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"Speechless:" Prime Time TV Show ~ Teen with CP and His Family

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    My reviews of Speechless “Club”
    So the talking computer is AAC. Cool! It’s been awhile since I saw an AAC device. I have a feeling JJ ditched the device as a way to give the other actors more lines. Dumb but I can see why they did it for a production standpoint. The “Identify” joke was priceless! Yes JJ was very immature,I didn't like the dragged out fight, but I have seen fully grown disabled adults treat aides like crap. I was kind of like that at JJ's age in certain ways. I was too caught up in my own concerns and did not realize other people had lives and problems. The club plot was cute. I loved "The parent trap" reference. JJ should have the AAC as a backup if nothing else.

    My review of Oscar Party
    Becky’s daughter kinda looks like me 10 years ago. I totally agree I love how Kenneth had to be all inclusive. In general if inclusion is done correctly it works pretty well but it is impossible to be 100% inclusive because the nature of disability makes it so broad. I thought they depicted this well. I was not a fan of being dragged to special needs groups as a disabled kid either. So my family left me out of it. I also didn't like the one "special needs" camp I went to. It felt like I was forced to make friends instead of letting it happen naturally. In regards to the moms. I would have wrote the episode where some of the moms make the disability all about them and some moms don't and they keep doing guilt trips on each other. This was a real observation I made about some moms of disabled. I think there is a huge denial by the disabled community about how hard care taking is and I think disabled adults need to help care takers by understanding this.
    Last edited by funnylegs4; 03-04-2017, 08:38 PM.
    Mild Spastic Diplegia Cerebral Palsy and bad proprioception.
    My website for my original short films! http://cripvideoproductions.com/astrokeofendurance.php

    Comment


      Originally posted by funnylegs4 View Post
      My reviews of Speechless “Club”
      So the talking computer is AAC. Cool! It’s been awhile since I saw an AAC device. I have a feeling JJ ditched the device as a way to give the other actors more lines. Dumb but I can see why they did it for a production standpoint. The “Identify” joke was priceless! Yes JJ was very immature,I didn't like the dragged out fight, but I have seen fully grown disabled adults treat aides like crap. I was kind of like that at JJ's age in certain ways. I was too caught up in my own concerns and did not realize other people had lives and problems. The club plot was cute. I loved "The parent trap" reference. JJ should have the AAC as a backup if nothing else.

      My review of Oscar Party
      Becky’s daughter kinda looks like me 10 years ago. I totally agree I love how Kenneth had to be all inclusive. In general if inclusion is done correctly it works pretty well but it is impossible to be 100% inclusive because the nature of disability makes it so broad. I thought they depicted this well. I was not a fan of being dragged to special needs groups as a disabled kid either. So my family left me out of it. I also didn't like the one "special needs" camp I went to. It felt like I was forced to make friends instead of letting it happen naturally. In regards to the moms. I would have wrote the episode where some of the moms make the disability all about them and some moms don't and they keep doing guilt trips on each other. This was a real observation I made about some moms of disabled. I think there is a huge denial by the disabled community about how hard care taking is and I think disabled adults need to help care takers by understanding this.


      We so so agree. I hated the sleep away camp I was sent to-creepy. Also observed the same thing-and yes, disabled adults should be there for families of kids w extra challenges.

      Comment


        ((((((Hugs to All)))))) ~

        THE CLUB

        To win the affection of her middle child, Ray, Maya concocts a lie to get the family into a private club. As usual, everyone in the family is in on the deception, orchestrated by Maya.

        Ray is caught up in effete snobbery, the exact opposite of his real life, imagining himself as wealthy and spoiled. He likes it. He goes with it. As does Maya, until Ray casts off his mom for his new found Richie Rich tennis friends.

        Ray feels remorse, asks his dad what to do, but figures it out for himself, and we end on a syrupy tea party in the backyard disturbed by continuous railroad traffic.

        Moral of the story: Let’s teach our kids to lie and deceive, pretend they are someone they are not, just to make ourselves feel better about being that child’s parent, because we fall short in so many other ways. Let’s encourage our child’s fantasy of being someone he isn’t, by lying about who he is and where he comes from, instead of instilling pride in him for who he is and where he comes from. And then, as if by magic, the child learns a life lesson, and all is right with the world.

        I also can’t suspend disbelief that this family has no money, but Maya can afford expensive clothes for her and Ray to pull off the scam.

        The ACC device:

        In my opinion, this device would make JJ more independent. When Kenneth isn’t “speaking” for JJ, his family members are. The device makes his input/conversation more spontaneous and gives him more control. Aside from assisting JJ with using the bathroom at school, what other tasks does Kenneth perform for JJ? And who pays Kenneth for his services to JJ, when he’s at home (or not at school)? Mom and Dad? Realistically, there will be times, when Kenneth can’t be with JJ. In those instances, JJ would benefit from an ACC device. Actually, I think he’d benefit 100% of the time, but then that would be the end of “Speechless.”

        I continue to be disenchanted with this show. And disappointed.

        Love & Light,

        Rose
        Mom to Jon, 49, & Michael, 32, born with an undiagnosed progressive neuromuscular disease. Angel Michael received his wings in 2003. Angel Jon received his wings in 2019. In 2020, Jim, their Dad, joined them.

