Great Netflix Shows For Disabled Viewers

My favorite thing about Netflix is that it has a variety of shows and films that focus on representing the disability community. I love it when I find a show that I can relate to. There are many special needs presented on Netflix such as Cerebral Palsy, Muscular Dystrophy, Autism, and blindness. 

I have created a list of my most favorite films and shows organized by the specific disability.  

Autism

• Atypical
  • Description: An 18-year-old autistic guy named Sam decides it’s time to be more independent and find a girlfriend, Sam’s family members also start on their own life-changing paths as he seeks more independence.
  • Maturity Rate: Contains mild sexual references, mild profanity, mild drugs, alcohol, and smoking.
  • Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieHh4U-QYwU

• Autism In Love
  • Description: The documentary features adults with Autism in their mission to find love and understand what it means.
  • Maturity Rate: PG
  • Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLlCCur_U_o

• Bad Hurt  
  • Description: A blue-collar family struggles to stay afloat under the weight of caring for a son with PTSD and a daughter with Autism.
  • Maturity Rate: Contains drug and alcohol use, sexual conduct, some nudity, and physical violence.
  • Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrnVBXiDqFk

• A Boy Named Po
  • Description: After his wife dies of cancer, an overworked engineer struggles to care for his son with autism. His son in response to bullying regresses into a fantasy world escape.
  • Maturity Rate: PG; It has thematic elements and some language
  • Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJUl2DmPvdo

Blindness

• Best and Most Beautiful Things
  • Description: This documentary showcases a precocious young blind woman chasing love and freedom in the most unexpected of places: a provocative fringe community.
  • Maturity Rate: PG
  • Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKMpmF3yfG8

• Marvel’s Daredevil
  • Description: Matt Murdock, with his other senses superhumanly enhanced, fights crime as a blind lawyer by day, and vigilante by night.
  • Maturity Rate: It has sexual references, mild profanity, mild drugs, alcohol, and smoking.
  • Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAy6NJ_D5vU

• In The Dark
  • Description: Murphy is a young, hard-living blind woman with a penchant for cigarettes and casual sex. When she finds her best friend dead on the street, Murphy tries to solve the case herself.
  • Maturity Rate: It has mild sexual references, nudity, profanity, drug abuse, alcohol, and smoking.
  • Trailer:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cb1GFEHhYr8
• AJ and The Queen
  • Rupaul stars as Rudy Red in a series about a drag queen traveling across the country in a run-down RV and discovers an unlikely sidekick in a tough-talking 10-year-old stowaway named the AJ. Even though Ruby Red is certainly a big personality, the queen is given a run for her money by Louis/Cocoa Butter, Her roommate and fellow drag queen, who is blind due to a diabetic stroke.
  • Maturity Rate: It has mild sexual references, nudity, profanity, alcohol, and smoking.
  • Trailer: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FfvnMu0maM8

Cerebral Palsy

• Special
  • Description: A comedy series about Ryan O’Connell’s own challenges and triumphs as a gay man navigating the world with mild cerebral palsy. It is based O’Connell’s personal part-memoir, part-manifesto I’m Special: And Other Lies We Tell Ourselves.
  • Maturity Rate: It features sexual conduct, nudity, profanity, alcohol, and smoking.
  • Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8S9Gxrp-uI

Muscular Dystrophy and Other Disabilities 

• The Healing Powers of Dude
  • Description: This series revolves around an 11-year-old boy named Noah navigates public school for the first time with the help of his emotional support dog, Dude. Noah has a social anxiety disorder. Noah is also supported by his best friend Amara, who has muscular dystrophy.
  • Maturity Rate: PG
  • Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eW5gYTuHjd4

These are only a few great shows and films that Netflix has. There are many more that include specific special needs. Netflix covers everybody’s interests and wants. So start looking for your new favorites!