Patrice: The Movie

Patrice: The Movie is part of a “disability rebrand” in the tradition of films like Crip Camp, Fire Through Dry Grass, and I Didn’t See You There, which seek to center stories of disabled people and move the storytelling lens from the “medical model” of disability to the “social model”. The medical model links disability diagnosis to an individual’s physical body, supposing that this disability may reduce the individual’s quality of life and the aim is, with medical intervention, this disability will be diminished or corrected. The social model of disability is a way of viewing the world, developed by disabled people. The model says that people are disabled by barriers in society, not by their impairment or difference. The social model sheds light on the fact that the infrastructure of our systems was not created with disabled people in mind. The film is also part of a movement to push away from “Inspiration Porn”. Coined by disability rights activist Stella Young, it refers to media representation where disabled people are considered inspirational by the simple fact of their having a disability.