        Comment


          Originally posted by Earth Mother 2 Angels View Post
          ((((((Hugs to All)))))) ~

          The ACC device:

          In my opinion, this device would make JJ more independent. When Kenneth isn’t “speaking” for JJ, his family members are. The device makes his input/conversation more spontaneous and gives him more controthan Aside from assisting JJ with using the bathroom at school, what other tasks does Kenneth perform for JJ? And who pays Kenneth for his services to JJ, when he’s at home (or not at school)? Mom and Dad? Realistically, there will be times, when Kenneth can’t be with JJ. In those instances, JJ would benefit from an ACC device. Actually, I think he’d benefit 100% of the time, but then that would be the end of “Speechless.”
          I agree, I don't see any less need for an AAC device w speech output, than I do for a power chair for JJ. They could just push him in a manual always; but that would give a almost adult no independence. How is not being able to communicate w/o someone right there any less of an insane notion? I keep thinking whose paying Kenneth now outside of school hours? Whose going to pay him when JJ leaves/ages out of IDEA? When he's 25, 35. 45, 55? As I keep mentioning.

          Like the family, the acting, but writing stinks, they're trying to make it too disability focused, cutesy, not being real.

          Comment


            ((((((Hugs to All)))))) ~

            jul97 ~

            The writing does stink. Writing and story line are core aspects of any TV show, film, play, etc. There isn't anything realistic or plausible in "Speechless." I don't like the family, because they are a caricature of a "disability family," and their behavior is awful. They lie a lot.

            I wrote my review of The Club last week, but I forgot to post it.

            Here's my review of The Oscars episode, which I watched last night. This is my last review of "Speechless."

            THE OSCARS

            After I brought Jim peaches to soothe his throat from coughing, gave Jon his meds and put on a DVD concert, I thought I’d take a “break” and watch “The Oscars" episode of “Speechless.”

            Instead of being relaxed, I feel irritated and insulted.

            I have never met a Mom of a special needs child, in real life or here on CN, who wasn’t a multi-tasker. Full of creative ideas and energy, juggling a hundred different things at one time seamlessly.

            In this episode, the Moms are all crushed, overwhelmed, incapable of keeping their homes neat and tidy, let alone baking cookies, or organizing spices in their kitchen. One Mom, as Maya pointed out, is usually slumped in half kissing her belly button.

            The Dads are portrayed as easily manipulated milquetoasts, with no brains, just Stepford responses to their wives’ demands.

            Moms and Dads are stupid too.

            Moms are confused and intimidated by a new Mom in their group, who bakes, makes her own bakery boxes, has a clean, neat house, without writing on the walls, and an organized pantry. They go berserk.

            Meanwhile, the Dads are ordered by JJ’s Dad’s to do his chores, and they’re too daft to realize that they are being had.

            But at the end, all of the Dads are dancing, and the Moms have made up after a food fight, and they all agree that it’s difficult being the parent of a child with special needs.

            Youngest child, Dylan, counsels the Moms, but first, she reaches to drink a glass of wine. Maya says something to her, and Dylan says, “It was worth a try.” How old is Dylan? 12? Very inappropriate.

            Meanwhile, Ray is enticed into a fantasy with a girl wearing a wreath of flowers in her hair. He tries to impress her by throwing something through a window at his school. Because vandalism is sexy.

            And Kenneth has orchestrated a game, which ends up with JJ’s disabled peers fighting each other. Because that’s what they’ve been wanting to do for awhile, apparently.

            That’s it for me. I’m done with this show. I can’t find a single redeemable thing about this show, and it just keeps getting worse. I’m not going to waste any more of my precious time to “relax” watching it or commenting on it.

            My Final Score: 0

            Love & Light,

            Rose
            Mom to Jon, 49, & Michael, 32, born with an undiagnosed progressive neuromuscular disease. Angel Michael received his wings in 2003. Angel Jon received his wings in 2019. In 2020, Jim, their Dad, joined them.

            Comment


              Hi guys, I have been working on my film(s) so I have NOT seen episodes in awhile. This show is unfortunately not as high on my watch list as some others but I haven’t totally given up yet.

              More “Speechless” thoughts:

              My review of “Surprise”: I love seeing Dylan younger. What a cutie! I also like how much effort Maya puts into Dylan’s parties, because it shows she puts effort into letting all the kids know they are loved. That scene in the shoe store about the terms had me ROLF! Too funny! That was exactly what I was trying to explain in a speech last week LOL. I thought it was so sweet how Dylan said she did not want to share her mom. I also liked JJ’s comment about being the big brother. JJ being able to get to the mall without Kenneth or anyone else there doesn’t make much sense at all given what the rest of the series suggests about his physical abilities but at least it shows JJ being clever.

              My review of “Ding” : The “License for that thing” line happens to me when I use my scooter. Good to see what Kenneth has another job when he’s not with JJ. I like how JJ handled that guy who touched/pushed his wheelchair! The plot with Maya dinging a car and the whole red soda plot was dumb and a bit boring to me, but the ending with Kenneth was nice. Now we know Kenneth is likely paid by the parents privately, not by the school.

