A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of - Etheses - Queen Margaret ...

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her family. Her marriage survives and she and her husband end up closer together
than before (Internet Movie Database, 2005: unpaged).
Charles identified Footprints as „an ITV sort of big effort to address disability rights‟, adding
that most disabled people he spoke with about it thought „it was just a big joke‟ (l.2:382).
This view, however, was not shared by non-disabled people he talked with about it, „people
who weren‟t aware of disability issues‟, who „all thought it was marvellous‟ (l.2:385). As a
drama based on „a true story‟ written by a disabled person, it was presented as progressive
and claimed an authenticity that convinced many viewers that this was a genuine insight into
the lives of disabled people. But, as Charles comments:
that doesn‟t get rid of the fact that it went through all the stereotypes… literally all
the stereotypes… I sat there ticking them off one by one… we‟ve got asexual… pity,
victim… chip on your shoulder…and then later on you get triumph over tragedy…
quite comical… (l.2:384ff.)
Charles‟ reaction to the sex scene was different to Sarah‟s:
...when I first saw it I thought it was one of the funniest things…it‟s the way she
flops her leg over… and says I can‟t feel anything, but you might as well… it‟s what
you want… ...it‟s pretty revolting… isn‟t it… you know… she‟s not getting anything
out of it… but she wants to do it because she wants to keep her husband… so that
he‟s satisfied… it‟s just horrible… just the lighting… and the way it‟s shot… and
the fact that he‟s… coming… and that she‟s looking into the camera… I mean, it‟s
just, like… you know… it‟s just revolting to watch… that he doesn‟t really want to
do it either… so neither of them want to do it… but they do it cos… you know…
they‟re trying to be normal… it‟s horrific… (l.2:315ff.)
While the divergence in responses to the scene may in part be explained by the fact that
Charles is no longer the sex-starved and sex-obsessed youth described in Chapter 4, neither
found it pleasant. Sex with a disabled person is depicted as cold, grim and joyless.
As Sarah noted above, this is the only representation of disabled people having sex on TV
that she has ever seen. She has experienced this as problematic because:
...you see sex on telly all the time with two able-bodied, normal people and you
think ... oh ... that‟s not relevant to me... and when you do see it involving disabled
people, it‟s not portrayed as a nice thing ... (l.2:1063ff.)