High Profile for Disabilities on Reality TV
I'm no big fan of reality TV, but it does seem to be providing an opportunity, more and more now, for people with disabilities (and their families and friends) to tell their stories and raise their visibility.
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition frequently showcases special-needs stories, and America's Next Top Model recently featured a contestant with Asperger syndrome. Coming up, the new charity competition Oprah's Big Give will feature a contestant who uses a wheelchair, and the next round of Dancing With the Stars includes deaf actress Marlee Matlin (right) among its celebrity hoofers.
Meanwhile, in previously mentioned stories, Trace Adkins is still competing on behalf of the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network on The Celebrity Apprentice, though the mother of a child with Rett syndrome who tried out for American Idol didn't make it to the top 24.
Of course, with all that good press, it's not surprising that some bad press creeps in, too. This week, it comes courtesy of Adam Jasinski, one of the roommates on Big Brother. According to an MSNBC report, Adam, who claims to work for an autism foundation, said he'd use his prize money to open a hair salon for the developmentally disabled. Sounds nice enough, but then he went ahead and elaborated that he would do it "so retards can get it together and get their hair done." When another contestant, Sheila, complained, he said, "Disabled kids. I can call them whatever I want. I work with them all day, OK?"
The group Autism United quickly demanded that CBS apologize, dump Jasinski, and cancel the show. The network issued a statement agreeing that the words were offensive but suggesting that Sheila's reaction balanced it out. United Autism Foundation, for which Jasinski allegedly worked, has a statement on its site apologizing for and disassociating itself from his controversial pronouncements.
And over on the Autism Vox blog, the comments section is full of interesting findings about the legitimacy of both the United Autism Foundation and Autism United.
What do you think about the Big Brother brouhaha? Will you be rooting for Marlee Matlin on Dancing With the Stars? Have you seen any other reality-TV stories with a special-needs connection? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images
Comments
I was hoping you were going to bring this up. I was watching Big Brother when he (Adam) said that, and I had to do a double-TiVo take. I thought maybe I had misunderstood what he said, but no, I didn’t. My S.O. then made the comment of “what’s wrong with what he said?”, I looked at him like he was nuts and said “well for starters, special needs kids are not retards. Robert is a special needs child, do you think he’s retarded?” And of course he said no. I just thought it was crazy that he even thought that. Once I expained why I was heated, he got it.
As for Adam’s comment, just because you work with special needs children day in and day out, doesn’t give you the right to label them. IMO, he has no respect for these kids, their parents or the everyday struggles that they face. If any of my son’s teachers had called him a “retard” due to his CAPD, there would be h*ll to pay, believe me.
Hear, hear!
This is a little off-topic, but I still remember a number of years ago I was watching “Friends” with the closed captioning on, and Monica was sarcastically pretending to laugh (in a goofy, very unattractive way) at something stupid someone had said. The closed captioning read: “laughs retardedly”. I felt like I’d been slapped! This is a professional service that a lot of people use, and they should know better than to use terminology like that. How did that make it on the air? Of course I never got around to officially complaining, and I’ve always regretted it.
I don’t watch Big Brother, but I think that guy should be removed. It’s one thing if some backwards, stupid person who’s never had experience with people with special needs makes a comment like that (not excusable, but easier to take), but for someone who works with kids every day to say it? If there are no repercussions for him, it legitimizes using that offensive term. Don Imus lost his job for using similar terminology about another group. Get that ass off the show now!