This is like stream of consciousness!!

First off let me start out by saying I'm not a fan of Glee. I enjoyed the little part of De-Lovely we watched. Granted it gave me the chills, I've ridden horses for over 10 years and have had more than my fair share of horses flip over on me. It's not fun! But I digress. . . Disability Studies are an interesting field, new to me, but still interesting. I have a cousin with whom I am very close who is deaf. We were essentially raised together, and I've seen how people treat her differently because of this. I've also seen how this affected her and shaped the person she is today. Lecture today also brought to mind a South African man (swoon) named Oscar Pistorious. I watched a documentary about him one day called, "The Fastest Man on No Legs". This is also one of his nicknames in addition to "Blade" The reason they call him that is because he's a double amputee and a world record holder. He had specially made prosthetics that the International Association of Athletic Federation claimed gave him an added advantage over "able bodied" athletes and then barred him from non paralympic events. To make a long story short, it was overturned and he competed for a spot on the South African 2008 Olympic team. He didn't make it however. Back on track. . . no pun intended. . . I like watching British television because, honestly, I feel it's better then American television. I recently got caught up in this wonderful show called, "Britain's Missing Top Model" It was a spin off of America's Next Top Model but in this show, the models were all disabled. Just as in ANTM there was a challenge and subsequent elimination every episode. The show dealt with the ability of "disabled" girls to work in high fashion modeling. It was a great show and I suggest everyone look it up!! There was one episode where one girl lit into another because she claimed that the girl was self-pitying and that she felt she deserved to be put up on a pedestal because of said disability. It was a good episode!! Another show is the show called Cast Offs. It's a mockumentary about 6 disabled people who go into the remote British wilderness (there is indeed wilderness in Great Britain still!!) with the mindset of living sans assistance. What sets this show apart is that every actor cast, actually had the condition/disability the character they are cast as actually has. Dan, a character that is wheel chair bound, is played by a veryyyy good looking guy who also, was relegated to a wheelchair due to a similar situation. This show highlights that disabled people act no differently then "able bodied" people. The production team makes a point in the show to stress that, having the characters getting drunk and having sex. That's something that until recently has been more or less a taboo. Here's a disabled actors viewpoint of the show: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/nov/10/cast-offs-disabled-actors
I haven't been able but one episode, but I liked what I could watch!! I'm not aware of a show like this in American television. Is there? While Americans are still resorting to "crip drag" Britain is plodding ahead with opening up to the populus the fact that people written off as disabled, is really no different then everyone else.