Disability Studie In Emmanuel's Gift

Inspirational narratives and Disabilities Studies
In the academic field of Disability Studies, scholars note that the disability community objects to being referred to as “inspirational.” When journalism and the media focus on the “Supercrip,” those extraordinary individuals who achieve amazing things though disabled, they are reinforcing a narrative pattern that repeatedly portrays a disabled person who develops from having a severe disability to super-achiever through incredible perseverance, in the end living a dignified life that approximates “normalcy.” The "overcoming narrative" (the story of a disabled person who may not achieve extraordinary things but is able to overcome the disability and live according to the aspirations, desires, and social norms of the general society) is another narrative type that is criticized in Disability
Studies because the stories of disabled people who cannot "overcome" their challenges are not seen as worthy of telling. The repetition of this kind of narrative leaves little room for other (more mundane) stories to be told and heard about the experiences of having a disability and confronting systemic ableism in the society.”
In this essay, two films will be studied that display some of these stereotypical story arcs described above.
The first film in consideration is Emmanuel’s Gift (Lax, Stern, 2005). This film tells the story of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah, a man from Ghana that was born with tibial hemimelia. A congenital condition in which the tibia does not develop correctly or does not develop at all. The story follows Emmanuel as he moves to Accra to work for only $2 a day shining shoes to help his mother. Later, he sends a petition for a bike to the Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF) in the US. This petition Emmanuel sends is the starting point of his journey. He then does a bike ride across Ghana (600km) to raise awareness for the rights of the disabled. Later the CAF brings Emmanuel to the US where he competes in various athletic events and ultimately gets a prosthetic leg. With this new sponsoring, Emmanuel returns to his home country in Africa to become a leader and an advocate for the disabled in Ghana that suffer from systematic ableism.
The other film to be studied is “Yo, también” (Naharro, Pastor, 2009). This movie follows Daniel Sanz, a college graduate that gets a new job and falls in love with one of his co-workers, Laura. Daniel, however, faces multiple challenges in order to be with Laura due to his Down syndrome. Despite that, he and Laura develop a strong friendship. And even though they never officially become a couple, the audience can see that Laura developed some romantic feelings for Daniel as well. This movie portrays how Daniel too, can express his sexuality like any other able-bodied person can. And not only Daniel but others with Down syndrome as well. This is why the title of this film is “Yo, también” because people with Down syndrome also fall in love and want to have families.
As aforementioned, the media has adopted the stereotype of the “supercrip” when telling a story of someone with a disability. Emmanuel’s Gift is the classic example of the “supercrip” story arc. Since the beginning of the movie, Emmanuel’s aunt and grandmother, tell how he has always surpassed their expectations and doing things like any other able-bodied person could. Later we see Emmanuel riding a bike across Ghana, pedaling with only one leg. Then Emmanuel participates in various marathons and triathlons in the US. Thus, not only Emmanuel overcomes his disability, he does extraordinary things that even most able-bodied people could not do. In the film “Yo, también”, Daniel Sanz is seen as a highly functional individual since the beginning of the movie. He is a college graduate and is getting a job. His mental capacities are portrayed as equal as his able-bodied counterparts. The audience never sees in this film how Down syndrome hinders other aspects of Daniel’s life except for his for sexuality. Daniel can read, can speak English, can tie his own shoes, etc. Similar to Emmanuel’s Gift, the protagonist of “Yo, también” is also a high achieving individual.
In Emmanuel’s Gift, the film sets Emmanuel apart as the hero from the beginning.
The film begins with a black screen and a voice over of someone saying: “To set a goal is an honorable and noble thing to do…To complete a goal is even more noble”. After this, there is a fade in into Emmanuel’s house where he is getting dressed. This transition helps the audience make the connection of the quote with Emmanuel’s character. The audience will already know that they are going to see Emmanuel set a goal and achieve it. Afterward, there are multiple shots of a dirt road in the middle of a forested area. In these shots, Emmanuel fades into the image riding his bicycle. In the composition of this image, the lines of perspective technique was used to focus on Emmanuel, our subject of interest. The line of the road converges with Emmanuel’s figure, leading the audience to look at him. The path Emmanuel has to travel in his heroic journey throughout the film is symbolized in the image of this dirt road. The composition of the images in the opening of the film sets Emmanuel apart as the hero and as the stereotypical
“supercrip”.
Although this motif is continuously seen all over the documentary. Throughout the film, there are many shots of Emmanuel alone, making these masculine and powerful poses. Implying again, that Emmanuel is the hero and the subject of interest in this documentary. One interesting shot was of an able-bodied man walking down a road alone with multiple bags. This shot was shown when the narrator was telling the audience that Emmanuel had to leave his hometown to Accra. Showing this shot makes the audience equate Emmanuel, with this able-bodied man walking down the road. There is also a particular scene in where Emmanuel is standing at the edge of a cliff, looking towards the ocean and the setting sun. For the most part, we only see Emmanuel’s silhouette. But in other angles of the same scene we see Emmanuel being illuminated by the golden light of the sunset. This is a very special scene. We see Emmanuel’s silhouette looking towards this impressive view of the ocean and the setting sun. Here we see how many challenges Emmanuel still has to overcome. We see this represented in the vast space of the landscape. Also in the solemn way Emmanuel is represented, as he is in the shadows at that particular moment. But at the same time, we observe how Emmanuel is ready to overcome these challenges in the subsequent shots where the golden light of the sunset bathes our hero. This scene is also interesting considering the same situation is recreated with Jim MacLaren. This strategy helps set Emmanuel as one of the likes of Jim MacLaren, as one of the greatest disabled athletes.
