Disability and Identity: Film Review of "Losing It"
By Jennifer Perry (JenPerryIID@aol.com)
Summary of the Film
Sharon Greytek, a filmmaker from New York, produced and directed "Losing It", a film that attempts to answer her own personal plaguing question regarding her identity as a person with a disability. She wonders if other people with disabilities have a battle with their identity, in terms of being both human and disabled. She wonders also "if it is human nature to stare and discount someone as weaker" and if other people regard their own disability as a means of giving them freedom to "dream and observe" about humanity, their own lives, and the world in general. To seek answers to this thought-provoking question, Greytak decides to go on a worldwide tour, visiting four major continents, to visit with other disabled people
She meets two disabled Russians who speak about their own identities as people who are struggling for independence and opportunity in an economically insecure Russia after the fall of communism. From Russia, she continues on to Hong Kong, meeting a stroke survivor who struggles with her changed life as a disabled person in a highly ambitious and work conscientious society focused on outward perfection. Her next stop is on the European continent where she meets an Italian man with a rare blood disorder who struggles with isolationism and loneliness as a result of his prior illness. Her journey continues to Brazil, on the South American continent, where she meets two disabled people with very different economic and professional situations. Through both of them we learn about Brazilian social pressures and religious expectations and how those normative issues are relevant and important to the life of a person who happens to have a disability. Her final stop on the tour is her home town of New York City where she interviews a woman with a position at the NY Police Department, who deals with the issues of marriage, race, parenting, education, and employment as they relate to her position as a disabled woman.
A Unique Look at Disability Across Cultures
Through these candid personal interviews, one can appreciate the great impact that cultural, societal norms, and the economic conditions of a particular region can have on how one perceives and deals with a disability. Yet, on the opposite side we can see what many disabled people have in common, despite different social and cultural experiences. Feelings of isolation, independence, social and familial expectations transcend cultural and nation-state boundaries. This was a major impact of the film, demonstrating that questions of identity and place within a societal structure are issues that plague humans across the globe.
Views on Disability and the Role of Activism
Although this film strives to show a vast variety of perspectives on disability and identity, I can't help to think that some of the views of the people being interviewed were shaped and fashioned by the degree to which they were involved in their own country's disability movements. For example, it is almost unrealistic to think that the Italian man who has no connection to the disability rights movement in Italy would have the same perceptions about disability as for, example Marcel Paiva, who is actively involved in the Brazilian movements. Their responses to Greytak's questions are vastly different and rightly so. While Marino Crivellari speaks of his own individual isolation, Marcel speaks in a broader context, relating problems that Brazilians with disabilities face on a larger scale. In other words, Marcel speaks for the collective while Marino speaks for himself. This may impinge on the fact that one deals with his disability through activism (perhaps showing he is well-adjusted to his disability) while the other deals with it internally (perhaps showing he has not yet come to terms with his disability). This is an important distinction that has to be made clear. Greytak fails to point out this element, almost as if she saw each individual solely as an individual and not as an individual within a distinct social context or community. I would argue that because community and our role in it has a direct effect on how we see situations and circumstances and how we respond to them, it is important to not equate individual with individual.
Is it Really Disability?
Many of the people interviewed in the film expressed their own thoughts on how others perceive them, as a result of being disabled. While Greytak had a good idea and basis for this element of exploration, I can't help to wonder if her own question and perceptions of identity as a disabled person had too much of an impact on the way in which each disabled person came across, including herself.
In many scenes we see Greytak, as a wheelchair user, deal with the architectural barriers in each place she visits. She has to rely on others for help. The camera focuses on the reaction of others to this request or need for help. While it is possible that these "looks" were the result of her being in a wheelchair, one cannot help to think that they could have also been the result of her being an American, looking typically American, in a foreign culture. These kinds of uncomfortable and manipulative scenes could give the target audience the wrong impression that "there is little to no accessibility in any other place but the US". I am sure that Greytak would like to avoid this kind of stereotype, seeing as she interviewed people who are actively trying to change the way in which disabled people are discriminated against in their own countries.
My questions about her perception that "everyone looks at her because she is disabled or ignores me because I am disabled" also play into how I saw the interviews she had with each person. For example, the Brazilian woman who sells candy on the streets relates the fact that many cars pass by, perhaps as a result of seeing her wheelchair, despite the fact that disabled people are very visible in Brazilian society. She made it sound as if her disability was the sole reason why people passed her by, making no note of the possible danger people may encounter as a result of interacting with people on the streets while waiting at a stoplight. I can't help to think that the filmmaker's own perceptions about the way people react to her had an integral role in framing this discussion. While it is certainly possible that disability plays some role in forming other's opinions and reactions to other humans, it is necessary to explore other factors. Just as a social scientist that only looks at two variables is bound to find biased and non-empirical and representative evidence to his claims so too, I think, must the filmmaker explore the whole picture.
Final Thoughts
Despite this flaw, Greytak makes an excellent attempt to see disability and questions of perception and identity both within cultural and societal confines and across such boundaries. For this, I am quite impressed with the work. We can see how all people, not just those with disabilities, have feelings in common. We all deal with many of the same issues despite differing circumstances. Disability does play a role in how we perceive ourselves and how others perceive us; the question, however, remains as to the extent of that role.
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