Beyond burning the witches

Note to readers:

What a mess poor Anne Hathaway got into!

Her portrayal of the Grand Witch in the film adaptation of Rohald Dahl's book,

, caused a lot of controversy on social media.

In the original version, the evil witch has claws for hands, but in this

sports hands with ectrodactyly, a congenital malformation.

The wave of protests, led by athletes with disabilities, emphasized that the film perpetuated negative stereotypes about people with different limbs.

More information

• Blind people facing a contagious and unknown virus

• The caregivers

• When school is a memory: the dramatic reality of 97% of children in Latin America and the Caribbean

The argument is valid.

The stigma and discrimination that people with disabilities have to deal with is enough for a film, which reaches the eyes of so many children, to promote the idea that they are rare and also villains.

It is not new.

Shakespeare described Richard III as a disabled villain and so did Homer with the Cyclopes.

Throughout history, people with disabilities have been characterized as sick to be cured and not citizens with rights that states must guarantee.

The recent controversy highlighted the primary quest of this social group: to transform culture to be included.

Negative stereotypes help perpetuate attitudinal barriers that become obstacles when it comes to finding work, studying or participating in other activities in society.

The impact of popular culture and entertainment on the behavior of a society is not small.

For example, rigorous studies in Brazil, India, and Nigeria demonstrated the role of soap operas in changing deeply ingrained attitudes and behaviors, in areas where this is notoriously difficult to achieve, such as desired family size and risky sexual behavior. .

In the case of disability, the content of educational and cultural entertainment must be done with great care to avoid stereotypes and, instead, promote a paradigm where the disability is not in the individual but in the relationship that exists between the person's disability. and the barriers present in their environment.

The Ford Foundation recently put out a post outlining how to do it right.

We know that changing attitudes is necessary but not sufficient for inclusion

With these guides in mind, and with the objective of bringing new audiences to the issues surrounding the lives of people with disabilities, the Inter-American Development Bank held a festival of animated short films on disability issues.

The result was amazing.

But we know that changing attitudes is necessary but not sufficient for inclusion.

It complements concrete and necessary interventions to ensure that there are more accessible workplaces, schools and public infrastructure in terms of physical spaces, digital services and human services.

Anne Hathaway apologized.

He took an empathetic, honest and well thought out video from his Instagram account saying that he promised to “do better” in the future.

The truth is that we live in a time when, of good or bad intention, many unsuspecting end up in front of the Internet court where careers and reputations are destroyed by the rabid masses who want blood.

And it would be very sad if the only conclusion from this is that Anne Hathaway is a very good or a very bad person.

Rather, it serves as an opportunity to leverage real changes.

How about using your and Warner Bros media platforms to promote productivity and employment for people with disabilities?

What if it at least serves for all of us to step into our own realities to change the chip?

Suzanne Duryea

Senior

FUTURE PLANET can follow on

.