Introduction

In the past few weeks, it has struck me to see the numerous appearances of characters and story-lines regarding disability on television.  Over the next several weeks I will highlight the presence of disability in the media, specifically television.  Today I saw a re-run of a popular show, Arrested Development.  In this episode, "Ocean, Walker," Charlize Theron plays a woman who has only developed to the mental age of a first-grader.  This character was on several episodes and was involved with one of the series' main characters, Michael Bluthe.  Michael was naieve to the fact that his girlfriend was developmentally delayed.    He did not realize this until his son made a video tape of the woman and showed it to his father.  Michael's son, George-Michael, showed his father the video and sympathetically said to his father, "I think she is retarded."  While this offensive word was used on the television program, I do not believe that its use was intended to be offensive.  Theron's portrayal of this character consisted of speaking like a child and coming up with imaginative, childish solutions to every-day problems.