Dopey's Legacy

I think that Schwartz, Lutfiyya and Hansen address a very relevant issue in how Disney portrays people with intellectual disabilities in Dopey's Legacy. I thought the topic was very compelling although I think that they could have done a better job in supporting their claim. Perhaps the biggest flaw in the argument, is that we can't be sure that any of the characters discussed actually have an intellectual disability. The argument could have been made a lot stronger if it was able to quote a Disney producer or other creator addressing the idea of disability and how the characters were intended to be received. It is very possible that Dopey is merely a fool with no connection to intellectual disability who was created simply for comic relief.

The second issue I had with the article, was that it identified a problem, but it gave no solution. Perhaps a solution was not the goal of the essay, but its less effective to criticize something when you don't have a better alternative. Schwartz, Lutfiyya and Hansen are in agreement that Disney sends bad messages about characters with intellectual disabilities, but I wonder how they would want Disney to better tackle this problem. The article refers to some examples of intellectual disabilities outside of Disney, but it never says if any of them did a good job of portraying it. Assuming that Dopey does have a mental handicap, I think it would be a very difficult task to portray a character who has a mental impairment, while at the same time making him a strong character. It would be a very confusing character for children to understand, whereas I think that most children currently see Dopey as just being silly and goofy.
 
http://cdn.playbuzz.com/cdn/0bd97e00-6a13-40c8-9793-066ffa2ab3b5/42114a90-b96b-4298-845c-a57e4a86f40d.jpg