Monday, February 18, 2008

I watch too much television

I think I've missed two days of updates. (To be fair, I did write yesterday, but elsewhere.) I blame having to organize YLGC meetings and having a really awful cold. I stayed in bed yesterday, then today I moved onto the sofa. Much CSI has been watched. That programme does a lot of representing of disability, and a wide range of disability-related issues at that. Are some of the writers disabled? There can be no other reason, surely, in our world where crip issues are considered so minority-interest that most producers would stick them on Radio 4 at one o'clock in the morning between Today in Parliament and the National Anthem if they had the chance. The only representation I didn't like so far was a violent bipolar girl (oh how original), but even that had an almost Social Model twist to it. Interesting stuff all round.

I should perhaps be reading sociology, but there is no energy. Maybe tomorrow. Although I also want to sort out my garden and go to Argos. We shall see how the weather turns out.

This has been another 'My life is very dull. Why am I telling you this rubbish?' post. OK then.

5 comments:

Lisa said...

There's a former real-life CSI who is now a writer/consultant on the show who has an autistic son. He was the inspiration for the episode with the autistic witness.

The reason they gave Grissom a hearing impairment is because the writers realised they'd given him appalling social skills, which didn't really fit seeing as how he's so perfect at everything else. So they had him losing his hearing as a way of explaining why he's so bad at interacting with people.

Naomi J. said...

Lisa: I wasn't thinking about Grissom's hearing loss, actually, although that's an interesting solution to portraying him as unable to communicate well (I can't help but think that writers without any experience of disability would come up with a different solution). It's all the cases that involve disability - Little People, victims with Downs Syndrome, lawyers who use wheelchairs, Deaf people, people with bipolar who can't get the treatment they need, and, yes, the autistic witness. It's a much wider range of responses to, and representations of disability than I think I've seen on *any* other TV programme.

Lisa said...

Why do you think I fell so in love with the show?

Anonymous said...

Oh I do so love CSI.

Did you know that the actor who plays the pathologist is a double amputee and walks with two prosethic legs? He doesn't need the stick he uses on the show to walk which is for the character not the actor.

Anonymous said...

Well, I think Grissom is Asperger's, what with the aforementioned poor people skills and intense interests.

I'm a BIG Grissom fan, entomology notwithstanding (-:

andrea