              All in all these last 2 episodes were better than the "Oscars" episode.
              Mild Spastic Diplegia Cerebral Palsy and bad proprioception.
              My website for my original short films! http://cripvideoproductions.com/astrokeofendurance.php

              Comment


                New episode of "Speechless" isn't until next week…
                Mild Spastic Diplegia Cerebral Palsy and bad proprioception.
                My website for my original short films! http://cripvideoproductions.com/astrokeofendurance.php

                Comment


                  Interesting thoughts on “Speechless” from its creators below. Perhaps my reviews were a bit harsh and assuming. Fowler and disabled writers DID have input. Just because I don't relate to the episodes doesn't mean it isn't based on experience and this show is more well thought out than I realized. I may watch and review season 2.

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                  Article text below.

                  When it debuted last fall, Speechless was just the latest of ABC’s seemingly inexhaustible supply of distinct family comedies. By the time its first season wrapped, the series — about a special needs family where oldest son JJ DiMeo (Micah Fowler) has cerebral palsy — had become the best of them, deftly mixing at least two parts silliness for every one part reality, exploring how mom Maya (Minnie Driver), dad Jimmy (John Ross Bowie), and siblings Ray (Mason Cook) and Dylan (Kyla Kennedy) build lives that are always at least partially defined by JJ.
                  It’s a story that on the one hand is deeply personal to Speechless creator Scott Silveri, who grew up in a family like the DiMeos, including a brother with CP, and on the other had to be figured out as he, fellow executive producer Daniel Chun, and everyone else in the creative team discovered what could be funny about their premise, what risked being offensive, and when it was okay to let things get serious.
                  It’s a balance Silveri, whose previous show was the grief support group comedy Go On, keeps feeling surprised he’s working to maintain.
                  “I told my wife, ‘I just want to write something funny for once,’” he recalls, “and she says, ‘For a guy who just wants to write something funny, you sure do an awful lot of shows about dead wives and disabilities.”
                  Last month, I visited the Speechless writers office to talk to Silveri and Chun about how they decided on the rules for this show, what they’ve learned from talking to real special needs families, what’s coming up in the second season (which premieres September 27), and a lot more.
                  THE FOUR BULLSEYES
                  Posted on the walls of the Speechless writers offices are four “bullseyes” for the writers to aim at, as explained by Silveri:
                  Funny
                  “Funny should go without saying, but you certainly can imagine a version of it that isn’t. One must always be mindful of that. That’s the goal, not teaching anybody anything.”
                  Rock Star Family
                  “This is meant to broaden the action in the show, rather than being the ‘ramp of the week’ show where Maya is always taking on some cause. A different thrust for fun seemed like, these are people who come to believe they’re in a special, privileged position, a little bit above the law. ‘We don’t play by other people’s rules.’ Taking the chaotic nature of their lives and turning it into a good thing, on the cheap, oftentimes.”
                  Comic Specificity of Disability
                  “We have that, let’s take advantage of it. When you set up, particularly in the first year, you want to do stories that nobody else can tell. We’re in a block of a bunch of different family shows, but we’re about this type of family, so let’s lean into that.”
                  (As the season moved along, they gained the confidence to do episodes — a Valentine’s Day adventure for Maya and Jimmy, a family trip to the supermarket — where disability was a minor concern at most, but they first had to establish the characters in the context of JJ’s needs.)
                  Non-Cynical
                  “I wanted to celebrate the bonds they share, their inclination to take being ‘different’ and turn it into a positive — the farthest thing from cynical I could imagine, and it was important always to keep an eye on that. So we looked — and continue to look — for other avenues to inject the bite we wanted. Whether it’s trading on the ignorance of others outside the family, or leaning into our characters’ brutal honesty and their choice to laugh in the face of adversity. (Take Jimmy’s ‘Having a disability is expensive. It’s almost not even worth it?’ from the hero episode.) It’s maybe the most fun part of the puzzle of making this show. Finding that tone where we can be frank, direct — the teeth — without being jerks about it.
                  “The other reason is simply a taste thing. I kind of relish the challenge of making a scene funny when people actually like each other. Folks taking turns crapping on one another has its place, but I wanted this to be a family that gets along, and I thought there could be plenty of opportunity for laughs even given that scenario. People have at times described the DiMeos to me as dysfunctional. I kind of think they’re supremely functional. They have differences and they butt heads, but they work in my mind. They care about each other. And this is a network comedy. I love darker, more sinister stuff in different contexts, but for a network comedy, people with differences finding common ground (and actually enjoying those differences) is what I most like to see.”

