Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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some general questions for screenplay research (self.Blind)
submitted by secretgardendesign
I'm writing a screenplay right now, and one of the characters in the film is blind. She is the main supporting female character and a teenager in the 1970s.
I know that there is a lack of coverage and representation in the media about people with disabilities, so I want to write this character right.
Is there any resources or websites that I should look into? I also have a few questions. For example, are there are media stereotypes that annoy you? Any misinformation or misconceptions? Thank you! I appreciate it. So far, I've watched a lot of videos on Molly Bourke's YouTube channel.
I know that there is a lack of coverage and representation in the media about people with disabilities, so I want to write this character right.
Is there any resources or websites that I should look into? I also have a few questions. For example, are there are media stereotypes that annoy you? Any misinformation or misconceptions? Thank you! I appreciate it. So far, I've watched a lot of videos on Molly Bourke's YouTube channel.
DrillInstructorJan 2 points 2y ago
One of the things you'll need to be a bit careful about with this is that things were different in the 1970s or 80s. Worse, mainly.
There's a good example in a story called Children of a Lesser God. It's about the relationship between a deaf woman and a hearing guy. I wouldn't generally draw too many parallels between deafness and blindness because deaf people get really political, but the principle is sort of the same in this instance. She works at a school for deaf people as a janitor and by modern standards you might say she'd hit a bit of a career wall and had been hanging around that place for ages because she's deaf. Now, that probably does still happen, but the movie is based on a play that was written in 1979 when expectations for people with that sort of disability were a lot lower.
I can imagine that if you write a 1970s story about a blind person that's period accurate you might end up having to defend yourself from some accusations of limiting her horizons too much and making her a bit of a dweeb. It is genuinely more likely to have been the case back then, especially if she was born blind, but some people won't get that, so you will need to make sure you've done your research.
Some of the most decent film and TV depictions of blind people (or at least the ones I find least annoying because all of them have mistakes) include Murphy in In the Dark, Emma in Blink and Selina in A Patch Of Blue. That last one is from the 60s and you have to make allowances but her attitude is sort of right and it's a good film in its time.
There's a good example in a story called Children of a Lesser God. It's about the relationship between a deaf woman and a hearing guy. I wouldn't generally draw too many parallels between deafness and blindness because deaf people get really political, but the principle is sort of the same in this instance. She works at a school for deaf people as a janitor and by modern standards you might say she'd hit a bit of a career wall and had been hanging around that place for ages because she's deaf. Now, that probably does still happen, but the movie is based on a play that was written in 1979 when expectations for people with that sort of disability were a lot lower.
I can imagine that if you write a 1970s story about a blind person that's period accurate you might end up having to defend yourself from some accusations of limiting her horizons too much and making her a bit of a dweeb. It is genuinely more likely to have been the case back then, especially if she was born blind, but some people won't get that, so you will need to make sure you've done your research.
Some of the most decent film and TV depictions of blind people (or at least the ones I find least annoying because all of them have mistakes) include Murphy in In the Dark, Emma in Blink and Selina in A Patch Of Blue. That last one is from the 60s and you have to make allowances but her attitude is sort of right and it's a good film in its time.
secretgardendesign [OP] 1 points 2y ago
Thank you so much for taking the time to write this. I appreciate it so much. I know that I will have a hard time writing a period piece of a screenplay with accurate depictions that isn't offensive or deemed as inaccurate. It also seems difficult to navigate as the blind community seems so diverse and I assume that blind people have different experiences and opinions. But it will be worth it! May I ask, if this isn't prying too much, about some of the most common mistakes that blind characters in films have? I'm curious to know. I've talked with a friend of mine (who is a paraplegic) about some tropes that annoy her. I know that those are two completely different disabilities and communities, but it's still interesting to see how mainstream media portrays disabled people. Thank you.
DrillInstructorJan 1 points 2y ago
As I think you have realised the issue is that there are as many different views of it as there are blind people. I don't know many blind people personally in real life (why would I? I didn't before!) but some of the opinions I've found here on reddit have been offputting. Because of that it is basically impossible to write a blind character that won't be criticised by someone at some point. Yes, there are things to avoid. Don't make it completely grim and depressing, because it isn't now and it wasn't then. Don't have her feel people's faces. Don't give her super hearing power. Very few people are completely blind (I am, but I'm an outlier). That stuff. If you've done half an hour's research you already know all those things. But even if you avoid those things, you will always find someone who's willing to criticise you on the basis that your blind character isn't specifically representative of them, which of course she won't be, because there are a lot of blind people in the world with very different experiences.
So I would be willing to defend yourself against random people telling you it's wrong. Ask, and get opinions. Just because someone's blind doesn't mean they know about anything other than themselves.
I think you already suspected all this, anyway!
So I would be willing to defend yourself against random people telling you it's wrong. Ask, and get opinions. Just because someone's blind doesn't mean they know about anything other than themselves.
I think you already suspected all this, anyway!
secretgardendesign [OP] 1 points 2y ago
Thank you so much. I appreciate you taking your time to write these things. I know the basics, I guess my only problem will be looking into what blind people faces in the early 70s or 80s. I do have a question, which you totally do not have to answer if you don't want to. (I should probably post about it on the main sub) but I know that feeling people's faces isn't a daily occurance or something that happens, however, in a romantic relationship setting, would you, or someone in a blind community end up feeling someone's face to see what they look like. If that makes sense?
DrillInstructorJan 1 points 2y ago
No. It'd be weird, and by the time you'd be in a close enough relationship with someone to even think about doing that, you'd be sort of committed to them anyway. And it doesn't actually work; I mean, you try it. Close your eyes and grope your significant other and see if you really think you could recognise someone from that. Maybe you could with a lot of practice, in theory, I guess, but it's not like anyone is ever going to have thousands of faces worth of experience at doing it. Most people have a nose, a mouth, and two eyes. Beyond that, what're you really going to get?
In practice it's just stigmatised as a cliche before anything else. I'd hesitate to do it just as much as I'd hesitate to sit on a street corner weaving baskets going "penny for the blind."
And uh, stop worrying about whether people want to answer stuff, I'd rather have a conversation now than gripe about it later!
In practice it's just stigmatised as a cliche before anything else. I'd hesitate to do it just as much as I'd hesitate to sit on a street corner weaving baskets going "penny for the blind."
And uh, stop worrying about whether people want to answer stuff, I'd rather have a conversation now than gripe about it later!
SqornshellousZ 1 points 2y ago
Watch My Blind Brother and see how not to get anything right.
etalasi 1 points 2y ago
What part of the world does this character live in? Or does she not live on Earth as we know it?
secretgardendesign [OP] 1 points 2y ago
The story takes place in the United States, not sure what state yet to be honest. I was thinking about setting the story in 1980s California.
etalasi 4 points 2y ago
You may want to look through the oral histories hosted by the $1.
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