After our discussion in class on Thursday about the difficult task of trying to be an adult when you are disabled got me thinking a scene in Rory O’Shea Was Here.
Does anyone remember the part when Rory steals or gets that car and drives around smashing into things with the kids in the back?
What I found really interesting is that when the police realized that Rory was disabled he said something like “l can’t send you to jail, where do you live, where are supposed to be” or something to that extent. If Rory had not been disabled he would have been taken to jail right away but the police was reluctant to do so because Rory was disabled I found it very powerful to have Rory scream that he wants to be brought to jail, that he wants to be treated normally. I am really beginning to understand that for a disabled person, being an independent adult does not mean doing everything for themselves but rather than being treated like a real adult having the same rules and consequences as everyone else and being able to make your own decisions whether they are good or bad.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Rory O'Shea Was Here
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I had the same thought about how Rory was viewed as something other than an adult; perhaps not a child, but not responsible for his own actions. There seems to be this space in limbo where people with impairments are put by hegemonic ideas, thus creating people who are disabled socially. If an able-bodied person had stolen the car, as Ashlyn stated, they would have been punished immediately, even if it were a child [taken home to their parents]. So maybe it isn't necessarily being seen as a child, or an older person, maybe there is another "status" for those with impairments; one leaving people in limbo.
That part in the movie was interesting, we had an incidence a few years back when people from another country were being chased by the police for miles and miles. The police used their horns to tell them to stop, and when they finally stopped the people were not arrested or were they fined because they did not speak English and did not know what was being said to them. The person who owned the call woke up and explained it to the police and they were told to go. It seems if you have a disability like Rory's the police do not understand that he was only trying to be normal and when you are normal and able-bodied you would get arrested for what he did, but all the police saw was his disability as well as the people driving the car who could not speak english it was a disability so you can not arrest those who are disabled.
Comment for Rory O’Shea Was Here by Ashyln Nov.11
I to found the movie interesting in the same regard. When he is first pulled over the cops go about dealing with him as they would any other citizen who had failed to comply with the rules. It is only after they realize that he is disabled do they change there tactics. Strange how the police wouldn’t arrest him and take him to jail even though he was recklessly driving, disabled or not he could have hurt someone and that’s what the rules are for. I found it interesting that just because he is supposed to be this “innocent” disabled person they would let him off, when if it was anyone else they would have been in huge trouble. I really think the movie was a good way to get the world to recognize and see the world that we have created for disabled people, and in that sense they might want to help change it.
Comment By - Yvette Cuthbertson
Post a Comment