Call the Midwife is making bold steps in portraying disability
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
SPORK!
1 Comments
Wednesday, February 26, 2014 SPORK! 1 Comments
In today's culture we often forget that certain people's lives are constrained by the little things, such as tying shoelaces for example. Furthermore the want of a 'normal' life is something they have to strive for, and more importantly this struggle has a largely untold history. That is why as someone with a disability, I found Sunday night's episode of Call the Midwife both bold and ground-breaking. Its full cultural significance I am not quite sure we get yet. Consider this:
On a Sunday night, a prime-time mainstream TV channel depicted a Downs Syndrome woman going through a still birth, probably one of the emotionally toughest events anyone can be subjected to. This is a phenomenal cultural moment in that it demonstrates that Britain has matured and progressed in its understanding of disability. Not only that, it draws us to the fact that this moment ought to be placed within a history of disability, a history that remains largely unwritten and that has been sidelined by mainstream society. To get a sense of this unwritten history of disability, consider the moment in the programme Jacob asked for help drinking his tea. Now today someone with Cerebral Palsy would just ask for a straw. But this just wasn’t thought of in the period in question. This scene impresses on us the liberating consequences of small things wider society takes for granted, and in doing so is just one example of why the programme was so important.
Read the full article at the Independent
(http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/call-the-midwife-is-making-bold-steps-in-portraying-disability-9136655.html)
I am just discovering this series. I had it saved on my Netflix for a long time but did not pay any attention to it.
ReplyDeleteThe lovely way human stories unfold naturally and very delicate matters are woven in for the story and not for shock value. It's beautiful, showing birth and death and the life in-between.
it's hard to articulate how refreshing it is.