Bearing Disability: Encanto (2021) & the Disabled Protagonist

I haven’t written about disabilities in films or literature for a while. It’s quiet hard to come by, so I am pleased to say, I found one in Disney’s Encanto. If you have read my previous work, you’ll find that I love Disney’s portrayal of disability. Finding Nemo and Finding Dory are both managed well, although they’re both written and produced in this century. The one I love the most is the one made the year I was born, The Hunchback of Notre Dame. All these films depict disability in a way that is visible to the audience; people may not realise that Mirabel from Encanto is also disabled.

Encanto’s protagonist, Mirabel, does not have a disability in a way that is seen as a disability to us, in our world. However in hers, it is. She is a child born to a family of sorcerers and she does not have any magic. To my readers that are Harry Potter fans, she is a squib. Plan and simple, as the blurb says:

A young Colombian girl has to face the frustration of being the only member of her family without magical powers

– imdb on Encanto

Disability respected by Disney’s Encanto

As I have come to expect from disney, they handled disability in this film with the same respect as they have with others. They’ve turned the outsider’s urge to “fix the problem body” on its head, and once again displayed that the disabled character is not the issue that the family believe to be and their fears are irrational.

The family fear losing their magic, in essence, they fear becoming disabled themselves. To them, their magic is who they are and the idea that they’d lose that, that they’d be normal is too much to bare. I find this in films and TV all the time. Me Before You is one that makes this fear obvious; Will kills himself because he cannot bare the thought of not walking again.

In Encanto, something similar is seen in the family. They look at Mirabel as someone who is incapable of doing anything; she’s an outsider in the family that is tolerated. When the magic is threatened and the family suffer intermittent sessions without magic, their fear kicks in and she’s even more alone than before. However, Mirabel, it seems, has a talent of her own. Not magic. Something different. She has a listening ear that is more powerful than her aunt’s super hearing. Her inability to do magic allows her family to come clean with their insecurities, and it helps them all to heal.

Staying away from the traditional disability ending

If you have looked at my post on the outsider’s urge to fix the disabled, or my post on disability in literature or hollywood tropes in particular, then you’ll understand why I love Disney endings on films with their disabled characters. They go against the stereotypes. If they dehumanise the disabled characters, they dehumanise the able-bodied too, and they stay away from all the other tropes like cures, and killing the characters off too. This is the same for Mirabel. She does not go through Hollywood’s stereotypes of disabled characters, but gets an ending that any able-bodied protagonist has. One that is worthy of her journey and experience.

Encanto’s important message

Mirabel is a quirky young adult protagonist that just happens to not have any magic. There is no reason for it. She wasn’t in an accident. She’s just without magic. And while the plot does centre around the fact that she does not have magic, it does not make it her defining character. She’s kind, caring and she has self-doubts. Ones seeded into her by a particular family member. Yet, she doesn’t blame her family members for having magic, she accepts that in the same way many of us disabled folk accept that our families are able-bodied.

I found it amazing that Mirabel questions her worth based on her ability—or inability because although I understand that there are many things I can do, although I understand I can do things in a different way to the “norm”, there are times when I will cry to myself because I have come across something I cannot do and I have to ask someone. I have a very supportive family, and they tell me I am not a burden, but the film shows something that I think is missed by many and that is this.

Overall, Mirabel’s doubts was seeded into her by one person. The village doesn’t really care if she has magic or not. It took the rest of her family and the person involved to make Mirabel see her worth. But in real life, the reverse is true. I have a supportive family who do not care that I am disabled, but my version of Mirabel’s village (society) does. I’m not saying everyone is ablest, they’re not, but society is.

21st Century Society and Encanto’s Village

Every now and again, I am going to be dragged into an office somewhere to prove to some government official that I am disabled, or they’ll withdraw the help that I need. Occationally, I am forced by the government to talk about every minute little thing that I cannot do. I am forced to justify my pain (or my lack of pain if I injure myself). When this happens, I am not treated like a human being worthy of respect, but some mutt that just walked off the street begging for scraps. This process is called Personal Independence Plan (PIP). It is meant to help us, as disabled people get the help that we desperately need to be independent.

I used to be on DWP which had a life-time award because they were aware some disabilities didn’t get better. The Tories decided that they had spent too much money on disabilities, scraped DWP and forced everyone 16-65 onto PIP and omitted the life-time award. In 2018, I was refused the award because I used my DWP to become independent. To them, I was too independent to receive PIP. It wasn’t until I went to the tribunal (separate from the government and their PIP) the next year that I was back on the award.

Government Message

The Government gave a clear message to me: you are either independent or you are dependent, there is no inbetween. It is a message they are giving others too. Mirabel had the support of the village (admittedly they didn’t have magic) and the family to help her with her doubts. But we, as disabled people, do not have support from the government. Not really. We’re a tick-box in equality measures on job applications. Why else is it there? Exceptions are needed. Jobs like being a waiter, being a firefighter are physically challenging and so have the box for these jobs. But if the job is office based, why is it needed unless it’s to be a tick-box in equality measures. That’s not real equality.

I want to make it clear, I’m not talking about individual people. People on the whole are a mix, but many have good intentions. There are people who listen, who are supportive, who see you for you and not you’re disability, and they’re great. Is it any wonder why disabled people are filled with self-doubt and question their worth when we are forced to do the very thing periodically just to get the help we need or to tick a box so that a company can hit it’s equality measures? Even the jobs that promise you an interview if you have a disability and hit all the criteria, they’re seeing you as a disability, and not you.

It took a whole family and a whole village to help Mirabel see her worth as a non-magical person, some of us have the support of our families. We have the support of some village members. However, we need the support of all of our village, all of society, if we’re going to tackle self-doubt caused by ableism.

Overall thoughts on Encanto

Encanto is a great film to go and see with a lot of hilarious, light humour throughout. Just ask @sophieabel96. I was laughing throughout. There are beautiful moments and scenes, the classic disney musicals everyone loves and more. It also has a message that I hope many people understand and take away from it. It is certainly worth the watch.

My only criticism of the film really is that you do not see the family struggle when they lose their magic but at the same time, you do see their fear of losing it. In one way, it’s a good thing as a lot of able-bodied people fear becoming disabled when in reality they don’t. Still, I wonder if a bit of focus on their struggles when they lose magic could have enhanced the film. I’m not sure if it would or if it would have hindered the meaning.