1. The Portrayal of Disabilities in
Movies
Amber White
8 December 2014
STA144

2. Research question
 Has the portrayal of disabilities in
American theater released -movies
changed significantly since 1970s until
2010, especially with the passage of the
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990?

3. Background
 17 percent of Americans live with a disability of
some kind, yet a smaller percentage of movies
feature disability significantly
 The majority of those reinforce harmful
stereotypes of people with disabilities
 Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 prohibits
discrimination based on disabilities
 This may or may not have changed the public
cinematic perspective

4. Background - Rubric
 Movies included that feature disability in a
somewhat significant way (such as a major
character or a noticeable scene)
 Will use two sets: 1970 to 1990 and 1990 to
2010
 Could only find 128 movies that meet criteria

5. Background - Modified Bechdel
Test
SCORE POINT OF EVALUATION
 1 There's a disabled character visible
 2 Who wants something, and tries to get it
 3 Other than a) Death, b) Cure, c) Revenge, or d) by
making a fool of themselves
 4 Who is not portrayed using other common
stereotypes, such as a victim, a mere prop to able-bodied
characters, or a phony
 5 Who is a developed character in the plot

6. Background - List of Disabilities
 List of disabilities for this project not comprehensive: for
clarity, only the disabilities that are the most noticeable
 Categorized in the following way:
 A. Amputee
 B. Paralysis - includes paraplegia, quadriplegia, spina bifida
 C. Blindness
 D. Bone
 E. Deafness
 F. Developmental
 G. Disfigurement - congenital, acquired
 H. Dwarfism
 I. General - undefined fantastical, vague portrayal in movie
 J. Limb
 K. Motor disorder - cerebral palsy, Tourette’s syndrome
 L. Speech impairment - includes mutism, stuttering

7. Background - Disclaimers
 I did not watch all these movies personally, but
analyzed plot summaries and respected reviews
 Although some subjectivity of the ratings is
inevitable, I attempted to be as objective and
specific as possible while formulating the rubric
 The score does not indicate the quality of the
movie - it only concerns the perspective on
disability

8. Background - Figures
 Analysis of movies from 1970 to 2010
 From the total number of theatrical releases
during that period (10,979 movies) was drawn a
17-percent set that most specifically focus on
disabilities
 This is the population from that set: 1,866
movies
 The sample size is n: 128 movies (the most that
could be identified using criteria of American,
theater-released)

9. Null and Alternative Hypotheses
 Null hypothesis: The mean rubric ranking of
disability-related movies from 1970 to 1990 is not
significantly different from the mean ranking of such
movies from 1990 to 2010.
 H0: μ2 = μ1
 Alternative hypothesis: The mean rubric ranking of
disability-related movies from 1970 to 1990 is
significantly different from the mean ranking of such
movies from 1990 to 2010.
 H1: μ2 ≠ μ1

10. Decision Rule
 We reject the null hypothesis, H0, when the p-value
is more than +1.96 or less than -1.96.
This would be a rare outcome (red).
 We accept the null hypothesis, H0, when the p-value
is between -1.96 and +1.96. This would
be a common outcome.

11. Data Analysis
 Two mean t-test
 Excel data sheet
 Descriptives
 Histogram
 Scatterplots
 Pie chart

12. Data Analysis - Test Statistic
 Two sample t-test
 Involving the means of the two samples, the hypothesized
difference between the sample means, the standard
deviations of the samples, and the sizes of the samples
t= .573 p-value=.5677 df=126

13. Data Analysis (example of Excel data)
•(converted all of this data, except for the year, into a numerical format for Rcmdr)

14. Data Analysis - Descriptives
a
(1970-1990)
b
(1990-2010)
total
1970-2010
MEAN 2.937 3.047 2.992
MEDIAN 3 3 3
SD 1.037 1.133 1.079
VAR 1.075 1.284 1.164
N 64 64 128

15. Data Analysis - Histogram
• Year a= 1970-1990
• Year b= 1990-2010

16. Data Analysis - Scatterplot 1970-1990

17. Data Analysis - Scatterplot 1990-2010

18. Data Analysis - Pie chart of
disabilities
a. Amputee
b. Paralysis
-paraplegia,
quadriplegia, spina bifida
c. Blindness
d. Bone
e. Deafness
f. Developmental
g. Disfigurement
-congenital, acquired
h. Dwarfism
i. General
-fantastical,
Undefined/vague
portrayal in movie
j. Limb
k. Motor disorder
-cerebral palsy, Tourette’s syndrome
l. Speech impairment
-includes mutism, stuttering

19. The decision and interpretation
of the decision
 Since p-value= .5677 is between +1.96 and -1.96, this is a common
outcome and so we fail to reject the null hypothesis.
 Since we failed to reject the null hypothesis, we can conclude that
the mean rubric rating of 64 American theater-released films from
1970 to 1990 that feature disability in a major way is not
significantly different than the mean rubric rating of 64
American theater-released films from 1990 to 2010 that feature
disability in a major way.
 Thus, the overall portrayal of disabilities in American theater-released
films has not changed significantly from the time intervals
of 1970-1990 and 1990-2010.

