"Where did you see that Auti sold her body?" On the show. Not to belabor this, but it was Auti's description of what she did the day/night of her wreck, something she regretted… she seemed to suggest that her guilt about this, is what led her to the accident, that she was upset/ashamed and not focusing…..
To clarify: As a result of T/M, I am paralyzed in a manual wheelchair and the lower half of my body hurts constantly, ceaselessly burning, squeezing and stabbing. Since I'm afraid of cognitive deficits, because I depend on myself alone to take care of myself, I live in more pain because I've never taken the neurogenic drugs. T/M decimated my savings, nearly left me homeless, cut off most of what I did - from hot glass, to large scale sculpture, to performing and presenting my work, to kayaking, to playing the tenor saxophone (it's huge and hard to hold in the wheelchair); and the reaction by others to it, resulted in the loss of my job and profound social isolation. I live alone on the first floor of my two story house in a small town that has no paratransit and hire help to mow the lawn,buy my groceries and shovel the snow. I could use more help, but I can't afford it. So yes, the show does bother me, because I see the opportunity to educate or make change, wasted. Lots of shows entertain and educate - a little truth goes a long way. I LOVED GLEE for its inclusion of, among others, a wheelchair character. There were story lines about inclusion and accommodation -- how he had to get to competitions outside the school, the time everyone got in a wheelchair to figure out what he faced. It struck home because the last reading I did in town, back in 2008 when I first came home, was at the major middle school, where they assured me they had access. The school bus hired to convey me had tie downs but no seat belt at the wheelchair spot. The wheelchair entry was steep and around the side and down the back and vey scary to negotiate. The little elevator did not quite accommodate two, but could not be opened and closed by the wheelchair user alone…. I love the Xmen for the Professor Charles Xavier character (with my heartthrob Patrick Stewart depicting him in the film) who is their leader in a wheelchair, in both the animated and the live action. He's brilliant and wheelchair bound. Though as I hope for me, I'm sure his future holds an exoskeleton/walkingmachine. I loved when Private Practice included an emotionally complex character in a wheelchair a doctor who said at one point "ask me". O and his wheelchair was an education to me -- I didn't know they had wheelchairs that stood until I saw his in action! I think these fictional depictions have in their bits, been more educative and definitely more affirming than this "reality" I wish I didn't care -- and if I were able bodied, I wouldn't and certainly wouldn't watch, because when I was able bodied, i watched far less TV. But sadly I do care, because I'm a woman in a wheelchair, now in yet another unliberated minority and I have to attend to how my "group" is depicted. Akua A
