While the number of Academy Award-winning films portraying individuals with disabilities has increased dramatically since Oscars were first handed out in 1928, a new Ohio University study has found that the portrayals rarely are accurate.
"Aca demy Award-winning films reflect the trend that people with diabilities are becoming more visible members of our schools and society," says Steven Safran, a professor of education who conducted the study. "Unfortunately, the high frequency of psychiatric disabilities, the rare appearance of children and youth and the misportrayal of disabilities often gives viewers a skewed perspective that may have little to do with reality."
Safran examined all films that won Best Picture, Best Actor or B est Actress Oscars since 1928. Films that had a major character with a disability traditionally served in special education - emotional, behavioral, psychiatric, sensory, mental retardation, physical - were identified.
From 1928 to 1939, only one award winner, or 2.6 percent of the total, portrayed a person with a disability. From 1990 to 1996, nine films, or 42.8 percent of the total, featured a disabled person in a major role. Fiftey-four percent of the films portrayed psychiatric dis turbance, by far the most common type of disability in the films studied by Safran, followed by physical disabilities, sensory disabilities, mental retardation and autism.
Despite the recent popularity of movies portraying disabilities, Safran says viewers should be careful not to equate the depictions with reality. The preponderance of psychiatric disorders portrayed in films stems from the "imagery of madness," being consistent with violence, suspense and drama, all the elements that titillate moviegoers at the expense of reality, Safran says.
One study found that 78 percent of prime time television characters with psychiatric disorders were portrayed as violent, while in reality the great majority of individuals with mental health problems are not violent.
