In the pantheon of modern American movie classics about people with intellectual/ developmental disabilities, two stand out. Rain Man, 1988 and Forrest Gump, 1994. Both were hugely popular films that won the Oscar for both Best Picture and Best Actor for the person playing the disabled. Both featured highly memorable characters and centered around a journey across the United States. Similarly, both dealt with Autistic Savants (book edition for Forrest Gump).

In the original Winston Groom novel, Forrest was an autistic savant who was intellectually disabled except for a few areas where he had superhuman intelligence. However, it’s said that the producers of the film did not want ‘another’ Rain Man, alternatively portraying Forrest as a character who was completely intellectually disabled, for that matter arguably more of a simpleton than a realistic portrayal of an intellectually disabled individual. Forrest Gump’s IQ in the movie is 75, which is not universally considered intellectually disabled. In the book, however, his IQ is 70, which is generally considered disabled. Despite being more of a simpleton in the movie and not getting the A in college Physics that he got in the book, Gump still displays some intellectual skills that are left over from the savant depiction, albeit more dealing with business skills and human understanding than with math and trivia.

Forrest Gump tells an engaging story of someone living through the historical events of the turbulent years between the 1950s and early 1980s and being there as they happen. In the process, we see these events not from the perspective of a newscaster or a politician but from that of a childlike person who often happens to be part of the events. More than that, it is a story of a person who manages to succeed in life despite his disability. It’s a story of not letting other people keep you down, whether it comes in the form of bullying, rejection or other people underestimating you. Forrest Gump will not let other kids throw stones at him and is not content letting his love for Jenny go because of his low intelligence.

Some people may dismiss Forrest Gump as a fantasy, an unrealistic portrayal of an intellectually disabled person. They have a point, but all too often when people prefer more “realistic” portrayals, particularly of the disabled, they mean dark works with unhappy endings, which unfortunately is the case with most works about people with developmental disabilities. When this is the fare that we developmentally disabled have of people who are like us, it can be demeaning. We all try to succeed in life and when films and books come and tell us we cannot be successful or can only come out of the darkness for brief times before coming back into the dark, we are left hopeless. This movie, for a change, was full of hope. Forrest knew how to talk to people, traveled around the country, owned a business, was present at historic events, and had a woman who loved him. Even though her untimely death may have been a letdown for people who like true happy endings, the other things in the movie largely made up for it. Forrest Gump is a great American classic.

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