Monday, October 7, 2013

Disabled-mania

OK, not to brag, but I have a disability and use a wheelchair. (Cue screaming girls, ala Beatlemania.)

I cannot recall a time when having a disability was frankly just smoking hot.

We have two primetime TV shows where the lead actor has a disability, and in both shows -- The Michael J. Fox Show and Ironside -- disabilidy and living with one are major themes.

Even better, one star (Michael J. Fox) actually really has a disability! Shocking, I know. Even my brother-in-law gave a thumbs-up to The Michael J. Fox Show. It is about a family dealing with the dad's Parkinson's disease. It is hilarious and sad at the same time.

The dad throws a roll at a son who is texting at the dinner table and the son says if that was Parkinson's, OK; otherwise, come on ... I am sure everyone with a disability can relate to people not knowing whether some action was on purpose or disability-related.

It mocks the culture that calls people heroes merely because they have a disability.

Ironside stars poseur Blair Underwood as a detective using a chair after he was shot. I do not know what it is like to lose the use of your legs but maintain normal control of the rest of you. But I think Underwood may be a little more-abled. He had a scene in the premiere that reminded me of the scene in Footloose when Kevin Bacon dances all through that abandoned factory. I almost expected Underwood to leap onto some uneven bars and do flips. And he has a really hot girlfriend, too.

As I said I do not know if it is realistic, but like Artie on Glee loses points for not being a wheelchair user in real life.

Not like say the Push Girls, which I have never seen.

And I just saw a photo of Lady Gaga in a chair. WTF? This is what.

And there is the Guinness' wheelchair basketball ad that AdWeek says spun circles around competitors in Q3. It does tug at your heart-strings, a bunch of pals playing wheelchair basketball and at the end all of them get out of the chairs but one. You think, What a great bunch of friends. on the realistic scale, again I wasn't sure. I would think wheelchair athletes would have crazy upper-body strength from pushing a wheelchair, not sure friends could learn it.

But who cares? It shows that we are effing hip. I am ready for my close-up.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh yeah, we are total hipsters. I think now is the time for you to write a script. With all of your stories and those of us around you I know it would be a hit. The sarcasm, dark humor and cursing would definitely rock.
sdt

Anonymous said...

you are HILARIOUS! Ergo...hot.


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