I am Sam Disability
I chose the movie I am Sam to challenge my own opinion on how people with disabilities should be treated under certain circumstances. I am Sam is a movie about a mentally challenged man, named Sam, striving to raise his daughter, Lucy, alone. Diagnosed with Autism, Sam’s intellectual capacity cannot exceed the age of 7. As we watch Lucy grow up under Sam’s roof, we are able to see the love they have for each other. When Lucy reaches the age of 8, social workers see this as an issue, so they place Lucy in a temporary home while Sam goes to court to try to win Lucy back. Sam’s lawyer, Rita, took this “pro bono” case to impress her coworkers. At first, Rita doesn’t believe Sam is capable of raising Lucy along with the social workers who want to take her away from Sam. Although, as she forms a connection with Sam, she realizes and learns from Sam that love is the key aspect of raising a child. She shifts her beliefs and begins to see Sam as a role model who eventually helps aid her own relationship with her son. This story seems to accurately explore the prejudice and difficulties people with disabilities face in everyday life. As I watched I am Sam, I observed several forms of prejudice take place toward Sam. Analyzing this prejudice, I noted the possible reasoning the characters had behind performing their prejudice. I feel as if a majority of the prejudice I saw was because people felt “morally better” than Sam. One example of this was apparent at the birthday party Sam put together for Lucy at the beginning of the movie. Lucy’s friend’s dad looked down on Sam, because he was disabled, and he accused Sam of hitting his son. Another time this type of rationalization seemed to occur is when Lucy’s temporary foster parents tried to win custody of Lucy. Even though they eventually realized Sam was a good father, they initially assumed that Sam wasn’t fit to be a parent simply because of his disability. The Foster mom said to Sam, “I’m going to do everything I can to