Novara Media

Downstream: Why Are All The Baddies Disabled?

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Episode notes

From ancient myths to the Batman trilogy, our storytelling culture is littered with villains embodied by disabled people and those with facial differences. Why does disability feature so heavily in our literary and cinematic traditions, and how has this hypervisibility had the ironic effect of erasing the experiences of disabled people?

Ash Sarkar is joined by disability rights advocate Amanda Leduc, author of Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space, to discuss how depictions of disability have impacted the lives of disabled people and why Bruce Wayne isn’t actually a hero.