Bangladesh: Progress in Television's Disability Coverage
By Barbara Kolucki (bakoluck@aol.com)
I recently spent two months in Bangladesh working with UNICEF on an Early Child Development and Media Project. I have been to Bangladesh numerous times over the last 15 years. Many of those times, I did not have access to television, and often had sporadic electricity. When I did see television, rarely if ever did I see anyone with a disability. Oh yes, there were the Public Service Announcements from organizations such as UNICEF on prevention of disability. And we all know that historically these did nothing to affirm or value the life of person already disabled.
Times have changed. For many people-though they have not changed enough for the majority of Bangladeshis. This time, I had constant television, 79 channels in fact. The channels ranged from three from Bangladesh, several from India, many from the Middle East, one from Brazil, the Netherlands, a Spanish station, the BBC and several from the USA - CNN, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network.
The war in Iraq was on and I was determined to see and learn about the perspectives of the war from around the world. Of course - this varied immensely. What one country might see could be nearly 180 degrees different in image and commentary from what another might see.
But, there were other differences this time as well. I noted many news channels, especially those from the Middle East, that had sign language interpretation for people who are deaf. And many programs - from Pakistan particularly, about education and rehabilitation of children with disabilities. I worked in Pakistan in 1988 and was part of a team with Rina Gill of UNICEF that developed the first Public Service Spots about disability aimed at presenting positive, integrated messages to children and adults. To our knowledge, and according to the then Prime Minister, these were the first times children with disabilities were shown positively - or at all - on television. He should have known - he had a daughter who was disabled.
"War causes disability"
Here in Bangladesh as well, one could see changes. No sign language yet - but many spots on the news about activities run by people with disabilities themselves. There were several segments about "support to children and adults with disabilities" in education, rehabilitation and vocational rehabilitation. And during the first week of the war, there was a demonstration of adults and children with disabilities carrying banners that read "Stop the war. War causes disability."
One of the most interesting films I saw on Bangladesh television was a story based on a young woman I met a few years back. Her name is Lovely and she paints beautifully using a mouth stick. She was disabled years ago and lives at one of the best rehabilitation facilities in the country, the Centre for Rehabilitation of the Paralyzed (CRP).
In this film, the young woman's name was "Moni". It was filmed at CRP and though it seemed that most of the actors were non-disabled (including Moni), there were many scenes of residents at CRP in their daily activities. Most were working in the vocational workshops and at jobs in the facility itself - many of them "run it" in the same way as is done at Project Projimo in Mexico.
Moni's paintings become appreciated at CRP and she finally moves to Dhaka where she works with an art teacher. In one scene, he is yelling at her and she paints his face with the brush in her mouth.
Moni has an art exhibit and many people attend --- including what seems to be two art dealers from Australia. They tell Moni that her work can be exhibited around the world. The scenes here are very nice - but ruined for me by the title of the exhibit "The Mouth Painter".
At the exhibit, there is our "bad guy" who hears about the potential value of Moni's paintings and steals them. As Moni and her friend are about to drive away from the exhibition hall - they see him getting into a motorized rickshaw/scooter and chase him through the tremendously busy traffic of Dhaka to the outskirts of the city. He is about to go off in a small boat with the paintings when Moni's friend jumps on top of him in the boat. Yes, they capsize and the paintings are in the water. Moni, from her seat in the car, tells her friend to save the villain - who cannot swim, rather than save her paintings.
Yes, in many ways the film is melodramatic - but this is the genre of all Bangladeshi films. Yes, there is the sappy music once in a while - but there are also the positive, independent and even romantic scenes (not with Moni but one of her friends from CRP and a non-disabled man).
Here, in Bangladesh, it is progress, not perfection. And I was happy to see it. And it is a long way from what there was --- and wasn't - 15 years ago.
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