                  DRAWING LINES OF GOOD TASTE AND GOOD COMEDY
                  Perhaps the show’s best, and certainly most quintessential, episode of the first season was the Oscar party show, which hit all the bullseyes, and particularly the ones about funny and the specificity of disability. Maya grappled with her jealousy of a much more put-together special needs mom, while JJ’s aide Kenneth (Cedric Yarbrough) tried to organize competitions for JJ and his disabled friends, which climaxed with the absurd spectacle of the kids beating each other up with padded sticks and cushions and wearing various improvised devices designed to put them on a level physical playing field.
                  “We’ve shot stuff and not used it,” says Silveri, “but that felt pretty much within our power alley, because it was coming from a place of empowerment: ‘Okay, if anybody else can do this, why can’t these kids do it?’ If you have that sure footing, then you can go for it. I was surprised early on when JJ gave the finger, people were into that. When JJ got drunk, people were into that. We got clued in very early on that he could even misbehave and that was welcome in itself, because it was ‘normal behavior.’ So as long as he’s got a point of view in it, as long as he and these other kids with disabilities are not props in it, then we’re on sure footing. How wrong can we be?
                  “We also have a lot of sensitivity in the room,” he adds. “We have a lot of people with either siblings or kids with disabilities. We now have a writer with a disability. We’ve bounced a lot of the stuff we do off of a couple of different foundations, including the Cerebral Palsy Foundation. We could be wrong, and we will be at some point, but we kick the tires a little bit. But if JJ has a say in the matter, if he he’s active, that helps us a lot.”
                  An early cut of that same episode found the creative team crossing a line without realizing it, with a joke where one of the kids at the party kept repeating the same phrase over and over.
                  “It had the crew in stitches,” Chun recalls, “but when we saw it in the cut, it felt a little like, ‘Which side of this joke were we on? Are we laughing with this girl? Are we laughing at this girl?’ It felt close enough to that, that we cut that out.”
                  Another major line the writers have to worry about crossing is being so honest that laughter becomes impossible. The show is blunt about the realities of JJ’s disability — Kenneth helps him go to the bathroom, Dylan has to feed pizza to him, and he has virtually no privacy — and can do it very well as matter-of-fact material, occasionally taking place in the background of a scene about something else. But when they did an episode about JJ being briefly hospitalized — a periodic fact of life for many people with disabilities — Silveri found it was “a tricky thing to edit, because he got hurt and was in a little bit of pain. That was not fun to lean into.”
                  At the same time, JJ’s condition not only gives the DiMeos license to be jerks (though Jimmy would contend that they’re idiots, not jerks), but gives the writers license to let them be as loud and abrasive as possible — so long as the loudness is specifically in service of JJ.
                  “Early on, we had some stories in mind that were just Maya going on a tear for a tear’s sake, and it didn’t feel right,” says Chun. “That was the sort of thing that we executed and just went, ‘If she’s doing it for the kid, that’s funny. Crazy for crazy’s sake is not going to win us any viewers.’”
                  WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW
                  Silveri didn’t pull the idea for the series out of thin air. His brother’s CP is more severe than JJ’s. (“He’s non-communicative.”) And in Micah Fowler, who has CP, he has a star who knows the material even more intimately than he does. Where some showrunners want no creative suggestions from their actors, Fowler is an obvious resource, both for details about life with disability and for advice on narrative philosophy.
                  “I had my pad out ready to take down a bunch of disability-specific ideas,” Silveri recalls, “but that’s not how he sees himself. He wants to talk about what any 17-, 18-year-old wants to talk about. He wants to get in relationships. He wants to put himself out there. He wants to think about his independence. That’s what we ended up doing a lot of, towards the end of the season especially.”
                  At the same time, the show can’t always draw from real life. Fowler is working on walking, which at first Silveri wanted to make into a parallel arc for JJ. But when they spoke to some of their other consultants in the disability community, “They’re like, ‘Maybe not make it about him overcoming disability. Living with, dealing with, thriving with.’ When it’s ‘casting off the shackles of dreaded disability,’ it’s much thinner ice for us.”
                  “We met a lot of people in pre-production,” says Chun. “Either parents of people with special needs, or the people themselves. We went to some places that do therapy for kids with special needs and got tons of material from that. Usually, in pre-production we’re sharing, ‘Oh, this show’s at a restaurant. Let’s go visit a restaurant for 30 minutes.’ Then, it’s just a huge waste of time. Here, we got tons of stories from talking to those people.” The season two writing staff has added Zach Anner, a writer and comedian with CP who worked as a technical consultant in the second half of season one — Silveri reached out to him after watching an online video where Anner discussed the show — and cameoed in one episode as a man Maya hoped could be a role model for what JJ’s adult life could be like.
                  “In the first packet of ideas that he sent us [in season one],” Silveri says, “I think we used about five different stories out of it. We were just about to do the grocery store episode, and in my first conversation with him, he mentioned that thing of, ‘When I go to a grocery store in my chair, it’s just a string of, “Hey, buddy, you got a license for that?”’ I went, ‘****, change what we’ve got, get that in the show!’”
                  Anner knows the subject, but he’s also funny enough to keep up with a room full of more seasoned sitcom writers, and at times outpace them.
                  “The only problem with Zach has been typing fast enough to get what he’s saying on the screen,” says Silveri. “It does save us the added bonus of we don’t have to think, ‘How might this go? This process with the school board? Who would be involved in this?’ He knows. But that’s .01% of what we get from him.”
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                  SOMETIMES, COMEDY WINS OUT OVER TRUTH
                  Nowhere is this more unapologetic than with the show’s use of Kenneth. Not only would someone with Kenneth’s (lack of) qualifications (he was the school groundskeeper) never be allowed to take that job, but he wouldn’t be hanging out at the DiMeo house on nights and weekends, or really at all.
                  “Sometimes, we’ll do some mental gymnastics to justify it,” Silveri says, “like it’s right after school, so he dropped the kid off and got sucked into some DiMeo thing. Or, ‘This isn’t a Saturday, even though they’re all sitting around sitting college football. It’s a Thursday, it’s right after school.’ But it will never limit us, it will never keep us from putting him in a scene. It’s the unfortunate curse of having him be really funny. Sure, he could work for that family 25 hours a week, but it would be a lot less funny. We’ve all worked on shows where it’s like, ‘Why are they over there at that apartment? Why is he meeting the murderer for coffee at work?’ After a certain point, you just go for it. We have bigger fish to fry.” (Chun says they also justify it both in the writers room and in occasional dialogue by pointing out that Kenneth doesn’t have much else going on in his life, and is thus eager for the excitement and companionship he gets from the family.)

