Netflix’s Raising Dion: To be Fixed vs to be Accepted

This post was first published in 2020

When the Quarantine began, all I could think of was having a movie marathon. I would watch a film every day, sometimes two in a night. Since school was over for me, I didn’t really have much else to do. The first movies I watched were the X-Men films, the Oceans heist films and other heavy action films like Salt. I also watched a bunch of TV shows, such as the A-list, Murdoch Mysteries, and a recent one, Raising Dion.

Raising Dion is a supernatural drama that follows a single mother and her son, Dion, who suddenly gets superpowers. Other than the freaky supernatural mystery that takes place, and the touching story of a mother simply trying to raising her son; the series takes a refreshing take on disabilities.

When it comes to disabilities in storytelling, most writers tend to fix the character so that they can become normal. A good example of this would be Forrest Gump. A 1994 film about a man who has autism. While writers of the film do not cure him of his autism, they do fix his legs. When we first meet Forest, the little boy wore braces on his legs to straighten them. But in one unlikely scene, Forest gets bullied and so he runs away. As he sprints, his braces fall off, revealing that his legs are fixed and no longer need them. For some, the idea of being fixed may seem appealing. Unfortunately, this narrative is harmful.

The problem with normality is that it does not exist. Only in the inner workings of the mind does normality seem like it is a part of the delicate, ever tangled web that is reality.

Based on society’s biases, culture and history, norms are carefully constructed to frame a collective thought of what is considered the ideal society. Covering every aspect of life, the ideal controls our behaviors and our thought patterns to match it with the widely accepted norm.

For example, in Western societies it is rude to slurp when eating, while in some Eastern countries it is a sign of satisfaction and is considered a compliment to the chef.

Norms are what defines a country’s culture. However, norms are not fixed, they are very flexible to change over the years. For example, it was not long ago when gender roles were defined. Men were expected to be tough protectors for their family, while women were expected to be nurturing and be a stay home mom. Nowadays, gender roles have become quite loose, and not as confining as it once was. Today women can get jobs that were considered a man’s job and men are becoming stay in home dads without reducing their manliness.

In terms of disabilities, norms take a more harmful turn. The word disability has two words as its root: Not and able, which means when put together that the person is not able to do things as a regular person. This is discouraging to the person who has disability because the normal person is someone who is able to walk, see, hear, talk, understand, think critically, etc. As a result, they think they are broken and are in need of fixing.

At least, that is what society tells them, anyway. They are always treated indifferently from everyone else and are offered ways where they can be “fixed.” For example, those who can’t hear can get hearing aids or a surgery, those who can’t walk can get prosthetic legs etc.

While I am grateful for society thinking about us, offering us solutions to the problems who experience daily, I don’t think that society should be the one getting us to the change. Instead, it should be them, who should adapt to our lifestyles.

This concept is something I always thought of. That society should be the one expanding its services to those who have disabilities.Sign language should be in mainstream media. In theaters there should be captions for the deaf and hard of hearing, and that those who have wheel chairs can have the freedom to sit where ever they feel like.

However, it was not until I watched this show did I see the start of this conversation. In the show, there is a character named Esmeralda. The girl goes around in an electric wheelchair and has never voiced a complaint about her situation. Throughout the show, she remains a faithful friend to Dion who at the beginning does not see her as friend, thinking that she isn’t cool. Esmeralda also makes two main comments about her disability:

1. Invisibility

Esmeralda voices what it feels to have a disability. She shares constantly to Dion how she knows how it feels to be invisible, because that is her reality every day.

1. Accessibility

Besides being invisible, Esmeralda always reminds other characters to make space for her and be accessible. In fact, in the first time Esmeralda visits Dion at his house, she quickly makes it known to him that his room isn’t accessible because it’s far too messy.

Even though Esmeralda feels invisible sometimes, it seems like it does not bother her as much as one would think. In fact, she does not mind not being unable to walk. The fact that she makes sure others accommodate for her and does not complain shows she has a lot of pride in her disability and demands a certain level of respect from others. This respect was somewhat broken when Dion made the mistake of using his powers to make her walk as a way to get her back from another boy. To a jealous boy who had all the power in the world, “curing” his friend of her disability, even for a moment, would definitely earn him points as the best friend ever.

However, to Esmeralda, it was a violation of her boundaries. Esmeralda did not want to be fixed, she wanted to be accepted for who she was and be respected.

Trust me, having disabilities is not fun for anyone. It causes a toll on the caregiver of the disabled person and for the disabled person it leads them to lack self- confidence and willing to fit in instead of accepting who they are.

This theme of acceptance is a hard pill to swallow for those who have disabilities because they view the world through a cracked mirror. Instead of seeing beauty, they see the world as an unfair place. After all, they did not want to have a disability, yet they have it (either born with it or through an accident). They are more likely to play the blame game, instead of accepting their new life as a disabled person. As a result, they will go about in trying to fix their broken selves instead of having a new perspective on life.

This is why I love the character of Esmeralda. At a young age, Esmeralda does not desire in fixing her disability, instead she has a more mature perspective of the world. She does not view it as an unfair place, complain or blame fate. While her disability is unfortunate, she does not allow it to take over her life and define who she is a person. Rather, the young girl has learned to love every part of herself, including her disability.

Through this self-love I believe society will be willing to accommodate, instead of being judgmental and rewrite what it means to be normal.