Disability - Media Representations

What are the two broad sociological views of disability?

Bio-Medical Model - disabled people are disabled by their physical and/or mental impairments

Social Model - disabled people are disabled by society (by prejudicial, stereotypes and attitudes)

Six Stereotypes of Disabled People - Barnes

PISSSA

• Pitiable and pathetic

• Incapable

• Sinister and evil

• Super-cripples

• Sexually abnormal

• Atmosphere or curio

‘Super-Cripples’ - Ross

For disability issues to be reported - must be sensational, unexpected or heroic to be interpreted by journalists as newsworthy

Crude, One-Dimensional and Simplistic - Shakespeare

Media stereotypes of the disabled on television and films are “crude, one-dimensional and simplistic”

• “use of disability as character trait, plot device, or as atmosphere is a lazy short-cut”

Such stereotypes reinforce negative attitudes towards disabled people, and ignorance about the nature of disability

Raising money for Disabled People - Roper

Telethons (e.g. Children in Need - aim to raise money for disabled) rely too heavily on ‘cute’ children who are not representative of the range of disabled people in the UK

• telethons focused on entertaining the public rather than helping able-bodied society to understand the everyday realities of what it is like to be disabled

Newspaper Representations of Disability - Williams-Findlay

Examined the output of two broadsheet newspapers, The Times and The Guardian to see whether their coverage of the disabled had changed between 1989 and 2009

• steep decline in the use of stereotypical words such as ‘brave’ - but both negative and stereotypical representations of the disabled were still in present in both newspapers still assumed that disability was ‘tragic’ and they were ‘afflicted’

• disability is not regarded as newsworthy by either journalists or their audiences

Newspaper Representations of Disability - Watson, Philo and Briant

Compared and contrasted tabloid media coverage of disability in 5 British Newspapers in 2010 & 2004

• significant increase in the reporting of disability

• proportion of articles that described disabled people sympathetic and deserving terms had fallen

• media portrayal of some groups of disabled people (mental health conditions & hidden disabilities) was particularly negative - often described as welfare ‘scroungers’ who were undeserving benefits

Media Representations on Media Representations of Disability - Pluralism

Media reflects the dominant medical model of disability when portrayed disabled people in the media

• mirrors societies anxieties around disability

• reflects the admiration of disabled people - ‘inspiration porn’: disabled people as courageous and inspirational

Media representations portray the reality of the everyday experiences of disabled people and their carers

Media Representations on Media Representations of Disability - Social Construction

• Medical professionals set the agenda for media portrayal of disability - disability is unhealthy, unfortunate and tragic, dependent on others

• Reflect the prejudice that able-bodied people feel towards the disabled

• Disabled are rarely constructed by journalists because they concur with the medical view that disabled people are incapable of leading a ‘normal life’ - negative representations

Media Representations on Media Representations of Disability - Postmodernists

Dominant discourse is fragmenting as the disabled politically organise themselves, their voice and independently construct find their own identities

• medical metanarrative is in decline and the perspective of the disabled that impartment does not mean unhealthy, deficient and dependent is increasingly heard and acted upon