It is far more accurately an expression of “No, you can’t because we won’t let you”. The thing is “No, you can’t” is far more than just the words of an individual who has vastly underestimated your potential. They really sell the myth.Ĭonsider the scene in the career counselor’s office where the counselor tells a wheelchair user “No, you can’t” which is immediately followed but by that young man playing wheelchair rugby while screaming “YES, I CAN”. It is not just a group of musicians, dancers, and athletes showcasing their skills. Which brings me to the repeated refrain of “Yes, I can” from the 2016 ad, which buys fully into the “to believe is to achieve” stereotype. Because athletic success, particularly for disabled people is not just a matter of having the desire to do it. It does from A to B without looking at any of the context of how people get to B or for that matter who CAN get to B. The 2012 ad is particularly guilty of this with its juxtaposition of scenes signifying how people became disabled (often violently) with images of them succeeding as athletes. It adds a degree of “Can you believe someone like that could do this?” It’s not just that they’re amazing athletes. Super crip is a term used by disability media critics to describe the phenomenon of celebrating disabled people in either a way that lacks meaningful context or in a way that seeks to effectively erase their disabilities except to add emphasis to the extraordinariness of their accomplishments. It’s ironic how closely the term Superhuman is to the term Super crip. In a way calling them Superhuman detracts from that fact. So why do I dislike the fact that the Paralympians have been labeled Superhumans? It’s not because I don’t think they are phenomenal athletes.
Which I guess speaks to a degree of progress in this year’s advertising and general disability awareness. There was no audio described version of this ad. The commercial that Channel 4 used for the 2012 London Paralympics is called “Meet the Superhumans” The term Superhumans is not new to the Paralympics. The use of the term Superhumans to refer to Paralympians and the song “Yes, I Can”. There are two things about this ad that just end up making me cringe.
If that was all this was, I would probably be sharing it all over social media to the point of annoying everyone connected to me.
It has an almost entirely disabled cast and so many of them are doing bad ass things to appropriately themed music. I am trying to talk about the implications of how disabled people and their accomplishments are framed and disseminated for a majority nondisabled audience. I want to make it clear that this is not what I’m trying to do. I am often accused of criticizing the disabled people in that media. I have found that when I criticize the media representation of disabled people.
#REPLAY MEDIA CATCHER NETFLIX HOW TO#
Not because I don’t know how I feel about this ad but because I don’t know how to articulate it. I’ve actually been trying to write this piece for several days and have been having difficulty.
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