Seksualność osób z niepełnosprawnością ruchową w sztuce filmowej czyli kilka refleksji o edukacyjnym potencjale popkultury

Abstract

Dominated by stereotypes and myths, sexuality of disabled people is still a controversial issue. according to the most popular myths people with disabilities are: asexual, hypersexual or “forever” children; they may also have physiological problems during an intercourse. In fact, sexual problems of physically disabled people concern biological/physiological and cultural/psycho-social difficulties. The time of the disability presenting itself has an impact on the quality of one’s sexual life: people disabled form their birth in general experience more sexual problems than those who acquired this medical condition during their lives. In the past, the discourse of disabled people’s sexuality was physiologically orientated, whereas now it is dominated by psychological knowledge. Sexual fantasies, the acceptance of one’s disabled body and its erotic potential are significant components of the disabled people’s sexual satisfaction. Because of the “damaged” look, people with disabilities are rarely shown in the media as their images corrupt the audiences’ aesthetic pleasure of using visual media. Showing disabled people in terms of freak shows is only one category of the media (film) imagery classification; other types involve showing the disabled people as: stigmatised, marked by death, invisible to the others, sad and suffering, victims of violence, evildoers, their own enemies, objects of ridicule, and finally, flawless or normal people. The most appropriate way of showing the disabled in movies includes a change of the disability perception: from an exclusive label to one of many features. Only by using this attitude may the disabled be perceived more normally by the audience. The message of a film is not only entertainment but also a display of social attitudes towards people with disabilities. One of the widely commented movies presenting the image of isabled people’s sexuality is The Theory of Flight. The movie transgresses the stereotype of asexuality and shows an important (yet still shocking) social issue in an intelligible way. By showing sexual needs as universal and natural to all humans, the story normalizes the media imagery of people with disabilities.