Respect for Otherness

Films about people with disabilities

There are numerous films about people with disabilities, they almost form their own genre of cinema. Often they tell of friendship, love and determination, but almost always they are about being different, often about rejection and exclusion. The line between pity and compassion is thin, and a story can all too quickly slip into clichés. One of the decisive factors is the effort not to treat a handicap as a character-determining factor, but to present the handicapped person respectfully as a whole.

There are numerous films about people with disabilities, they almost form their own genre of cinema. Often they tell of friendship, love and determination, but almost always they are about being different, often about rejection and exclusion. The line between pity and compassion is thin, and a story can all too quickly slip into clichés. One of the decisive factors is the effort not to treat a handicap as a character-determining factor, but to present the handicapped person respectfully as a whole.

There are numerous films about people with disabilities, they almost form their own genre of cinema. Often they tell of friendship, love and determination, but almost always they are about being different, often about rejection and exclusion. The line between pity and compassion is thin, and a story can all too quickly slip into clichés. One of the decisive factors is the effort not to treat a handicap as a character-determining factor, but to present the handicapped person respectfully as a whole.