Family Guy and the Humanity of the Disabled

This topic is somewhat dated, but it attracted a fair amount of media attention. To review: in a recent episode of Family Guy, Chris goes on a date with Ellen, who has Down Syndrome. Chris has high hopes because he believes that individuals with Down Syndrome have exceptionally beautiful souls; he is crushed to discover that Ellen is cruel and domineering.

I am unconvinced that this episode is morally objectionable or that it creates net social harm. By portraying a disabled character with flaws that are a) unrelated to her disability and b) consistent with a stock character familiar to anyone who watches sitcoms, Family Guy asserts, not denies, the humanity of the disabled. The stakes are high: the extent to which disabled individuals count as fully human and the extent to which they deserve a place in society.

Individuals with Down Syndrome bear the burden of a stereotype: that they are kinder and more moral than the general population. I am uncertain of this belief's origins. It might be the idea that cognitive disability impairs deceit or aggression. It might be the idea that individuals with a disability in one area are compensated with exceptional ability in another. Not only are these ideas wrong, they leech at the individuality and humanity of their subjects.

Chris meets a girl with Down Syndrome and she is insufferable. One possible takeaway is that individuals with Down Syndrome are generally insufferable. But it strikes me that most characters on Family Guy are insufferable in one way or another. What would it mean to exclude characters with Down Syndrome from Family Guy's world, or to portray them as angels? What would be the underlying logic? Would either of these approaches do justice to the disabled community?