Finding Dory does an excellent job of expanding on the societal prejudices and perceptions of physically disabled people compared to people with mental differences.
Dory’s character development goes hand in hand with the story of Marlin. Finding Dory teaches two lessons;
1. Pride for those with cognitive differences
2. Teaching non-disabled people to go beyond tolerance or inclusivity in activities.
That’s not valuing the whole person. It is a step toward acknowledging disability compared to “not seeing disability,” which is a positive.
“Both Marlin and Dory eventually learn that this is not the case, proving to the audience that Dory’s unique mindset, something caused by her disability, is actually a useful trait.
Marlin is actually the first to identify Dory’s difference as valuable.” (Klinowski 53)
In Finding Dory, we meet a septopus named Hank.
He is the bridging character between having a physical disability and still holding an ableist mindset
of Dory (a mentally different character. He reiterates what Marlin and Dory’s first encounter was like saying, “there’s something wrong with you.”
Hank’s disability is not a massive part of the plot. Instead he is focused on living life in a glass box. He says he has “extremely bad memories” of the ocean.
This suggests he was traumatized by losing a tentacle emphasizing the emotional side of having a disability.
“After characters initially question
Dory’s capability, the film finally begins to show the audience that these accusations are misguided.
The scene where Dory and Hank make their way through the Institute inside a baby carriage
exemplifies this shift in how the film portrays disabled characters.
(Finding Dory 00:38:46-00:39:35)
This scene puts Dory in charge of giving directions to Hank to get them to the right exhibit to find her parents.
Showing how reading human is a skill that continues beyond the first film. It is a strength Dory can utilize without Marlin.
In Finding Dory’s baby carriage scene, ” the viewers’ expectations of the partnership are reversed.
Because of Dory’s cognitive disability and the discriminatory remarks already levied against her within the film, the audience might expect that Dory would require assistance in the intellectual work needed to find her parents.
Similarly, because Hank is missing a limb, viewers might dismiss the possibility that he could take care of the physical side of this endeavor.
This scene disproves these ableist assumptions. (Klinowski 53)
In the first film, Dory begs Marlin not to leave her.
“Please don’t go away, no one’s ever stuck with me so long before, and if you leave,
I just remember things better with you.”
Everybody needs companionship. Finding Nemo is about inclusiveness. Specifically the need for inclusion despite resistance from able bodied characters.
Having Dory cling to Marlin is a way to enforce that non-disabled people must include disabled people because they have “special needs.”
Finding Dory shows
Independence and the community aspect of people with disabilities. Dory has more than enough characters to rely on besides the non-disabled.
She teaches Hank, a fellow disabled character, the value of optimism. She is guided by a friend named Destiny, a blind white whale.
Even Destiny’s dependency on her non-disabled friend, Bailly, is played for laughs because Destiny is the brains while Bailly is the eyes.
Everyone with a disability has value and can rely on their community, while able-bodied characters learn how to value disabled characters beyond inclusion.
Source
Klinowski, Stacie, “Finding Nemo, Finding Dory, Finding Ourselves: How and Why We Teach Our Children to Think About Disability” (2018). English. 25. https://scholarsarchive.library.albany.edu/honorscollege_eng/25