300 RüdigerKunow
against able-bodied athletes affect how you see yourself?" Most
participants, however, answered in the negative. One of them said: "It
makes me feel like I'm included in something, something that doesn't
have separation in it. So it's something inclusionary in the fact that it
doesn'tmatterwhetheryouhaveadisabilityornot,you'retherebecause
you're an athlete and you love to play" (Spencer-Cavaliere and Peers
305).
"ACultureofHope"?DisabilityasMediaFormat^129
Aside from the sports arenas, the idea of beating the "normies" at
their own game is also beginning to fascinate the media.Always on the
lookout for politically correct new "diversities" on which entertaining
human interest stories can be based, TV producers have developed a
variety of narratives about disabled persons many of whom turn out to
be not-so-disabled after all. A few years ago, AMC Network came up
witharealityTVprogramcalledPushGirls(whichpremieredin2012).
Set in in Hollywood, CA, the series features four athletic, glamorous,
and sexy young women from different ethnic backgrounds and with
different sexual orientations who, by accident or illness, are paralyzed
from the waist down. Starring are Angela Rockwood, Tiphany Adams,
Auti Angel, Mia Schaikewitz, and Chelsie Hill. Angela Rockwood, an
actress, a model, is also a disability activist, working with the
Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation ("Push Girls: Cast Members"
n.pag.).Theepisodesinthetwoseasonssofartakeuptheconventional
imagery of the disabled ("Everyone Stares," S1E1). One of the stars
explains: "Los Angeles is definitely a body-conscious place to live.
After I first got injured I used to be so shy and insecure because
everyonestared."Itsoonturnsoutthatshehasbynow(i.e.,showtime)
learned to manage the "the to-be-looked-at-ness" that comes with
disability (Ellis 92); she even loves attention now, as is demonstrated
wheninoneoftheepisodessheflirtswiththegarageattendantwhofills
hercarwith gas.In thisscene,andthroughouttheshow,theprogramis
(^129) The quote used here goes back to the Mission Statement of the Christopher
andDanaReedFoundation,namedinpartaftertheformerSupermanactorwho
receivedaparalyzingspinalcordinjuryinanaccident("OurStory"n.pag.).