Letters to the Editor: Despite what you see on TV, narcolepsy isn’t a funny punchline
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- A writer with narcolepsy criticizes the L.A. Times for portraying the neurological disorder as a comedic trait in its ‘Stumble’ review.
- Narcolepsy is a chronic neurological disorder causing sleep disruption, muscle weakness, hallucinations and sleep paralysis — not the comical falling asleep depicted in media.
- Media stereotypes delay diagnosis: the writer waited 19 years for answers partly because Hollywood portrayals didn’t match her actual symptoms.
To the editor: I didn’t expect to open the Los Angeles Times and find my disability used as a punchline. But there it was, in its review of “Stumble”: “Davis passes out funny” (“‘Stumble,’ NBC’s cheerleader mockumentary, gives you something to root for,” Nov. 7).
As a comedy writer and person living with narcolepsy, I can tell you — there’s nothing funny about it.
Narcolepsy isn’t a quirky habit. It’s a chronic neurological disorder that disrupts the brain’s ability to regulate sleep and wake cycles. It causes an intense need for sleep, muscle weakness triggered by emotion, hallucinations and terrifying sleep paralysis. It does not cause people to fall backward, unconscious, mid-sentence, as shown in “Stumble.”
I spent 19 years blaming myself for exhaustion I couldn’t explain. When I was finally diagnosed, I told my doctor, “That can’t be right, I’ve never fallen asleep into a bowl of soup.” Because that’s what the media taught me narcolepsy looked like. The Times’ review didn’t challenge that stereotype; it reinforced it.
Lindsay Scola, Marina del Rey
