Movies that Depict People with Disabilities

Martin Norton’s book, Cinema of Isolation (1994), is an excellent resource for movies with people with disabilities up until 1992. It is available at Adam’s Library in the Changing the Culture Reserve.

 

  • ª A Beautiful Mind
  • ª Born on the 4th of July
  • ª Children of a Lesser God — Hearing teacher falls in love with Deaf colleague
  • ª Coming Home
  • ª Diving Bell and the Butterfly” (stroke victim who learns to communicate through blinking)?
  • ª Door to Door
  • ª Finding Nemo
  • ª Forrest Gump
  • ª Garden State (with Zach Braff). Natalie Portman’s character has epilepsy, and several other disability portrayals are presented in the movie
  • ª I Am Sam — developmentally disabled man trying to keep custody of his daughter
  • ª Love Leads the Way (A true story about a blind man who receives the first Seeing Eye Dog in America and the social and legal barriers they face)
  • ª Mercury Rising with Bruce Willis, a child character with Autism
  • ª The Mighty- based on a book called Freak the Mighty. A boy with a severe learning disability befriends a boy with a disorder that causes short stature and organ problems
  • ª Miracle Worker
  • ª Mozart and the Whale. It based on the true story of a married couple who both have Asperser’s Syndrome
  • ª My Left Foot
  • ª The Other Sister (About a girl with an intellectual disability who falls in love)
  • ª Passion Fish
  • ª Places in the Heart
  • ª Radio (Cuba Gooding Jr. plays a man with an intellectual disability, a true story)
  • ª Rainman, Autism
  • ª The Ringer — Johny Knoxville playing a guy trying to fake a developmental disability to rig the Special Olympics (endorsed by the Special Olympics)
  • ª Simon Birch
  • ª Slingblade
  • ª Waterdance
  • ª What’s Eating Gilber Grape, Johnny Depp plays the brother of Leo DeCaprio who has mental retardation
  • ª X-Men movies, the “professor” use a wheelchair