Representation of Disability

Breaking bad - Walt Jr

Stereo types of disabled people:



Incapable - Walt Jr is unable to walk without his crutches and this marginalises him from everyone else who are his age. An example in the series would be him unable to drive in a normal car.



Vulnerable - His vulnerability is emphasised when he is shopping for jeans with his parents and the bullies shout abuse at him and he is unable to defend himself.



Unintelligent - This is generally associated with people who suffer from a disability, however Walt Jr is portrayed as reasonably which is not associated with people who generally are disabled.


Unattractive - Walt Jr suffers from Cerebral Palsy and this causes his speech and face to become disjointed and slightly unmoveable, this supports the disability stereotype of people who are disabled being unattractive.


Lonely - Due to his illness Walt Jr becomes marginalised from other people his age leading to him forming a closer friendship with his parents and family. An example is the shock of his parents when he comes home with his friend who he met at school.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEZlhdx_SfA






In this episode of Breaking bad in series 1, Walter Jr is trying on Jeans with his parents when some lads his age come in and begin to shout abuse at him as they realise his inability to defend himself and low self esteem. Walter Jr is portrayed as a vulnerable teenager who takes his frustration out on his parents for the way that he is (Disabled). Furthermore he is marginalised from the other teenagers his age due to the restrictions of his Cerebral Palsy and inability to walk without the support from his crutches. All of these stereotypes in which are associated with Walter Jr are often included when portraying disabled characters in Tv dramas. Later on in the series Walt Jr learns to overcome his illness by learning to drive and making friends with a lad in his year from school. He also decides to change his name to 'Flyn' which shows the confidence that is created through these basic things that a normal person would take for granted.