Disability.TV Ep. 27, with Seinfeld poster

“Expertly plotted and beautifully written, Seinfeld was, above all, a celebration of juvenility, a paean to the sense of community that can arise when a group of wholly irresponsible inadequates bonds over a shared scorn for / loathing of the outside world.” — Sarah Dempster, The Guardian

In this episode of DIsability.TV and the next, we will examine how the show handles disability themes and disabled characters. What should we make of potentially offensive and upsetting disability stories, in a comedy about dispicable people? When is bad behavior on TV a satire and condemnation, and when is it just plain bad? And not for the first time, we ask what happens when disabled characters are given no voice, and used as mere props and plot devices.