Analysing cultural representations of disability | Anne-Marie Callus

Prof. Anne-Marie Callus, Department of Disability Studies

For those aged 50 and above, a reference to autism is quite likely to bring to mind Barry Levinson’s 1988 film Rain Man.

In this film, Dustin Hoffman plays the role of Raymond Babbitt, an autistic savant who has spent almost his entire life in an institution before he is abducted by his brother, Charlie (played by Tom Cruise), who wants his share of the three-million dollar inheritance that their recently deceased father bequeathed entirely to Raymond. Hoffman’s role landed him an Oscar for Best Actor (playing a disabled character quite often guarantees an Oscar). But, without taking anything away from Hoffman’s accomplishment as an actor, the character of Raymond leaves much to be desired as far as autistic people go.

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Understanding what is problematic about the portrayal of Raymond and why it should not be taken at face value is the type of task undertaken by an analytic approach that brings together disability studies and cultural studies. Undertaking such analyses is important as many people are likely to encounter disabled people only through the media, rather than getting to know disabled individuals as persons in their own right. Consequently, passing representations of disability found in films, and other types of narratives and in the media more generally, through a critical filter can help make people more aware of what is based on stereotypes and misconceptions and what is a more authentic portrayal of the lives of disabled persons. This knowledge can, in turn, help us gain a better understanding of how these persons experience living with a disability.

What, then, could be critiqued about Rain Man? First off, it gives the impression that all autistic people have a phenomenal memory, just like Raymond.

In reality, it is around 10% of people with autism who have such exceptional abilities. Reinforcing this aspect feeds into the idea that disabled people – including those who have autism – have outstanding abilities that somehow compensate for their functional impairments. But it does not work like that. Like the rest of the population, disabled people have a range of abilities and competencies. Some are exceptionally gifted – for example Stephen Hawking – but most are just like everybody else. Secondly, for someone with autism who has lived in a structured and institutionalised manner since infancy, Raymond’s adaptation to the hectic and unpredictable world outside is highly unrealistic. Thirdly, the film does not in any way take contemporary social changes into account. The film was made in the late eighties, two decades after the start of deinstitutionalisation in the United States and the relocation of disabled people into community-based supported living services. With at least a million and a half dollars at Raymond’s disposal, there was a golden opportunity for him to live within a community. Instead, the plot sends him back to his institution at the end of the film. And, finally, Raymond’s sole purpose in the narrative seems to be to teach his brother a lesson about what is important in life and to help him become a better person.

Intersecting disability studies with cultural studies can help us appreciate all the implications of how the representation of a character with autism in Rain Man, and many other disabled characters in various narratives, are problematic. The main issue is that they are based on too many stereotypes and misconceptions for them to be authentic.

In turn, these representations serve to reinforce mistaken ideas about what it means to live with a disability. Thankfully, nowadays there are depictions of characters with disability that are more true to life. To stay with a focus on autism, one can refer to the films I Am Sam and My Name is Khan, the television series Atypical and The A Word, and the cartoon series Pablo, for example.

Analysing cultural representations of disability from a cultural and disability studies viewpoint – or reading such analyses written by others – can help us appreciate what lies beneath the surface of these representations.

Ultimately, the most important thing to keep in mind is that we cannot assume that we know what the lives of disabled persons are like simply by watching a film or reading a newspaper article.

However authentic the representations that we encounter may be, there is no substitute to listening to the direct life experience of disabled persons and being attentive to their personal perspectives about their own lives.