                  ABC
                  Silveri and Driver
                  HOW “HEY!” BECAME “OY!”
                  In development, various executives kept pushing to make Maya an American. (TV executives are terrified of the idea that a foreign accent might scare off viewers, which is why Karen Gillan is somehow no longer Scottish.) So, for that matter, did Minnie Driver herself, who told Silveri that the Maya in the pilot script seemed very American to her. Silveri, though, wanted her to use her native accent.
                  “Comedy is so delicate,” he explains. “Any time you see somebody trying to hide an accent, there’s this sense of, ‘What is that? Are her parents Dutch?’ It’s just a little off. It was clear to me, you didn’t want her to be playing vowel police off in the corner. We’ve got enough work to do without having to say, ‘No, that was really funny, but you were British.’”
                  Driver and the execs gave in, and then she improvised one of the most defining bits of the character by inserting a demanding and very English “Oy, sea slug!” in a pilot scene where the script had her saying, “Hey, sea slug!” (The school’s mascot is a sea slug, for reasons best explained in context.)
                  “As soon as she said it,” Silveri recalls, “we were like, ‘Throw some more “Oy!”s in there! It’s fine!’ Now, we keep writing ‘Hey’s and ‘Dude’s, and Minnie Britishes them up for us. I just wish she’d stop saying ‘bugger.’ It’s funny and we’re not allowed to use them.”
                  Chun thinks Maya’s Britishness helps in another way: “It buys you about 10% more outrageous behavior than you’d accept from an American.”
                  THE SHOW ALMOST DIED AT “THE COOKIE PASS”
                  While Speechless has fit seamlessly into ABC’s family comedy machine, it was originally developed to air on Fox the year before ABC bought it. No pilot was ever filmed. There was no Kenneth character, since JJ in the first iteration of the script spoke with the help of a computer; while doing research later, Silveri met a woman who used a word and letter board like the one JJ has, with an aide who read aloud from it, and enjoyed their dynamic so much that he realized, “I don’t know if we can make a computer funny, but I know we can find a funny person to (play an aide), and that adds another flavor to the show.”(*)
                  (*) Because the talking computers have become fairly common for disabled people with the means to buy one, Silveri decided to do a story midway through the first season where JJ inherits a hand-me-down device from a friend, only to realize that he prefers letting Kenneth speak for him. It was meant to answer the many fan questions they’d received on the topic, but, “We had to wait to find a version that actually felt funny, and wasn’t just like a Star Wars crawl at the beginning of an episode of, ‘Here’s why we do this.’”
                  Silveri commends the Fox executives who read “70 different revisions” of the script, “each getting incrementally closer or way farther from the mark.” One of those is what he and Chun (who was developing Grandfathered for the network at the same time) refer to as “The Cookie pass,” in which Silveri attempted to transform the show into something that felt more appropriate on a network becoming increasingly defined by the success of Empire. That version featured “A lot of white fur coats and stuff. It was just leading into her being outrageous and her husband being a record mogul.”
                  By the time Fox declined to make a pilot, Silveri was so dispirited that he initially wasn’t interested when he heard ABC wanted to revive the idea. “Then, when I looked at what ABC had, I thought, ‘Oh, of course. It was crazy ever to consider putting it anywhere else.’”

                  ABC
                  WHAT COMES NEXT?
                  When I visited, pre-production for season two was still in early stages, with only a script or two having progressed beyond the outline stage. But the writers already had ideas for the year as a whole, from small ones, like the introduction of a rival for JJ who gets away with being awful because he’s disabled, to big.
                  One of those big ideas involves Maya’s initiative in getting JJ into this great school backfiring, as word spreads throughout the special needs community that Lafayette is open for business, resulting in so many families moving into the district that it runs out of money, which could lead to JJ losing Kenneth as his aide.
                  From a less plot-driven standpoint, Silveri is interested in JJ’s aging, and what that means for both him and Maya.
                  “It’s an interesting and true fact of life with kids like him, there’s so much that’s available to a kid with a disability,” he explains. “Then, the older you get, there’s a little less. There’s a little less infrastructure. It’s a little less cute to people. There’s less novelty and help. Now we’re feeling like, ‘What is this guy’s life going to be?’ He’s going to apply to college, he’s going to have to become realistic about what his options are while challenging himself.
                  “For Maya, she doesn’t want to hold him back, but at the same time, ‘This kid’s been my life forever, what am I without him?’ It’s going to open up new worlds for her about where is she, what is her place in the world, in a world that’s already a little less dominated by him. Now he’s in the school, and he’s got an aide, and he’s going to be more independent, and she’s going to get more independent. We want to meet her family.”
                  Other stories will be less profound, like a Halloween episode where Ray and Dylan swap bodies. The writers had to sell ABC on that one, since it’s so far outside the show’s usual reality, but Silveri looks at it as the kind of big swing that then allows them to get more grounded and serious elsewhere.
                  THE “FUNNY” BULLSEYE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ONE
                  Silveri spent years as a Friends writer/producer, but of late has worked more on shows that straddle the comedy/drama line like Go On. But rarely has he seen the line become as blurry as it is here. “Shows that I’ve worked on, it’s normally like, ‘This is a funny scene, this is a serious scene.’ In this show, we do a lot of banking recklessly from one to two. It’s kind of a fun way to write, not to have to quarantine the arc.”
                  That said, the longer we talk about the series, the more he begins to fear that this story will make it sound like televised broccoli.
                  “One thing we really want to get out there is, if you see the poster, if you see a still shot, it could read as this earnest and self-serious thing. It’s no documentary on disability. It’s comedy, and it’s not too good for you.
                  He pauses after that speech, worried he still hasn’t made his point.
                  “Just tell people it stinks,” he adds.
                  Last edited by funnylegs4; 09-21-2017, 08:02 PM.
                  Mild Spastic Diplegia Cerebral Palsy and bad proprioception.
                  My website for my original short films! http://cripvideoproductions.com/astrokeofendurance.php

