Disability Humour vs Disabling Humour in media

In a landmark moment in Indian history, the Supreme Court on July 8 issued a series of guidelines for the depiction of disabled and neurodivergent individuals in films, TV shows and online content. 

The guidelines are for creators, directors, producers and various other stakeholders in media that play a role in creating and disseminating films and content in the public domain. 

One of the sections in the final document released by the SC, titled Caveat, clearly laid down the distinction between disability humour and disabled humour. 

While the former ‘challenges conventional wisdom about disability,’ the latter ‘demeans and disparages persons with disability,’ the order said.

Below, we’ve broken down the key differences (with examples) of what constitutes disability humour and what falls under disabling humour. 

Disability humour is: 

• Empowering. It pokes fun at the social barriers and stereotypes faced by disabled individuals. It does not make fun of the disabled individuals themselves. 

• Inclusive. It includes disabled people in the creation process and its delivery, ensuring authenticity and respect.
  

• Educational. It highlights the misconceptions that exist, and seeks to educate the audience about disability through humour. 
  

• Positive in its representation. It shows disabled characters as multidimensional individuals, capable of having a sense of humour and leading fulfilling lives.
  

• Contextually sensitive. It avoids reinforcing negative stereotypes or perpetuating harmful narratives about this diverse community.

Disabling humour, on the other hand, is:

• Harmful. It pokes fun at disabled individuals, or their disabilities, reinforcing negative stereotypes and prejudices.
  

• Exclusionary. It is often created and disseminated by non-disabled individuals - or individuals with little to no exposure to disabled lives - without the input or perspective of the disabled community.
  

• Ignorant. It reflects a lack of understanding about the realities of living with a disability.
  

• Negative in its representation. It portrays disabled characters in a negative light, often as objects of pity or ridicule.

• Insensitive. It lacks empathy and is insensitive to the impact of the humour on disabled individuals and the broader disability community.

To sum it up, the guidelines say that humour can be a powerful tool for positive representation and awareness when done respectfully and inclusively. 

On the other hand, humour that reinforces harmful stereotypes and further marginalises disabled individuals should be avoided in media representation.

Here are some examples of both: 

Disability humour:

A disabled comedian making fun of inaccessible public spaces to highlight the absurdity and need for change.

TV shows like ‘Speechless,’ where disabled characters are portrayed with depth and their humour is rooted in everyday experiences.

Comedians like Maysoon Zayid, Josh Blue, and Hannah Gadsby use their talent and sense of humour to break down stereotypes and talk about their lived experiences. 

Disabling humour:

Jokes that rely on mocking disabled individuals, such as making fun of someone’s gait or speech, to demean and belittle them.

Using disabled characters as the butt of jokes, like in the Hindi film Golmaal where a speech disfluency is used for cheap laughs without any real representation. 

And finally, here’s some examples of good and bad representation: 

Shows such as ‘Special,’ which was created by and stars a gay man with cerebral palsy, using humour to explore real-life challenges. 

Comedy sketches such as ‘Nanette’ by Hannah Gadsby where humour is used to teach the audience about disability. 

And on the other side of the fence, there’s Dr Evil's sidekick, Mini-Me, in ‘Austin Powers,’ is routinely ridiculed for their size. 

The Golmaal series, which makes fun of speech disfluency, deafness, blindness and other disabilities through its crass humour. 

The Bollywood film Housefull 3 in which the three lead characters fake their disabilities.