Every Picture Tells a Story

Thinking About Talking - #5

Heads up - this post mentions offensive words related to people with disabilities. Those of us lucky enough to be voice actors are hired for our ability to tell a story. Maybe the story is why you should buy something, or vote for someone. Maybe it's about how to use a new software at your workplace, or an annual update on a company.

Sometimes, you just hear our voices - think radio ads, or audiobooks. But often, our work is paired with a visual accompaniment. Commercials, eLearning modules, explainer videos, etc. Typically, we have no say in the imagery. Someone creates a video, we record a voiceover, they're paired together, and voila! A story is born.

But there are those of us who create content that we produce ourselves. And in those cases, all of the choices are ours.

A few days ago, a thumbnail for a YouTube video showed up in all my social media feeds. It referenced an announcement by Voices.com. (VDC)." (A quick aside, for those reading this who aren't in the VO business. Voices.com is a Pay to Play - an online casting site for voice actors, about which a lot of people have a lot of strong feelings.)

The word stupid was the largest one, and right next to it was a picture of a disheveled man with one extremely crossed eye, his tongue pushed out of the side of his mouth, a microphone in front of him. I actually agree with the premise of the video, which is that the newly launched "Affiliate Program" that VDC is pushing would be an extremely bad idea for any voice actor. That's not the point.

I made myself watch the video, in which the word "idiot" was used 12 times. Do you know the history of the word "idiot?" For most of my life, I didn't. According to Merriam-Webster, the word is one of a few, that was "not so long ago, used in a psychological classification system, and each one was assigned to a fairly specific range of abilities. Idiots. — Those so defective that the mental development never exceeds that of a normal child of about two years."

Thank heavens this is an outdated medical term. One of many for those with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities. (IDD)

But don't just take it from me that it's offensive. Andrew Pulrang is a blogger with lifelong disabilities who also writes a column for Forbes. In a column titled "It's Time To Stop Even Casually Misusing Disability Words," (https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewpulrang/2021/02/20/its-time-to-stop-even-casually-misusing-disability-words/?sh=607363e7d4e7) he writes,

“But the effort to reduce ableist language should also include rethinking more commonly-used and traditionally-accepted disability words and expressions that while not always offensive, tend to reinforce ableist thinking.

Start with abusive, corrosive slurs to avoid in all cases, effective yesterday.

• “Retarded,” “moron,” “idiot”

These words are peppered throughout some people’s everyday conversation, and have many different shades of contextual meaning. However, they are all terms that have historically been used to label people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. And while these and similar words were at one time considered technical or “scientific” labels, they have always also carried a heavy social stigma and power to inflict real harm. Most people with these disabilities have intensely painful experiences being called “retarded,” “moron,” or “idiot” in clearly insulting ways. The fact that people still use such terms without intending to hurt disabled people doesn’t matter. They are harmful in all cases.” (Emphasis mine.)

Like most of us, I have multiple titles: Voice Actor, Singer/Songwriter, Daughter, Friend, Wife - and Mom.

Sometimes that first title and the last one intersect. This is one of those times. I have three kids. One of them has multiple disabilities - physical and intellectual. For now, things are mostly ok. The kids are all still kids, and most people are pretty nice - at least outwardly - to kids with disabilities.

But adults with IDD, or representations of them? From what I can see, it's not the same situation.

Every picture tells a story. And the only story I can surmise from this graphic is that this man is obviously "stupid" - crossed eyes and a tongue out of the mouth are . . .funny? Only someone who is "stupid" would look like that, right? In fact, this exact photo was very easy to find in a stock photo service, listed under the tags "idiot" and "the moron," among others.

I posed the question on social media - what did people think about this graphic? And I'll say that all those who responded either know me and our family's situation well, or themselves work in disability advocacy in one way or another, so it's not exactly an unbiased crowd. But I trusted them to tell me if I was overreacting. One friend said:

"This very inaccurately links intelligence with disability through a focus on physical appearance. Obviously the verbiage is also offensive and outdated. Very poor and uninformed taste." Exactly.

So what's the problem? What happens when kids with IDD grow into adults? Well, according to some sources I've read -

They are disproportionately represented in the homeless population.

(https://ps.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.ps.201800590)

They're more likely than others to be unemployed.

(https://www.specialolympics.org/our-work/research/national-snapshot-of-adults-with-intellectual-disabilities-in-the-labor-force#:~:text=The%20unemployment%20rate%20for%20adults,without%20disabilities%20who%20are%20unemployed.)

And there is a one-in-three chance that they will be sexually abused. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7921934/)

Just typing this out made me feel sick. Stories can do that to you, too. But when a group of people is used as a punchline, is any of this really a surprise?

One friend commented to me, "I'm sure you know this, this is likely coming from ignorance. I doubt he intended to be malicious." And I agree, I don't think anyone set out to be deliberately hurtful. Which is why I reached out to the person who created this content. We had a couple of civil exchanges, but it became clear pretty quickly that we were going to have to agree to disagree. I'd hoped that by pointing out why it was harmful, that I'd actually be helping - there's no shame in making mistakes! But it's unfortunate when we refuse to realize that they are mistakes. Oh well. I tried.

We all err when we don't know better. So to anyone reading or listening, I'm writing this so that you do know better. This is offensive. This is actively harmful.

Just as disappointing as the image and video themselves were the reactions of those who laughed at it, celebrated it, and congratulated its creator on a job well done. Once again, I find myself hoping for ignorance as an explanation. Every picture tells a story. Is this the story that we want to tell, or applaud?

We creative types are incredibly lucky people. We are story tellers. Sometimes we even get to choose the tales we tell. When we do, maybe we can try to tell those that are good and true. (That doesn't have to mean happy. The truth about the truth? It isn't always happy.) And while we're at it, we can be good listeners as well. As Alan Alda wrote, "“Listening is being able to be changed by the other person.”

Maya Angelou said it best: "Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better."

I'd like to end this with suggesting a couple of sources to check out on disability. My experience as a parent is one thing, but more valuable is the experience of those personally living with disability, of various kinds.

I've already mentioned Andrew Pulrang. Anything he writes is worth reading, in my opinion. I'm linking here to another really interesting article from earlier this year.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewpulrang/2022/05/25/5-reasons-why-disability-activism-is-still-hard/?sh=72f3abcc3256

Meriah Nichols - who writes from the perspectives of both parent and disabled person, has a FB page called "Unpacking Disability," which has been of great value to me. https://www.facebook.com/meriahnichols/

I hope you'll take the time to read them both - they offer great opportunities for learning, reflection, and growth. And that the next time you come across an image like the one I've described, or offensive slurs thrown about in a misguided attempt to make a point, you'll think about it differently. That's it for now. Thanks for reading or listening, and have a wonderful week.