                  Comment


                    Watched the first two episodes of the season-cause I can't help it.. Show's getting worse, Kenneth is just ruining it, and JJ acts six!!! It's not at all real!! Like I saidd a para pro isn't always the best thing for every kid with any IEP/504 plan!! Why would a whole group of parents all with radically different children want or need a parapro???????


                    Second a parapro isn't a third parent-senior year one was designated to work w me for two classes, I wasn't like well my best friend's dad died and mom cannot drive me to the service, will you take me?? What-no, she was designated to work with me for two classes on school grounds, and then she had her own life!!

                    JJ no thought of what's the best thing to do regarding a foreign language to get in to college? Should I take one, or get it waived???? What would be the one that's best for me?? So-no

                    I like the sibs, and the parents, still love they use an actor w cp-but so not at all believable-kenneth has to have a smaller role/JJ has to play 17..

                    And it's cool; I am not hyper squawking about the media portrayals damage us-cause I don't believe it has that effect...BUT I went to the doc's yesterday, I got twice, is their someone with you from the front-no.. Then in the little room-I looked at my phone, 4:02, so I open the door and say, I am very sorry but my ride is coming at 415, I am a little concerned time wise-the med assistant asks is your mom coming, I say no, para-transit, he asks, it's it your friend whose coming, I say no it's a bus sorta, not an individual who will just come in to wait on me to be done, mom, friend, spouse..

                    So while I do not care-it does set up the perception of wait-whose with you???? And I was thinking last night what does our community except? I am way past the age of IDEA funding me-and, my experience, as a kid, I am in the hospital or at home at 6pm. not the district's problem to provide care outside of school hours. I don't qualify for medicaid home health aides even to basically clean and cook a few times a week, cause I am to able to do basic ADLs. I don't have million's, even if I were working full time-I'd probably not be able to afford a full time aide, or chose not to spend almost all my income on that.. Whose going to pay for a lifelong full time PCA? No one!!!!! As for family yep have em, they're great, but they have live their own lives.....

                    So this perception of we always will have someone w us at all times is really flawed and not sustainable.

                    Hope u had a good summer; Funny...

                    Added: I really tried not to let my weird nightmarish constant experience from 6th thru 11th grade or my intermittent experience of being para pro bullied by four different individuals from 2nd thru 11th grade effect how I view the show./ But to be more fair to the show, lets compare 17 year old JJ to myself or senior year only JJ to my experience senior year-senior year I had an appropriate IEP; and both my parapro's were really great, I'd have no problem running into either, or communicating via Fbook-hope they're both doing great!! Taking only me senior year-I still think the show is absurd based on both how enmeshed Kenneth is with not only JJ but he's entire family; and I think JJ's maturity level is absurd. I wasn't the most mature 17 year old (especially when it came to sex and drugs-I was still 10,) but come-one..

                    And I thought I was in love with some boy from another state at 12-my mom listened to my stupid girlishness. she let me turn up the song how will I know on the radio and sing in the car, she looked at letters as I was debating what to send. That's a great ma-that's within the normal scope of going along and just letting your kid grow up through all their cute little stages; driving a kid across the country cause of some summer crush-that's insane!!! The whole family taking off to track down JJs 'love,' is insane.. Just cause Mya had a nano second of I'm not there for you every second of every day-is insane..No parent is there every second of every day of 18 years..
                    Last edited by jul97; 10-07-2017, 08:23 PM.

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                      Also added: Why are they still saying Aide?? On a network tv show about disability, they should use current terminology, it's parapro now. Isn't aide like calling a flight attendant a stewardess?? At best out of date, at worse you're offending a whole profession..

                      Life Goes On was so much better done; they didn't have to be so so exaggerating to get a story line to fill up an episode. Becca and Paige had stories that didn't have to do somehow with Corkey-he didn't always somehow save the day as far as their lives.., The parents didn't blame all their financial problems, their business struggling or sometimes there's just not enough time in the day on one of their kids having Downs; yet, especially in the early seasons, Corcky was a major plot of the show. It was way better. As I've said before, why can't Life Goes On be on Hulu???? I was hoping the success of Born Again, also really well done, would prompt Life Goes On reruns to be somewhere!!
                      Last edited by jul97; 10-09-2017, 07:53 PM.

