movies about disabled people

Below are some movies in which the lead performers play disabled people. Most are available on DVD (region 1, USA):

1. Music Within. True story of Richard Pimentel, a deaf Vietnam veteran who is now a public speaker and
helped train US government agencies in dealing with the disabled. The lead is Ron Livingston.

2. The Other Sister. A Garry Marshall (Princess Diaries) directed feel-good romantic dramedy (drama/comedy) about the quest for independent living of a mentally retarded young man and woman. The lead is Juliet Lewis.

3. Jennifer 8. Thriller about a blind young woman who is being watched over by a police detective who falls in love with her. The lead is Uma Thurman.

4. At First Sight. Romantic drama about a blind masseuse who experiences vision and its corresponding disorientation, and loses his newly-acquired vision. The lead is Val Kilmer.

5. Rain Man. Drama about a normal person who discovers he has an older idiot savant brother. The lead is Dustin Hoffman.

6. Forrest Gump. Drama about a mentally retarded man whom luck smiles on. The lead is Tom Hanks.

7. Charly. Drama about a mentally retarded man who undergoes medical treatment and experiences the high of superior intelligence, and the low of his treatment not lasting. The lead is Cliff Robertson.

8. Blind Dating. Romantic comedy about a blind Caucasian young man who dates sighted women and falls in love with the female Asian Indian receptionist at his eye doctor. The Indian woman is promised to wed a fellow Asian Indian.

9. The Bone Collector. Thriller about a New York City police detective who is bedridden as a result of an explosion in the line of duty. The lead is Denzel Washington.

10. Philadelphia. Drama about an AIDS-infected lawyer who is terminated from work who sues his former employer for discrimination. The lead is Tom Hanks.

11. The Waterdance. Drama about disabled people in a rehabilitation ward.

Other movies I haven't seen (yet) but are part of this genre:

a. Children of a Lesser God. Deaf woman. Lead is Marlee Matlin.
b. Wait Until Dark. Blind homemaker. Lead is Audrey Hepburn.

TV shows about disabled people

aa. Ironside. Wheelchair-bound police detective in San Francisco
bb. Life Goes On. Downs syndrome teenager

hi lagunita..

yes thanks for the list ive not seen some of these films .................shame the disabled community not chosen for lead parts...guess they just want bums-on-seats in the cinemas.

a comment to you...
some of yr descriptive terms regarding ppl with learning difficulties i find offensive and outdated, they were used years ago here in the uk and no longer considered acceptable here...........does the staes still use these ??.....i know in many parts of the world different descriptive terms are used to describe different disabilities for example in africa the word cripple is still in common use, and accepted terminology by the masses..not sure how the disabled community feel about it there though.

suzan xx

Hi Suzan,

just wondering which terms are objectionable as I didn't use cripple in my post.

If you have specifics I can look them up.

Some terms like mentally retarded, deaf,
blind, I think are medical. They use developmentally disabled, hearing impaired, visually impaired,
as more \"politically correct\" terms, although I
fail to see the problem. Some terms like
idiot may actually have a defined IQ range, again,
medically speaking (I think idiot is IQ below
70).

I'm puzzled by what is considered pejorative and what's not. For example, Oriental is seen as pejorative. It could just be that a term becomes
overused, and becomes politically incorrect.

ummm:huh: i have to go away and look up wat pejorative means !!!:dry: :huh: :huh: :huh:


yeah you covered the words mentally retarded, and you added more...like idiot...i was talking about !!



i still dont like the use of those terms...........am i being too politically correct????

I was classed as having mild learning difficulties when I was younger,I find the words Mentally Retarded very offensive.I put it on the same level as verbal abuse I dont like to see that on a site for disabled people.

I think the meaning of pejorative is depreciatory which in turn means to belittle,so the answer is People do not need Labels look for the person inside.