(Spoiler Alert!) Game of Thrones sends powerful message says Birmingham disability rights advocate
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It was the most anticipated decision in recent television history. Who would be the next king or queen of the 7 kingdoms on the Game of Thrones. The surprise decision? Bran the Broken.
Positive and Powerful Message
“The choice of Bran, who is paralyzed and uses a wheelchair, sends a positive and powerful message about people with disabilities, and besides that he is one of the good guys,” says Birmingham’s Graham Sisson, longtime disability rights advocate, Executive Director of the Alabama Governor’s Office on Disability and Games of Thrones enthusiast.
Here is the climatic moment from Game of Thrones:
“What unites people? Armies? Gold? Flags? Stories,” Tyrion says. “There’s nothing more powerful in the world than a good story. Nothing can stop it. No enemy can defeat it. And who has a better story than Bran the Broken?
The boy who fell from the High Tower and lived.”
“That is the wheel our queen wanted to break,” Tyrion tells Grey Worm.
“For now on, rulers will not be born, they will be chosen.”
“This demonstrates people with disabilities have talents and can be leaders,” added Sisson.”It was a total surprise that they chose him. Hopefully this signals a paradigm shift in society’s view towards individuals with disabilities.”
Dr. Sisson was paralyzed almost 38 years ago in Sheffield, Alabama from a motor vehicle accident caused by a drunk driver. He has been an Assistant Attorney General working on disability issues on behalf of the state for more than 22 years.
