Villain Essay

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Villain

One of the most persistent stereotypes of (dis)Abled individuals is that they are evil or villainous and as such are predisposed to criminality due to some type impairment. Nothing is farthest from the truth.. Although, people with intellectual disorders and mental health issues are a growing population within the criminal justice system, they are still more often than not victims of crime as a result of their circumstances. People with developmental and cognitive impairments or significant mental health issues in many cases lack impulse control or display inappropriate emotions that the criminal justice system may misinterpret, thus bringing criminal charges for such offenses as causing a disturbance or mischief. When the police are confronted with a situation that involves a cognitively impaired or mentally ill person the police do not know how to respond in an appropriate manner. This image is seen throughout the media over the past few years. One has to look at the tragic death of Sammy Yatim or Michael Eligon to see these image.
Sadly, when a cognitively impaired individual or mentally ill person is in the news, it serves to sensationalize the connection between crime and those who are suffer from cognitive impairments. Thus, the response from society is they are evil and therefore a danger and cannot be trusted and thrown in jail away immediately. A recent example of this is the Canadian government’s tough on crime legislation pertaining to the Not Criminally Responsible Act (Bill C 14). With recent high profile violent incidents involving Vincent Lei beheading a fellow passenger on a Greyhound bus in 2008 as well as Richard Kachkar, who drove a stolen snowplow into a Toronto Police Officer killing him in 2010....

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...beld person as equal and for society to take responsibility for their ignorance and become more open minded and accepting of those who may have less functioning ability or mental awareness of what is going on around themselves. Only recently has the (dis)Abeld community been given the spotlight through television shows such as Bones, or House, Or CSI have those with disabilities been given a platform to push over society’s negative stereotypes of ignorance and shown how despite limitations, those with limitations can indeed live happy and healthy lives. Despite much of the stigma that still exists towards those who are (dis)Abled, much success has been made and continues to be made because of the selfless determination of a select few who are determined not to be restrained by society’s ignorance and to make a difference in the world around them and for others.

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