Family Guy and Down Syndrome

Way to go, Andrea! It's great to see that she has been successful with her condition and has a great sense of humor about it. I think that humor can often diffuse the charge of an offense and can ruin the offender's day. Something they intended to hurt gets brushed off and when they see the victim doesn't care it probably frustrates them even more. Obviously some cases may be more severe than others and humor might not be the best way to address it, but it can be a powerful counter attack with small offenses.
It also shows that sometimes the the majority group is more concerned about it that the group being stigmatized. Whites are the dominant majority in our country and sometimes they do more to preserve political correctness than the groups that might be offended. Pardon my political ideology, but I think Palin is just on an ethical tirade to make herself seem pure and hypermoral and draw in those ignorant enough to believe that she is so. She'll probably make some response to this saying that Andrea's family has brainwashed her into beleiveing that it is okay to make fun of people with such disabilities and blame it on poor parenting. To me however, Andrea seems to be the more intelligent one.

I watched the episode of Family Guy (I am a big fan of the show) and I tried to be objective with how the character with Down's Syndrome was portrayed. I could immediately tell that they had an actress who had Down's syndrome play the part. Too often shows and movies have non-disabled actors play the part of someone with a disability when the role could have easily been filled by someone with that particular disability. This to me was an extremely positive approach by Family Guy because it did not allow the character "Ellen" from becoming a caricature of someone with Down's syndrome.

Next, in terms of content, Family Guy treated character "Ellen" fairly (at least for them). The character Stewie got in some stereotypical mannerisms of children with Down's syndrome (e.g. delayed social and mental abilities). Anyway, Chris Griffin is in love with Ellen. He is not in love with the hot cheerleaders, he is in love with this girl with a disability. He eventually works up the courage to ask her out on a date and he is extremely nervous about it going well and impressing Ellen. What's funny or ironic is, Ellen turns out to be a bad date. Not because of her disability but because she's actually quite bossy and rude. At the end of the episode, Chris says "I've always heard that people with Down's syndrome were different, but I guess they were wrong, you're just a@#holes like everyone else." So in actuality, the master status of Ellen was not her disability in the show, it was that she was a jerk. While it is in a negative direction, it was one of the few times I have seen Family Guy handle a character like this with a modicum of social productivity.

Disability stigma nowadays is more paternalism then anything else. People automatically cringe whenever a person with either a physical or mental disability is brought up in a tv show or a movie. When something like this Family Guy episode pops up, there is the automatic assumption that something is wrong and there needs to be a strong outrage against it. The nature of this response is such that it is a lot of non-disabled folks doing the talking. When someone says something racist in the public sphere, usually someone of the target race speaks out against it. When something sexist or homophobic is said, same thing, someone of that group offers a rebuttal. So why is it that if and when there is an issue with disabilities, persons with disabilities don't get to have the rebuttal. It's individuals like Sarah Palin who do the talking. This paternalistic practice actually takes the voice away from an Andrea Friedman. In her interview she seemed more than capable and competent to share her opinion, preferences, and to share her perfectly intact sense of humor.

Because social norms on treatment of disabilities have ushered us so far to the side of benevolence, we no longer are able to see persons with disabilities we just see the disabled that need protection. Our hypervigilence of political correctness is actually sabotaging what persons with disabilities most want: Autonomy as a human being. People read that comment by Andrea and more than likely surprised that a.) one with Down's syndrome could have an independent thought like this and b.) that they're not offended. Well I got news for you, I have met and befriend several individuals who have all types of physical and mental disabilities, and they are perfectly capable of speaking their own mind. Granted, there is still the obstacle that the world is made for more able-bodied people. Of course there is a need for accommodations and accessible facilities for persons with disabilities. Implementing such things for persons with disabilities does not mean that they must pay for it with a portion of their humanity, however. These implementations are merely so EVERYONE can participate at the same level as everyone else. Essentially, in Family Guy's terms, so EVERYONE can have the opportunity to be a@#holes.

Disability stigma has been thought of as a mark that is discrediting to one's full humanity (Goffman, 1963). Today that mark still stands, but instead of casting those with disabilities out, we now castigate all who dare to threaten them, deeming them innocents in need of protection. Either way, their full personhood is not granted.

Although, I might be biased too. I sure as hell don't want Sarah Palin as my spokesperson.