Why I won’t be watching ‘Me Before You’

Mum On A Mission - 27 May 16

There’s already HUGE controversy about a new film about to hit our cinemas.. Me Before You

The trailer has everything you want from a good love story but there are several reasons why I will certainly not be watching it.

This films main male character has been in a car accident which has left him paralysed and quadraplegic. This character, Will, is played by Sam Claflin, an actor you may know from The Hunger Games. An actor you may have noticed is NOT disabled.

How is it OK in 2016 that a disabled character is being portrayed by a non-disabled actor? Imagine if a major role about a black man was played by a white man in make-up, or a leading lady was played by a man in a wig – those days are long gone so why is this OK?

Not long ago the world was up in arms about the lack of diversity in Hollywood. People were avoiding the Oscars because of the lack of black nominees. So I hope those same people will be avoiding this film for similar reasons.

But that’s not even my main gripe about this film!

The film has been criticized heavily for depicting the lives of paraplegic people as not worth living and has caused uproar on social media. You can read about those issues here and here so I won’t go into that in anymore detail other than to say I agree with it all, I’ve read posts from friends on Facebook who are devastated because they don’t want people watching this film thinking their disabled children’s lives aren’t worth living and to think anyone would believe my William’s life isn’t worth living is upsetting to say the least.

But my main issue with this film isn’t even its content (although I find that very hard to stomach).

No my main issue is the fact that our UK cinema’s will be raking in big bucks by showing a film about a character who wouldn’t be able come and watch a film in their cinemas because there is no toilet he’d be able to use in most of their venues.

Our cinema’s are more than happy to profit from a film about someone with a severe disability but are not prepared to spend some of that profit on their customers with similar disabilities by providing Changing Places or Space to Change toilets within their venues.

Cineworld for example think this toilet is adequate for someone with a severe disability to use, you can see there is no space for a carer and the only changing table is a baby changing unit only suitable for a child up to about 3 years old – my son is 7 and even he doesn’t fit in here so how would a disabled adult?

If a severely disabled person wishes to watch a film at a cinema in the UK they have a couple of options when it comes to going to the toilet..

1. They can lie on the toilet floor – if there is space and if someone can lift them.
2. They can leave half way through the film and go home
3. They can relieve themselves in their continence pad/nappy. Which is unpleasant for them and also for those around them.

The UK’s average cinema ticket costs £6.54 but many places charge in excess of £20 for a ticket – let me ask you would you be happy to pay that price if you had to leave half way through because you need a wee?

Cinema’s should be providing facilities for all their customers, not just those that are easy to cater for and if they are happy to profit from films like this one they should be putting that profit back into facilities for those that need them and not just ignoring the issues all together.

This film shouts out a message that life with a disability isn’t a good life, its not a life worth living. But in reality it’s society which is making life even harder for people who are living with disabilities.

We should be doing everything we can to ensure that life is worth living and that people living with disabilities are able to live life as easily as possible and that includes providing fully accessible toilets everywhere for disabled people so they are not limited in the places they can visit and the time frame they can stay there for.

So no… I won’t be watching this film when it comes out and I’d hope you won’t be either.

Leave me a comment, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Mum On A Mission

Laura is Mum to William, the happiest boy you'll ever meet. William has quadraplegic cerebral palsy and epilepsy. Laura writes about life with a disabled child & the issues they face on her blog Mum on a mission www.mumoam.co.uk She is passionate about making a difference and is dedicated to campaigning for better accessibility for disabled people in the UK.

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