20. Conclusions
 Comparatively, there are few American theater-released
movies that feature disability, and even
fewer represent them accurately
 The passage of the Americans with Disabilities
Act of 1990 did not seem to make a noticeable
difference
 The time period 1990-2010 merely contained
slightly more ratings of 5 and slightly fewer
numbers of the other ratings

21. Future Directions
 Larger sample size if possible
 Somehow take into consideration the intent of the movie
and its genre
 for example, comedies favor making fun of everything
 Increase awareness about the true nature of disabilities,
as well as people with disabilities
 relationship between movies and society (a reflection either
way)
 Help improve this situation and move toward a more
accurate portrayal of this under- and misrepresented
minority group

22. Bibliography
 Darwood, M. (n.d.). Representation of Disability. In Media Studies A2. Retrieved December 7,
2014, from http://mdawood.weebly.com/disability.html
 Disability Movie Stereotypes and Cliches. (2014). In Disability Movies. Retrieved December 1,
2014, from http://disabilitymovies.com/disability-movie-cliches/
 Ebert, R. (2014). Movie Reviews and Ratings. In RogerEbert.com. Retrieved December 1,
2014, from http://www.rogerebert.com/
 Nash Information Services, LLC. (2014). Top Movies of Each Year. In The Numbers. Retrieved
from http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/#tab=year
 Timmons, J. (2003, March). Movies with Characters with Disabilities. In Teaching FIlm,
Television, and Media. Retrieved December 1, 2014, from
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~rbeach/teachingmedia/student_units/module5/disabilities_timmons.pdf
 Steele, S. (2014). More on the Bechdel Test. In Pass the Bechdel Test. Retrieved December 1,
2014, from http://www.passthebechdeltest.com/what-is-the-bechdel-test/

23. Annotated Bibliography
Darwood, M. (n.d.). Representation of Disability. In Media Studies A2. Retrieved
December 7, 2014, from http://mdawood.weebly.com/disability.html
Darwood explains, in staccato essay format, the protrayal of people with disabilities
in film and other media avenues. The most common stereotypes that she lists are
ten in number and are taken from the work of Paul Hunt. Darwood also explains two
different theoretical models of disability and analyzes two specific movies
about characters with disabilities.
This is a valuable resource in viewing cinematic portrayal of disability without going
into excessive detail. Darwood is brief, but precise, and her site aids as a
launching pad for futher research.

25. Annotated Bibliography
Disability Movie Stereotypes and Cliches. (2014). In Disability Movies. Retrieved
December 1, 2014, from http://disabilitymovies.com/disability-movie-cliches/
This website, written “by, for, and about people with disabilities,” serves as a
commentary on specific movies about disabilities, as well as general observations of
such movies overall. It focuses on a number of specific movies and also explains
some common movie stereotypes and examples. Also listed is a “Hall of Shame” of
disliked films and a “Favorites” page.
Disability Movies serves as a useful resource of the perspective of individuals
with disabilities themselves, critiquing the current state of movies factually and
creatively.

27. Annotated Bibliography
Ebert, R. (2014). Movie Reviews and Ratings. In RogerEbert.com. Retrieved December
1, 2014, from http://www.rogerebert.com/
Roger Ebert, the late film critic, still offers his extensive array of reviews on this
website. In each review, Ebert interweaves the movie summary with his own
observations, opinions, and humor. Ebert was not only a film critic, but also a
voice from the disabled community, especially in his later years.
He takes a solid perspective on disability-related movies, and serves as a credible
source given his experience in, and respect from, the disabled community. An
insightful, articulate, and entertaining writer, Ebert’s words offer rich and
understanding to many films.

29. Annotated Bibliography
Nash Information Services, LLC. (2014). Top Movies of Each Year. In The Numbers.
Retrieved from http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/#tab=year
This is where “data and the movie business meet.” True to its tagline, The
Numbers contains a myriad of information concerning box office sales, dvd/blu-ray
sales, theatrical records, theatrical release schedule, movie budgets, and latest
news. It also has a movie index, which lists all the movies released in theaters since
1915, as well as the highest-grossing movie per year.
This is a good place to collect solid figures, especially when one wants to know
the number of movies released during a specific time period and how well,
financially, they were received by the public.

31. Annotated Bibliography
Steele, S. (2014). More on the Bechdel Test. In Pass the Bechdel Test.
Retrieved December 1, 2014, from
http://www.passthebechdeltest.com/what-is-the-bechdel-test/
In this website, Steele promotes the campaign Pass the Bechdel Test,
which she calls a “grassroots campaign appealing to the film industry.” As
a filmmaker, she includes different aspects of the campaign on her site,
including research, questions, information from filmmakers, ways to
get involved, and, of course, the quiz itself, which is a rubric designed
to evaluate movies based on their representation of women.
Steele gives rich information on this quiz and seems willing to put forth
the effort to enact change. She also includes information on the instances
during which the Bechdel Test would be impractical to use.

33. Annotated Bibliography
Timmons, J. (2003, March). Movies with Characters with Disabilities. In Teaching FIlm,
Television, and Media. Retrieved December 1, 2014, from
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~rbeach/teachingmedia/student_units/module5/disabilities_ti
mmons.pdf
Timmons lists the title of the movie, the year, the disability featured, and a
summary condensed into one or two sentences.
In this simple, but valuable list, one can launch into further investigation. Skimming
through the bare-bones descriptions Timmons writes gives one a way to narrow
down which movies to research and which to skip, if one is focusing on specific time
periods and disabilities.