On the other hand, in “Yo, también” it is seen that Daniel advocates for inclusion in the first scene. He is seen on a podium, speaking about how societies that divide and exclude part of its population are a mutilated society. He also speaks that: “Here, there are no women, or men or homosexuals. Here, we are all people”. Daniel further speaks that disabled people want to feel part of society, “because we are. And we want to have a voice in this society because that’s why it’s called democratic”. When Daniel is shown in the podium, there are several close ups and mid-range shots of him. He’s also given the center of the screen in one shot. These strategic techniques, put Daniel in a commanding position that demands attention. This imposing image of Daniel is what lets the viewer know that he will be the one to fight against discrimination against the disabled in this film. Our protagonist in this film will also serve as the advocate, who gives voice to the issues unaddressed by society.
The problem with this type of narrative is that it suggests that disability is something inherently bad and that disabled people should be “fixed”.
In Emmanuel’s Gift, we see this most closely when Emmanuel gets his prosthesis. Emmanuel is normalized with this procedure, he is “fixed”. He can walk with two legs and do more things like able-bodied people can. Rudy and Jim MacLaren, also seek to normalize themselves in order to do things the way able-bodied people could. And, they are praised for undergoing this “normalizing process”. These “supercrip” athletes are seen as the heroes, or as the gods of this story. They are the only ones that get low shots during the documentary. In the low shot, the camera is held at a low angle, hence the name low shot, looking up to the subject of interest. Seeing that the camera is shooting upwards, the subject is seen bigger and more important and commanding. Rudy, Emmanuel, and Jim MacLaren are seen as equals. They are also shown as superior to the other disabled presented in the movie, which are the disabled people from Ghana. While in the close shots of Rudy, Emmanuel, and Jim, their expression is one of determination and focus. In the close shots of the disabled people in Ghana, we only observe the weariness of their conditions. Also, many disabled people in Ghana are filmed with a high shot. The high shot creates the opposite effect of the low shot. Since, the camera is held at a high angle, looking down at the subject, the subject is then seen smaller and more vulnerable. Therefore, the stories of these other disabled are not given much importance. Even the story of Sara, a disabled woman in Ghana touched by Emmanuel’s story is not given closure in the documentary.
“Yo, también” portrays this struggle to “fix” disability through Daniel’s mother. She is seen at the beginning of the film polishing Daniel’s diploma. Later she is seen watching clips of Daniel’s graduation. She also reads novels to Daniel, in order to make him more fluent in verbal communication. This effort she puts into “fixing” Daniel ultimately harms him. Daniel asks his mother “couldn’t you have accepted me the way I was?” Daniel’s mother puts incredible effort to try to normalize her son. Nonetheless, Daniel still couldn’t completely fit in society. This social construct that disability is inherently bad is also seen when Laura tells Daniel that he is substituting a woman who fell into depression when she learned her child had a neurological condition.
In this type of narrative, we observe our protagonists rising to the demands of ableism. Able-bodied people are not seen checking their privileges and doing an active attempt to confront ableism. In Emmanuel’s Gift, we see this with the strong ableism disabled people suffer in Ghana. Emmanuel also rises to the demands of ableism by removing his offending body part and getting a prosthetic. This leads to Emmanuel’s rise in status back in Ghana. Emmanuel later marries and father’s a healthy girl. Emmanuel then lives a dignified life that resembles the life any other able-bodied man could achieve. Therefore, Emmanuel’s story is one in which a disabled man has to transform in order to achieve any sense of normalcy. Being that’s what gives life purpose and meaning. Notwithstanding, “Yo, también” diverges from Emmanuel’s Gift in this sense. While we see in a particular scene that Daniel’s brother is not willing to check his privilege and empathize with his brother, we do see that others are willing to accept the disabled just as they are. Luisa’s mother is an example of such case. At the beginning of the movie, she did not want to accept Luisa’s desire to be with Pedro. But she later accepts that her daughter can date and love anyone just like any other 24-year-old woman can. Laura is also another example. When Laura and Daniel are in a club slow-dancing, Laura stops to remove her heels and tells Daniel, “I was fed up of looking down”. The camera does a good job of portraying Laura coming to the same level as Daniel in that scene. It indicates how Laura is not superior to Daniel simply because she is an able-bodied woman. But in the case of Daniel’s brother, he never checks his privilege and continues his life without empathizing with the struggle men and women with Down syndrome have. This was illustrated every time Daniel’s brother was with him. He would always tower over Daniel. This difference in size in the shot, this unbalance, helps set the power dynamic between Daniel and his brother. Daniel’s brother was superior and more privileged than Daniel simply because he was able-bodied. And he was unwilling to change that.
Society should start seeing disability as another trait that makes someone unique, as any other traits would do. Both films present a narrative of disabled that overcome the challenges put in their way and that thus become normalized. “Yo, también” deviates from this narrative to some extent, however. In contrast, Emmanuel’s Gift is this stereotypical “supercrip” narrative that tells the epic story of a disabled man that got to overcome his disability and do extraordinary things. The viewer can even see this contrast between the films in the color palette they use. Emmanuel’s Gift uses more saturated colors that catch the eye of the viewer and adds to the sensationalism of the story. Whereas “Yo, también” uses a more unsaturated palette that sets the tone for a more mundane story. Notwithstanding, these types of films are pervasive and don’t allow for even more mundane stories of people that don’t necessarily reach “normalcy” to be told. It is important that these stories are told, for then can we normalize disabled people. It is important to see disabled people as people who are just different from the same way each and every human is different from the rest. Disability should not be something to be overcome. It is important that we accept disabled people just was they are.

“Let’s stop thinking it’s either/or, that you either can’t do anything or you can do everything.”