Winter Documentary
The Dolphin That Can, emphasizes Winter’s ability to help humans.
The documentary interviews parents and children on their experiences with Winter. The stories drew heavily on disabled people serving as a source of inspiration.
As a disabled animal, Winter provides a more accessible source of inspiration precisely because she isn’t human. Her life became defined by humans.
Her injury resulted from human inventions that damaged her tail before other humans repaired the damage.
Winter’s story can only be told by humans. How would Winter’s telling of her story differ?
Ultimately humans need nature and animals. The connections made between humans and animals can change the lives of both.
The Clearwater Marine Aquarium documentary The Dolphin that Can highlights stories of overcoming disability by relating them to Winter’s Tale. The documentary interviewed parents & children with disabilities to learn how Winter impacted them.
Personally, I found the emotional aspect of the variety of human stories heavy-handed, and the focus on how children became amputees through trauma unnecessary. They are outsiders to the disabled experience.
Parents mean well,
but the parent’s perspective was modeling how able bodied people view disabled people through what they can’t do.
Winter helped many people come to terms with being disabled
When the children spoke about how Winter changed their outlook on life, inspiring them to get into sports and gain confidence, they conveyed the significance of Winter’s impact on disabled people.
Children learn from their parents, and unintentional ableism is a real problem that leads to internalized otherness.
Winter helped many people come to terms with being disabled. They were able to see real-life representation. This also relates to the bias that humans are superior to animals in terms of intelligence.
The classic inspirational able-bodied statement goes like this: if a disabled person can do this, I certainly can. Is it possible that disabled folk see Winter as an animal, less capable than humans, overcoming her disability; and if she can do it, they certainly can.
Possibly, but it would probably be subconscious.
It is more likely that disabled people, especially children, humanize Winter’s experience and deeply connect with it.
Winter needed human help despite captivity’s negative impacts on other dolphins.
She is an example of the fragile ecosystem between humans and animals.
Yes, Winter needed captivity to survive after her accident, but Winter also helped many people accept themselves and provided a source of inspiration.
The human impacts are more accentuated through Dolphin Tale and Dolphin Tale 2. These films convey a clear message that humans save animal lives.
Source
Yates, D. (Director). (2013). The dolphin that can [DVD]. Clearwater Marine Aquarium.
https://store.cmaquarium.org/winter-the-dolphin-that-can-documentary-dvd/