The movie opens with a young child, Will, witnessing a break in and his mother nearly murdered. Will doesn't talk after the assault and is taken to a speech therapist. She is impatient and implies that he’s wasting their sessions because he won’t talk. She tells the parents not to force him to talk, but she tries guilt tripping him into it. They also repeatedly use the term, “selective mutism;” this is a problematic term because it implies a choice. The acceptable term is “situational mutism,” which respects the fact that the situation causes mutism, not that the person chooses it.
The adults want Will to talk because they consider speaking superior. If they did not view the very common disabilities/disability traits of speech impediments and mutism as less than, they would have him in therapy, not speech therapy. What none of them acknowledge is that if they were to fully respect his writing instead of speaking, he would eventually feel in control and safe enough to talk: their discrimination is furthering their perceived problem. Don’t praise people for speaking; be appreciative that they feel safe enough to. On top of this ableism and emotional manipulation, they use his situational mutism as a way to subtly make him creepy. Not only do the characters apply this hierarchy, but the writer also applies fear to speech related disabilities. People with disabilities which impact their speech are regularly ignored, interrupted, and disrespected. They are also frequently assumed to be intellectually disabled to the point that they are incapable of consent, and, thus, their lack of consent is frequently overridden. Portraying these people as scary perpetuates extremely harmful treatment.
Comments