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                        Thanks for your thoughts Jul97. I haven't had any time to watch the show recently but here's an interesting review I found Only registered and activated users can see links., Click Here To Register...
                        Mild Spastic Diplegia Cerebral Palsy and bad proprioception.
                        My website for my original short films! http://cripvideoproductions.com/astrokeofendurance.php

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                          Ok I saw the "New Years" and "Dimeo Academy" of season 2. I thought both of these episodes were rather good and I didn't see any really ableist stuff in there but some stuff just defied logic or was oddly written like I don't think JJ could make up an entire year that quick even if he was doing real home school. Why is JJ suddenly in the last year of high school when some of the show suggests he's younger? I know he's 17 but they could have written him as 14 or 15 so he's not left back. Feels contrived. I liked that Ray's girlfriend's friends found JJ attractive and at least they had a reason for JJ not being in the chair although I'm sure some disabled folks will wish JJ had been in the chair and had his communication board when he was found attractive. They still use the term aide. I grew up with "aide" as the proper term so this doesn't bug me on a personal level though I can see why the difference in terminology would bug some people especially when other shows use the term "para" now. Kenneth was cute in these 2 episodes and didn't annoy me.
                          Mild Spastic Diplegia Cerebral Palsy and bad proprioception.
                          My website for my original short films! http://cripvideoproductions.com/astrokeofendurance.php

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                            I thought "Dimeo Academy" insulted both students w disabilities, implying we do not earn our grades. That teachers just feel we've dealt with so much in our lives; they just give us A's or B's or pass us when we didn't earn it; or that teachers give us grades just to escape our parents wrath..Offensive..

                            And then the same episode went on to offend home schoolers; again, parents go into it willy nilly and they just throw a ball at the kid, then say that satisfied three subjects; therefore kids do not get a proper education. I am not surprised at all that a major network reinforced that stereotype. I'd be shocked to see a positive portrayal of a home schooling family on any network tv show.. It is all part of the NEA, public school agenda....

                            I agree JJ seems way younger.. They should had started the show with him starting middle school! He, for one, all throughout, has had the maturity of a middle school kid.. Not a 16/17 year old- whose almost an adult. 16/17 year olds are driving and have jobs. Two, them starting it out in middle school, would had made it easier for them to keep the show going for longer, you'd think they've would had thought of that. So, many shows struggle with characters would had graduated high school; but now what? It's a sit-com about a family, how do we have the one leave?? Starting in middle would had put that off..Three, JJ should had been in middle for the first two reasons and then have older sibs for a wider scope of story lines..

                            JJ academically doesn't make sense to me, that thought first came to me in the ep last season when Kenneth took the History test for him. He seems quit behind grade level..And realistically schools need to start transition planning when a kid is 14. So the family and student know what year a kiddo is projected to graduate, way before that actual year..Doesn't quit make sense.. It seems like JJ is way behind, not oh he's, as a senior,. only flunking one class that's a graduation requirement. The later is the only option of the two that would make sense. Especially for a student with an IEP, they test those kids way more often and keep track of them way closer-so how is he in 12th grade classes if he's on a 6th grade academic level?

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                              Originally posted by jul97 View Post
                              I thought "Dimeo Academy" insulted both students w disabilities, implying we do not earn our grades. That teachers just feel we've dealt with so much in our lives; they just give us A's or B's or pass us when we didn't earn it; or that teachers give us grades just to escape our parents wrath..Offensive..

                              And then the same episode went on to offend home schoolers; again, parents go into it willy nilly and they just throw a ball at the kid, then say that satisfied three subjects; therefore kids do not get a proper education. I am not surprised at all that a major network reinforced that stereotype. I'd be shocked to see a positive portrayal of a home schooling family on any network tv show.. It is all part of the NEA, public school agenda....

                              I agree JJ seems way younger.. They should had started the show with him starting middle school! He, for one, all throughout, has had the maturity of a middle school kid.. Not a 16/17 year old- whose almost an adult. 16/17 year olds are driving and have jobs. Two, them starting it out in middle school, would had made it easier for them to keep the show going for longer, you'd think they've would had thought of that. So, many shows struggle with characters would had graduated high school; but now what? It's a sit-com about a family, how do we have the one leave?? Starting in middle would had put that off..Three, JJ should had been in middle for the first two reasons and then have older sibs for a wider scope of story lines..

                              JJ academically doesn't make sense to me, that thought first came to me in the ep last season when Kenneth took the History test for him. He seems quit behind grade level..And realistically schools need to start transition planning when a kid is 14. So the family and student know what year a kiddo is projected to graduate, way before that actual year..Doesn't quit make sense.. It seems like JJ is way behind, not oh he's, as a senior,. only flunking one class that's a graduation requirement. The later is the only option of the two that would make sense. Especially for a student with an IEP, they test those kids way more often and keep track of them way closer-so how is he in 12th grade classes if he's on a 6th grade academic level?
                              Yeah Jul97 on a 2nd watch of that episode being a home schooler myself that is actually quite insulting. Home schooling for me was the exact same as a regular high school situation but from home and on my own schedule and there was whole wait periods to get books and other materials before starting the actual academic year. As far as I could tell JJ was still enrolled at the high school and Maya let him stay home and was supposedly helping him study not really home schooling whatsoever. So they should not have called it home schooling. I completely agree the media hates home school or anything that even remotely resembles "alternative schooling" . i.e I have seen shows that portray home schooling,GEDs and even Community College as "lesser" or some kind of joke and it really ticks me off. I also don't like that JJ is behind because it kind of portrays people with Cerebral Palsy as also perhaps being mentally disabled. I know some people with CP are mentally/cognitive disabled so no offense to them whatsoever but where are the disabled kids who do really well academically in media? Or if JJ has some issues mentally or academically add it to the script in a realistic way like other shows do with able bodied characters. I never had "transition planning" so not quite sure what that is. Can you explain "transition planning"??
                              Last edited by funnylegs4; 02-07-2018, 10:22 AM.
                              Mild Spastic Diplegia Cerebral Palsy and bad proprioception.
                              My website for my original short films! http://cripvideoproductions.com/astrokeofendurance.php

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                                Transition planning is a process mandated by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA 2004) for all students who have an Individualized Education Program (IEP) in K-12 education. The purpose is to facilitate the student's move from school to post-school activities.

