It's a familiar story: "Don't laugh," well-meaning parents would chide in hushed tones as they jerked their confused child away from us – and the discomfort our disabilities embodied.
Historically speaking, public perception of disability, however inaccurate, has been shaped largely by non-disabled people, and has been more reflective of prejudices and delusions of mainstream society than the true-to-life experiences of actual people with disabilities.
But make no mistake; while laughing at disability might be openly frowned upon by our parents, the practice has been with us in a variety of ways for centuries.
Laughing at Disability, Not With it
From the days of court jesters to modern examples like midget bowling on Howard Stern or even Porky Pig's stutter and Mr. Magoo's tendency to walk into walls in children's cartoons, physical and mental departures from the norm have long been mined for comedic effect. Often at the expense of people with disabilities.
Able-bodied takes on disability seemed to follow this simple rule: As long as depictions of disability were cartoonish, ridiculous or slapstick there was just enough distance from the fears of mom and dad to get away with the gag. It didn't matter that that we didn't find the jokes funny, because people with disabilities weren't the intended audience. Nor, it should be made clear, were we involved in writing, acting, directing or producing the material.
In what might seem at first glance to be a shift of seismic proportions, all that seems to be changing.
How did people with disabilities go from objects of able-bodied ridicule to writing and performing our own material – to mainstream audiences -- from a uniquely "crip-centered" perspective?
Paving the Way: Geri Jewell
A strong case could be made that Geri Jewell's regular appearances on TV's Facts of Life (12 episodes from 1980-1984) were important first steps with regard to greater understanding and representation of disability in popular culture.
Much the same way the television program Will and Grace (and Ellen before it) paved the way for greater acceptance of gays and lesbians years later, Geri Jewell's affable, non-threatening depiction as Blair's "Cousin Geri" on the popular sitcom Facts of Life gave many Americans their first depiction of a person with a disability outside a telethon or fundraising appeal, living independently.
In short, performing a joke, rather than being the butt of somebody else's, is a powerful and influential evolutionary step.
This has influenced comedy from non-disability sources as well.
From Outside the Disability Community
The Farrelly Brothers (There's Something About Mary, Stuck on You, The Ringer) have featured characters with disabilities in prominent (and usually very funny) roles in almost every film they've produced. Comedy Central's popular and long-running equal opportunity offender, South Park, includes not one but two regularly occurring characters with disabilities, Timmy and Jimmy – complete with inside jokes that only those within the disability community are likely to understand.
Comedians and psychologists alike will tell you humor works when audiences are surprised by refreshing, off-kilter perspectives on ideas we are familiar with. We laugh when a new insight flips a notion we'd accepted on its head and reveals a point of view we'd not yet considered.
Comedy routines centered on embarrassing encounters and difficult environments do this almost by design and the emergence of more disability centered comedy since Geri Jewell's appearances on Facts of Life first aired nearly three decades ago has helped shift the focus away from ridicule toward a more direct, resonate representation of disability.
Using Disability for Comedic Fodder
Rather than shy away from the awkwardness that sometimes surrounds living with a disabling condition, the best comedians use it -- as did Richard Pryor when confronting race issues or Roseanne Barr's domestic goddess persona -- confronting prejudice with a wink and a nod, forcing acceptance of disability by representing disability as part of the overall human experience, as one of many colors within the broad spectrum of social diversity.
There is probably no better example of how far we've come than the success of Josh Blue.
Josh Blue Makes Fun of His Disability First
A stand-up comedian and U.S. Paralympic soccer player, Josh Blue's material dives headfirst into his experiences living with cerebral palsy. Josh Blue jokes, "I realize people are going to stare so I want to give them something to stare at." He uses self-deprecating humor to shatter stereotypes and pre-conceived notions about people with disabilities.
Before beating out 11 other contestants on NBC's Last Comic Standing in 2006, Josh Blue guest-starred regularly on Comedy Central's Mind of Mencia. At the 2004 Las Vegas Comedy Festival, he won the $10,000 Grand Prize at the Royal Flush Comedy Competition. In 2005, he earned rave reviews on the college circuit and a nomination for "Best Diversity Event of 2006." He recently released his first live concert film 7 More Days in the Tank!
Josh Blue's comedy works because, well, he's funny and has always remained true to himself. Rather than change his routine to try and fit another demographic or appeal to another audience, Josh Blue uses his disability to communicate greater human truths that we all can identify with.
Moreover, we live in an age where reality TV and interactive media have exposed his talent to audiences greater than broadcast TV ever imagined. The near-perfect intersection of talent, a variety of distribution methods and skillful use of the interactive space make Josh Blue a prime "disaboomer."
In the last three decades, people with disabilities have gone from being laughed at by others, to laughing at ourselves, to laughing at the situations we find ourselves in, to, at long last, laughing at how non-disabled people react to us. And increasingly, it is on the disability community’s terms.
Who's laughing now? Everyone, it seems.
It's about time.
BIO: Lawrence Carter-Long is the Director of Advocacy for the Disabilities Network of NYC and curator of the groundbreaking disTHIS! Film Series: disability through a whole new lens. As a critic/social commentator on disability issues, he has been featured on CNN (including regular appearances on Nancy Grace), the New York Times (Style section, above the fold!), NBC's Today Show and National Public Radio, among other regional and local outlets. Lawrence is a nationally recognized public speaker and regularly facilitates workshops on effective communication techniques at conferences and universities across the nation.He is a producer on WBAI's Largest Minority Radio Show, where he reports on disability, culture and community and can currently be seen performing as a part of FROM THE LIMB with Heidi Latsky Dance.
See Lawrence Carter Long's Profile on Disaboom
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