Introduction

Summary

Abled does not mean enabled. Disabled does not mean less abled.

—Khang Kijarro Nguyen

ABLEISM REMAINS THE most socially acceptable form of intolerance, with pejoratives referencing disability—and intellectual disability in particular—remaining largely unquestioned among many. And yet the understanding, depiction, and representation of disability is also clearly in a process of transformation. Indeed, we have seen the beginning of a major shift over the past decade. The depiction of disability in comedy is illustrative. Ten to fifteen years ago, mocking disability in comedic television and film was still common internationally. Now it is taboo, something an eponymous Swiss TV show tackles directly. Hosted by the comedian Renato Kaiser, Tabu explores the question of whether and how to joke about topics one isn't supposed to laugh about. Kaiser spends four days in a mountain hut with three people from marginalized groups (people with physical disabilities, obesity, or terminal illnesses, people living in poverty, and LGBTQI people). They hang out, crack jokes, go on outings, cook together, and also have more serious conversations. He then preforms a stand-up routine based on the experience, with his guests present in the front row of the audience. Similarly, journalist Micky Beisenherz and comedian Oliver Polak host a German show, Das Lachen der Anderen (The Laughter of Others), in which they visit individuals from marginalized groups and observe their living and working lives. The two shows use slightly different definitions of marginality and their formats differ, but both are examples of a shift away from othering disabled people and instead engaging with them as individuals who are part of the community. Both shows give their guests agency in the way they are depicted; guests control the narrative—there is no offscreen narration and no framing or explanation from the hosts that tries to control the message. Both shows also include awkward moments (for example, when the comedian asks a person with disabilities in what way they are ill). Yet, as Frederic Valin points out, ultimately these shows do not go too deeply into the everyday obstacles, affronts, and aggravations that people with disabilities contend with in an ableist society. Their first concern, he notes, is to figure out what jokes work and where the boundaries of humor lie at any given moment. And they seek first and foremost to diffuse the nervousness that non-disabled comedians feel about jokes concerning marginalized people.