A Few Thoughts on the Portrayal of Blind People in Popular Media

Written by Shae Rufe

As many of you may or may not know, I am legally blind. So I take the portrayal of blind characters very seriously. Granted, I’m fortunate enough to have a lot of sight and am not completely blind, but I am strongly opinionated on how we are shown in media. Many of you may know of my dislike for DareDevil. I actually find the character to be on the more insulting side of things. You have a superhero that’s blind, that’s great, yet he perpetuates the stereotypes most of us with visual impairments have come to deal with on a daily basis. He lost his sight, but can hear better than anyone else now, is super sensitive to touch, and can actually see with vibrations.

That’s all well and good, it’s all fiction of course, but some people will still ask if we hear better and what not. No, we don’t hear better or have an enhanced sense of smell, we can’t see with rain drops. We do pay more attention to those senses, making it seem like we might have advanced senses, but we don’t. Blind characters are always used as some kind of prophets in popular media, as though without their sight they can somehow see into the future. Also, not something we can do. Although, that would be quite the interesting additive. In many mythologies and even popular media, the blind character always has some secret way to 'see' in one way or another. 

Case and point, Avatar: the Last Airbender. While this show is amazing on multiple levels, there’s one character that stands out. Toph is tough, fierce, and completely independent; everything all visually impaired people strive for. Yet, she still is able to use the vibrations from the earth to see. While it’s not a total dig on the character, it is a sort of let down. She’s still a strong character that people should look up to and admire, yet it still feeds into this unspoken stereotype that somehow, if you’re blind, you can adopt an advanced sense to help you see.

Or in other cases, the blind character needs to be rescued and saved. As was the case in a recent episode of Doctor Who. The girl in question was tricked by her own father into thinking there were monsters outside, to keep her trapped in the house. On all levels, I have to admit, this bothered me. I was so weirdly mad about this issue that I had to watch the episode in question twice. Eventually I did finish it with less anger. I can tell you that the character still fell into this 'I need to be saved'  trope on an almost pitying level. I cannot stress enough how much of an issue this is. The character managed to have her own strong moment, knocking another character out to go find her dad on her own. Yet still, she needed to be saved. That is the issue at hand.

Yes, blind characters and people do have different needs than others. That does not make us weak. We are not the damsels in distress; we don’t need to be taken care of, nor are we the plucky comic relief with blind jokes spilling asunder. 

The main issue with blind people being portrayed in media is that nobody really seems to get it right. We don’t need super enhanced powers or people to rush in and save us. DareDevil had promise but still feeds into those stereotypes. If people with disabilities are going to be properly represented then we need to be asked, talked to. I’d love to see a superhero who’s visually impaired and her abilities are something not related to her sight or lack there of in any way. The other struggle I’ve come across is finding comics that do accommodate the visually impaired. I, personally, do a lot of reading on my phone or iPad. Thanks to certain apps, I’m able to read a comic’s fine print by enlarging it. However finding comics in Braille. It’s an issue that not many would even think about. But for those who live with a visual impairment and want to explore these worlds it’s a harsh reality. Getting books translated into Braille and/or even made into large print can be quite costly. You have to buy the book or comic you want and it is literally unbound while they go through and individually scan each page.

Being blind can be quite a costly and troublesome experience, let me tell you.

With all the modern leaps the wonderful geeky world we live in has taken, it would be nice for some more inclusion that doesn’t border on the offensive.

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