‘What You’ll Miss When It’s Gone’
PBS public editor David Macy wrote a piece about the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s (CPB) choice to cease operations in the wake of the Trump administration’s choice to cease funding the nonprofit organization. Trump’s behest stems from a desire of his (and his cronies) to “end wokeness,” as right-wingers call it.
As Macy noted, the CPB was established by way of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967.
“By now, most Americans are aware that PBS and NPR have been ‘defunded,’” Macy wrote in the lede to his piece published late last week. “Judging from letters to the PBS Public Editor, viewers believe it’s ‘public media’ that’s had the rug pulled out from under it; Some say ‘Sesame Street’ or ‘[fill in with your favorite show]’ were defunded. Or, as some put it more harshly, ‘wokeness’ was defunded. Whether these personal messages to PBS were delivered with sadness or glee doesn’t matter. What interests me is what people think they will be losing (or getting rid of?). They are about to find out.”
As I wrote a month ago, that the CPB is no longer—and PBS and NPR is defunded—will have reverberating effects on the disability community. As I said in early August, I’ve covered myriad children’s programming from PBS Kids and have interviewed many executives and showrunners; that the federal government has pulled funding very much threatens not only PBS Kids’ ability to function—the consequences ultimately means less visibility of people like me. Of course I’m an adult, but the salient point is disabled people are showcased in series like Carl the Collector and its brethren. More poignantly, that disability is featured so prominently means able-bodied children (and their families) are exposed to the ways in which people are different and implicitly teaches viewers to be empathetic of such a reality. Likewise for children with disabilities, the feelings of heightened self-esteem are immeasurably important because they get to see characters who look like them on television. As Hollywood and media reckon with its historical moribund, woeful portrayals of disability and disabled people, that PBS Kids—as well as Apple TV+ and Netflix, for that matter—allocate a significant number of resources to furthering diversity and inclusion in this manner is absolutely non-trivial. That’s precisely why Trump’s mandate is so damning and disdainful—it puts the future of such vital productions in serious peril while also underscoring his (and his cronies’) desire to effect changes which only serve to better the lives of the white, wealthy, and abled people. The fact of the matter is not having to cope with disability, if not multitudes, is as much privilege as being a well-off white man. It’s ignored, but abled privilege is, and always has been, a real thing in this world.
The disability community indeed will miss the representation when it’s gone.
