For our podcast disability nostalgia, it has been a while since I posted a blog or a podcast. However, once this summer is over I will be producing more episodes. I’ve been busy working on books and spending time with my family.
To begin with, let me introduce today’s article. This is about television shows that should have included some sort of representation of disability in the early 90s and early 2000s.
Taking a look at the first show I thought missed a significant opportunity regarding a storyline that could have been filled with many lessons to be learned. This was if the writers and producers had thought about it.
Lizzie McGuire was one of my favorite Disney Channel original series as a child. With the hidden lessons behind every episode and the way the show interacted with the audience through the third wall, this was a very enjoyable show. It would have been amazing to see Lizzie McGuire and her best friends Miranda and Gordo interact with someone with a disability.
A fresh-faced boy named Steven transfers to the school where Lizzie McGuire is a student. He is born with muscular dystrophy and he becomes obsessed with her. However, Lizzie’s feelings aren’t the same, leaving her in a dilemma since she doesn’t want to hurt Steven’s feelings. However, Steven’s desire to hang out with Lizzie, Gordo, and Miranda 24 hours a day eventually gets under her skin and she lashes out. Later, she learns that people shouldn’t be treated differently based on their disability.
Let me now turn my attention to number two on the list, Disney’s Recces created by Paul and Joe. This depicts a group of friends who go out to recess while attending Third Street Elementary School.
This irked me for years even before disability and representation were discussed within our society. It was an amazing show with incredibly relatable characters that taught many lessons including making friends, overcoming fears, and standing up for what you believe in. The recess movie schools that TJ refuses to attend because they don’t have playgrounds.
Despite this, they never featured a character with a disability. This was the episode I would have written if I had been a writer in the early 90s or late 2000s: On an average recess day, TJ and his classmates see a young lady by the name of Daniela playing by herself, so they approach her. However, she is very timid and standoffish. Later, Randall tells the group that she has autism. And they have to figure out a way to incorporate her into the everyday activities at recess
I feel that the next show missed a golden opportunity to represent people with disabilities in the early 2000s and 90s. As Told By Ginger created by Emily Kapnek was a not-so-typical animated series. It covered very serious topics like puberty and growing up with divorced parents.
With how out of the ordinary As Told by Ginger was at the time, I am surprised that they didn’t have a character with some sort of disability. They could have gone through everyday struggles just like everyone else. This would be my ideal plotline for an episode of As told by Ginger that features someone with a disability. Ginger and her friends are out at the park and then they meet this young lady named Kylie that is their age but she suffers from cerebral palsy, so Ginger and her friends help her find her self-confidence while entering a beauty pageant competition and she soon learns that real beauty lies within.
Finally, I hope in the future that I can interview the creators of these shows and see a bunch of reboots being done because I would love to see these shows revived