                                So the Dimeo's would have a pretty reliable idea of when JJ was going to graduate long before that year.. I know the back story is JJ has changed schools bnch of times due to Mya's wanting to find the perfect situation for JJ. I do not find that believable. Yes, kids with disabilities change schools; but the reasons tend to be the same as why any student changes schools; for some reason their family moves.. When it's all about the kid w a disability, in those cases, the kid normally stays in the same school or only changes once or twice. I mean all public schools in America have to abide by IDEA; so how different can it be? And, I don't know this based on both my experience and not knowing how schools handle it, but I'd guess the old school would send the students IEP to the new district and the new district has so munch time, probably specified/ by federal law, to write a new IEP. I'd also guess the new district would consider the old IEP.

                                It's just not real to my a student going into 11th grade with no school history, any kid, and if a kid has a para that means they have an IEP.(Pretty sure) Kids with IEPs are tracked so much more closely than kids w/o IEPs since 3.. I mean I had like days of testing/evals every 3 years in school. The district even sent their social worker to my house for a home study because stats are kids with disabilities are more likely to be abused in their home and less likely/able to report.. I guess that was the district's justification or the reason for the law that the district needed to follow. I do not blame mom for being annoyed at this-feeling they're just being nosey. Yeah, like I'd tie my disabled kid up right before the stupid appointment, please.. Do not blame ma one bit-no kid was ever abused or harmed in my parents home.. But she was like gotta do what I gotta do.. It's stupid but, whatever. (I was too young to really be outraged or understand what was going on, I just remember mom mentioning it. I do not think HS district did a home study; that would so bothered me!)

                                We are way tracked and evaled... 90% sure if we switch districts are records get transferred. Even in cases where parents are really low functioning and do not attend IEPs or keep records, the district probably just can call the child's last district and get em sent over.

                                Again academically JJ doesn't make sense.. The documentary a certain proof, I'll post the link below goes into how hard it is to get districts to presume academic competence of students with severe communication disabilities or are non-verbal, how hard it is to get these students placed in grade level reged classes. That so contradicts the JJ shows up at 16, school just puts him in REGED junior classes, he is nowhere near that on a academic level but is allowed to slide cause of cp

                                I liked the last three eps betters; the 18th bday one had lots of good stuff.. We do face and feel 18 is different for us then our peers. My 18th Bday I was packing, or trying to pack, to leave for college in a few days. So on one level I was doing the same thing as my peers. One another level; my peers/friends were driving-I wasn't. Most of my friends had jobs or some job experience, I did not. Most of my peers had way more experience with guys than I. I found that relatable.

                                The party fell into the shows annoyance of mine, that it's just over the top. Who wouldn't ask their 18 y/o what do you want to do for your bday? What do you want? Who'd plan a friggin kiddie party for their 18 y/o and invite 'popular' w/o their child's permission, those people they've never been around prior, nothing leads me to believe my kid and them are friends.. I don't blame JJ for being pissed-but, to me, it would never get to that point..Or, maybe my parents were just really good at letting go of us being in the little kids stage.. And asking us, what do we want to do for birthdays- IDK

                                Some good stuff; I liked a the convenience store scene, thought that was cute. But, at least partly due to my own negative experiences, wish it wasn't with Kenneth!! They need more characters, so Kenneth isn't always used in unrealistic ways.. JJ could have a best friend, or a typical twin whose great in wanting to be with his twin, or Mya a best friend. I am not saying JJ's character shouldn't have a para or that Kenneth's character shouldn't be on the show. Just he is way to big of part on the show!

                                I really liked the story line with JJ's character's reservation about hanging one on one with a new friend. How JJ cannot just change plans at the drop of the hat; and that is a real hindrance to teenage life.. That was all real to me. I liked the ending, how the other kid also thought it was due to his insecurities.

                                The Kenneth/ Dad's story line-stupid. Again, I really doubt my dad ever knew my para's name..When he'd see I wasn't happy-he'd say I am sorry they're giving you rough time at school but, your mom will deal with it. Again, we we're a 'nice family' but, everyone still had their own lives in my house..

                                I liked Mya and Ray's story line. Regarding the Ray's break-up and them at the mall.

                                Last weeks: I loved JJ's film had nothing to do with cp or educating his class about it-YES!! I also loved the school made accommodations for him to be able to take film as an elective. My school a lot of elective's they said no, you cannot take.. It seemed like they felt they only had to provide me with the requirements to earn a diploma, we knew they were violating law but just picked our battles

                                Season finale tomorrow night

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                                Last edited by jul97; 03-20-2018, 09:31 PM.

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