Neighbours: Disability Representation
Neighbours aired it’s last ever episode in the UK on Friday, leaving behind heartbroken superfans.
Same Difference decided to celebrate the end of an era by reminding ourselves of all the disability representation Neighbours has ever done, well or badly.
This year Neighbours has been excellent at representing disability very well, with Freya’s brother wheeling in for visits in a chair that was hardly mentioned and only noticed by those who really cared, a fashion photographer on wheels at Lassiters Fashion Week and an office assistant with Down’s Syndrome, also working at Lassiters. Then there was Curtis Perkins, the teacher who heard through a cochlear implant that was also hardly mentioned.
Long gone are the days when mother-in-laws didn’t want son-in-laws in wheelchairs.
Long gone are the days when daughters didn’t want velcro.
These days Susan Kennedy has MS and Paul is an amputee. If anyone in Neighbours was to discover a blind biological daughter today, this fan would like to think the character wouldn’t disappear after 10 episodes.
This post is a little thank you to Neighbours for the joy it brought me personally but also and more importantly it is a thank you to Neighbours for learning with time and representing disability and attitudes to it so well in the end.
This viewer signs off feeling that everyone truly was welcome on Ramsay Street and that is something that truly should be celebrated forever!
Same Difference 