignore the fact that of the 6 lead characters with a learning disability, only 2 of them are played by disabled people... the other 4 are non-disabled actors "Spazzing up". If you can get past that "do as I say, not as I do" aspect of the film, you'll discover it's actually quite good.

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• The Ringer on DVD (2005)
  Starring: Camille Chen,  Katherine Heigl,  Brian Cox
  Director: Barry W. Blaustein
  Certificate:
  Comedy from the Farrelly Brothers. Pressured by a greedy uncle (Brian Cox) and a pile of debt, lovable loser Steve Barker (Johnny Knoxville) resorts to an unthinkable, contemptible, just-crazy-enough-to-work scheme. He pretends to be mentally challenged to rig the upcoming Special Olympics and ..read more »
  
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Akeelah and the Bee

Blink and you'll miss the wheelchair user in this film - yet their presence makes a strong point. Usually in movies disabled people are either the villain, depicted as unusally brave or depicted as a burden. The wheelchair user in this film has only one line - spelling a word in the national spelling bee contest... proving that disabled people can be just part of life, their presence doesn't need to be a big deal. We need to see more disabled people in roles like this on the big screen.

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• Akeelah and the Bee on DVD (2006)
  Starring: Laurence Fishburne,  Laurence Fishburne,  Angela Bassett
  Director: Doug Atchison
  Certificate:
  Watch now: Unavailable
  Critically-acclaimed drama starring Laurence Fishburne. Eleven-year-old Akeelah Anderson's (Keke Palmer) life is not easy: her father is dead, her mom ignores her and her brother runs with the local gangbangers. She's smart, but her environment threatens to strangle her aspirations. Responding to a ..read more »
  
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The Station Agent

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• The Station Agent on DVD (2003)
  Starring: Patricia Clarkson,  Jase Blankfort,  Paula Garces
  Director: Thomas McCarthy
  Certificate:
  Watch now: Included in all packages with LOVEFiLM Instant
  Winner of the Audience Award at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival, this offbeat independent comedy drama stars Peter Dinklage as Finbar McBride, a lonely man with dwarfism who moves to an abandoned train station in rural New Jersey to live the life of a hermit after suffering the bereavement of his ..read more »
  
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Jeffrey

In this film AIDS is more like a character than a story or an illness. In addition to that there's a (brief but) awesome shot of a group of disabled people particpating in the Gay Pride march.

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• Jeffrey (1995)
  Starring: Steven Weber,  Olympia Dukakis,  Michael T. Weiss
  Director: Christopher Ashley
  Certificate:
  The gay scene of Nineties New York just seems too complicated for Jeffrey (Steven Weber), so he opts for a life of celibacy. No sooner has he made his vow, than along comes Steve (Michael Weiss), whose charm offers an immediate challenge to his romantic abstinence. With the help of friends and ..read more »
  
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  Currently unavailable

CSI - Crime Scene Investigation - Season 1

I'm obsessed with CSI. It's a fantastically entertaining TV show in it's own right, but for me the icing on the cake is Doc Robbins. I can't recall ever before seeing a TV show with a disabled character who was just a regular person and their impairment wasn't the only thing about them written into the story. In fact having seen all 7 seasons I can only recall Robbins mentioning his impairment once ("Before I lost my legs..."). As if the character isn't perfect enough, he's played by a disabled actor - Robert David Hall. I can't think of any instances of a mobility impaired actor playing a starring role in a TV show before.

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• CSI - Crime Scene Investigation - Season 1 (6 discs) on DVD (2000)
  Starring: Paul Guilfoyle,  Jorja Fox,  Gary Dourdan
  Director: Michael W. Watkins,  Danny Cannon
  Certificate:
  Episodes 13 to 23 from the first season of the Las Vegas-set crime series. In 'Boom' the team investigate the bombing of an office building and Nick is suspected of murdering a prostitute. 'To Halve and to Hold' finds Catherine and Grissom searching for a skeleton in the desert. 'Table Stakes' has ..read more »
  
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CSI - Crime Scene Investigation - Season 2

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• CSI - Crime Scene Investigation - Season 2 (6 discs) on DVD (2001)
  Starring: William Petersen,  Marg Helgenberger,  George Eads
  Director: Danny Cannon,  Kenneth Fink,  Richard J. Lewis
  Certificate:
  Welcome to Las Vegas. Meet the Crime Scene Investigators ready on a daily basis to solve the dark crimes of the city of sin. Features all episodes of season 2. Episodes Comprise: 1. Burked 2. Chaos Theory 3. Overload 4. Bully For You 5. Scuba Doobie Doo 6. Alter Boys 7. Caged 8. The Slaves Of Las ..read more »
  
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CSI - Crime Scene Investigation - Season 3

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• CSI - Crime Scene Investigation - Season 3 (6 discs) on DVD (2002)
  Starring: Paul Guilfoyle,  Jorja Fox,  Robert David Hall
  Director: Richard J. Lewis,  Danny Cannon,  Kenneth Fink
  Certificate:
  Episodes 1 to 12 from the third season of the Las Vegas-set crime series. In 'Revenge is Best Served Cold', a street racer is found dead on an abandoned airstrip in the desert, and Catherine and Nick are called in to investigate. Meanwhile, Grissom looks into the suspicious death of a poker player ..read more »
  
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CSI - Crime Scene Investigation - Season 4 - Part 1

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• CSI - Crime Scene Investigation - Season... (3 discs) on DVD (2003)
  Starring: Paul Guifoyle,  Jorja Fox,  Robert David Hall
  Director: Richard J. Lewis,  Danny Cannon,  Kenneth Fink
  Certificate:
  First twelve episodes from the fourth series of the popular American television crime drama. On the night shift of the Las Vegas Criminalistics Bureau, the CSI team investigate the forensic details that can make all the difference between an unsolved crime and a successful arrest. In this series, ..read more »
  
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