Does the acclaimed film Million Dollar Baby foster negative perceptions of disabled people? Perhaps it is more accurate to say that this year’s front runner for best picture (by the time you read this the winner will be known) is at best one-sided, and at worst offensive. The movies and society have come a long way since people who needed mobility equipment were routinely called “crippled” or “gimpy,” but this admittedly well-done work of art has missed an opportunity.

Spoiler warning! In the film, the main character, a boxer played by Hilary Swank (nominated for best actress), suffers a spinal cord injury in the ring. She is rendered paralyzed from the neck down and eventually convinces her manager (played by Clint Eastwood who is also nominated in the best actor category) to kill her with a shot of adrenaline.

While other boxing movies—notably Rocky—have chosen to portray the triumph of the human spirit, Baby shows the human spirit going down in flames. I don’t claim to know the misery of spinal cord injury or neurological disease, but I have met people who have mined these depths of despair and emerged with dignity and fulfillment.

Why would this boxer who fought against poverty and overcame adversity give up in such a dramatic fashion? Why not show at least one quadriplegic character with a positive attitude? In the film, the Swank character is in an excellent rehabilitation hospital and money is not a problem for her. In the real world, one would hope the hospital would have the resources to address the overwhelming psychological stress that must befall newly injured patients.

As providers of assistive and mobility equipment, you have no doubt seen patients overcome this stress and deal bravely with their daily struggles. “The quadriplegics that I know personally,” says HME veteran Larry Rice, “focus on their abilities and not their disabilities. They do not produce trauma and drama. Instead, they create fulfilling lives—and those are not the kinds of stories that sell movie tickets.”

Greg Thompson
gthompson@medpubs.com