I first read "Me Before You" so that I would be able to form an opinion on it from seeing both the book and the movie. Overall, I loved it. There were, of course, certain parts of the book that I didn't like, but overall I enjoyed reading it and was thoroughly looking forward to the movie being released.
"Me Before You" portrays the life of Will Traynor, a once physically able man who becomes quadriplegic after a motorcycle accident and severs his C5/C6 spinal cord. He is viewed mainly through the perspective of his new care taker, Lou, who finds that her primary job is to make him happy again.
As anyone can tell from the plot summary, there is the typical love story that forms. However, instead of choosing happiness and a life with Lou, Will instead chooses to end his life, due to the fact that he can not stand the idea of living with quadripilegia.
When the movie was released, I went with one of my very good friends, and was surprised at how close the film remained to the storyline. My friend cried throughout the movie, thoroughly touched by the emotions and events that were portrayed by the actors on screen, and I left with a feeling of satisfaction that there was one more movie in the world that hadn't completely destroyed a book's storyline for me.
That was, until I saw this video posted by a friend, known as Annie Elainey, in a Facebook group that was created to support women who make videos on YouTube.
If you haven't seen it, then I highly recommend watching it before continuing the rest of this article, as Annie speaks with more experience and influence than I could ever hope to achieve.
Many people support this film in the guise of it being groundbreaking in comparison to other recently released romance movies, and praise it for being daring enough to have someone who has a disability as a lead character.
However, many critics of the film say that this is nothing more than another one of the many negative stereotypes that Hollywood portrays in association with the disabled community.
Emily Ladau, disabled rights activist and writer for Salon, says eloquently in this article that this story “overflows with dehumanizing stereotypes about disability, from implications that disabled people are things no more active than houseplants, to assumptions that disability is a fate worse than death.”
The unconscious belief in the minds of most able bodied people that to be "disabled" is to be given a fate equal or worse than death is one that is not only toxic but absurd.
Instead of pitying those who live with a disability, or dismissing their valid opinions when it comes to harmful views and stereotypes, we need to instead learn to do what most of us can barely accomplish.
Listen. And learn how we as allies can help those who are speaking out.
Interested in hearing more? Check out the video below!
