In American society, a premium is placed on perfection. If one possesses physical beauty, they can almost always be forgiven their other shortcomings. If someone is a genius, he can be forgiven his rude manners. If you are an outstanding athlete, you can almost get away with murder. But if you have a mental impairment or glaring physical imperfection, you are labeled a loser.
Have you ever seen “American Baby” magazine? It is just chock-full of beautiful, perfect babies. When Evan was born, we somehow received a subscription to this magazine. Needless to say, I tossed it in the trash each moth. It was just too heartbreaking to see those flawless children and read the cheery articles. I longed to see just one article that dealt with having a special needs baby.
According to the March of Dimes, one out of every 28 babies born in the U.S. will have some type of birth defect. That is over 150,000 babies per year. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that 20% of the population has some sort of disability. With statistics such as these, it is surprising to me that magazines, television, and movies pretty much ignore this part of the population. Just as it is important for people of various ethnic backgrounds to see representations of themselves in print and on the screen, it is also important for people with disabilities to see others like themselves represented in the mainstream.
What am I saying? I just want Evan to see kids like him on television. (Why hasn’t Nickelodeon addressed this issue? Oh, yeah, they have one kid in a wheelchair on “Rocket Power.”) It would be great for him to open a magazine and see a guy with Down’s modeling shirts. (Evan is quite the clothes horse! Believe me, when he gets expendable income it’s going to go to clothes and CD’s.) I want him to see the possibilities. We can encourage him and tell him that these possibilities exist, but if he looks at the world around him and sees no proof, will he believe us?
Harold & I mourned the loss of the television show “Life Goes On” which depicted a family who had a teenage son with Down Syndrome. The wonderful thing about that show was that it showed a really honest depiction of what it is like to live with a child who has Down’s. A few years ago, J.C. Penny’s broke ground by featuring people with disabilities in their advertising and catalogs. I don’t know what happened, but they have not repeated that type of ad.
