Tag: Disabilities in the media

Very sad , but something that needs to be shared:

Disabled Pregnant Woman Used As Target Practice, Dies

My question is a simple one: What makes people this cruel? She was obvious not a threat, she had the mentality of a child so they couldn’t very well hold her accountable for anything she may have said/done that might have pissed them off. But to TORTURE, IMPRISON HER in a basement for months on end….WHY, why, WHY?

What do they get out of this??

– Tiff

If you’re a woman with a disability residing in the UK who’s been chomping at the bit to enter the world of modeling, this is your chance.

A new TV show on BBC THREE called Models Uncovered will be premiering later this year. “Models Uncovered is a new BBC THREE show where eight contestants live together in a fully accessible apartment, get fashion model training from the best in the business, and fight it out for the ultimate prize. The winner will be given their own photo spread in one of the country’s premier fashion magazines, and receive representation by a top agency.”

For more info visit the BBC Ouch! website.

– Tiff

It’s been years now since this revolutionary modeling agency closed it’s doors, but it still comes to my mind every once in awhile and is definitely worth blogging about. It was called the Shot (founded by Curtis Funn and Thom Gilbert) and I’d direct you to their website if I could, but it’s no longer available. This modeling agency solely had disabled models on their rooster (27 in total), ranging from people with SCI (mainly paras) to amputees. They were a breath of fresh air in the modeling world to be sure.

The New York Times even did an expansive article on the agency way back in 1997 when they first opened their doors: Models With the Ability Break Down Barriers. Paralympians like Chris Waddell and Allison Pittman were some of their notable models, as well as para and soap star from “Port Charles,” Mitch Longley (that’s him in the Ralph Lauren ad above), to amputee Ivy Gunter.

The reason as to why the agency closed was never revealed (to my knowledge at least), but one has to guess it was due to money issues, which likely stemmed from not getting enough bookings. I wonder…if an agency like this opened again in 2008, do you think it would it have a better chance at surviving? Any thoughts on how the mainstream media has gotten better or worse regarding it’s open-mindedness to disability?

– Tiff

This has been known for awhile now, but for those of you not as fully into the know as everyone else, a really interesting/beautiful/controversial calendar called, Angels Without Wings, was published a couple of years ago by Italian photographer Gianfranco Angelico Benevunto. It features 12 photos of scantily clad/nude women in wheelchairs.Now, some of you may be wondering why? What’s the purpose? And to be honest, it’s in the eye of the beholder. Some of the images may be percieved as controversial, others may find them sexy, and there are others who may even find them absurd. I don’t know about you, but if someone wrapped-up my sexy nekkid bod in Saran Wrap and put Skittles in my wheels, then took a pic, I’d consider it art!

Check of the link above to form your own opinion! Ciao, chow my lovies

I just watched the 2004 movie starring Macaulay Culkin (as a paraplegic no less) in “Saved!,” for the second time today. It was like watching it for the first time though. My memory usually fails me at remembering every part of a movie if I’ve only watched it one time, and yup, this time was no different. The great surprise about watching this film for a second time around however was the smile that got plastered all over my face after watching Macaulay Culkin’s character on-screen. Can I just say for the record how kick this character was not only written, but acted?

Kudos to Macaulay and to whomever the writer was; for reals. Usually when I watch a character on-screen with a SCI, my usual reaction is a deep, face-reddening cringe. I actually get embarrassed for the actor when watching a poorly written SCI character! I can’t even stand it most of the time and walk out of the theater if it gets really bad. But “Roland,” Culkin’s character in this film, was dead-on perfect. The chair, the way his legs sat, the wheelchair-van, the hand-controls in his girlfriend’s car (that she installed just for him), to how he was constantly reading a magazine in high school whenever he got bored or ignored (while riding in his van, in P.E. class…), was beautifully accurate.

And the best part of the film has got to be the romance he has with the quintessential “bad girl” at his over-the-top annoying Evangelical high school. She’s Jewish, a rumored stripper, an Atheist (just like him), and only goes to their school because she was expelled from every other school she’s gone to. “I wonder if everything below his waist is paralyzed,” she hysterically wonders during one of their daily mandatory prayer sessions. I mean, for serious, can this film get any better?

Impossible!