4.5 media representations - disability Flashcards
What is meant by the medical model of disability?
- this approach to disability aims for the ‘normalisation’ of disabled people, often through medical intervention
- holds that disability is inherent in the individual, whose responsibility is to ‘overcome’ his or her ‘tragic’ disability
What is an example of the individual or medical model of disability?
- Tanni Grey-Thompson (wheelchair athlete) = was forced as a child to wear heavy leg callipers which gave her blisters, rather than being offered the simple and practical option of using a wheelchair
What did Barnes(1992) identify about media stereotypes of the disabled?
- identified many recurring stereotypes of disabled people, which he claimed regularly appeared in media representations of the disabled:
- pitiable and pathetic
- sinister and evil
- atmospheric or curio
- super-cripples
- sexually abnormal
- incapable of participating fully in community life
What is meant by the pitiable and pathetic representation of the disabled?
- Barnes claims that this stereotype is a staple of TV documentaries, which often focus too heavily on disabled children and the possibilities of ‘miracle’ cures
What is meant by the sinister and evil representation of the disabled?
- disabled people are often portrayed as criminals or monsters
- e.g. villains in James Bond films often have something physically wrong with them
What is meant by the atmospheric or curio representation of the disabled?
- disabled people might be included in drama to enhance an atmosphere of menace, unease, mystery or deprivation
- disabled people are therefore used to add visual impact to productions
What is meant by the super-cripples representation of the disabled?
- the disabled are often portrayed as having special powers e.g. blind people might be viewed as visionaries with a sixth sense or superhearing
What is meant by the sexually abnormal representation of the disabled?
- it’s assumed by media representations that the disabled don’t have sexual feelings or that they are sexually degenerate
What is meant by the incapable of participating fully in community life representation of the disabled?
- Barnes calls this the stereotype of omission and notes that disabled people are ‘rarely shown as integral and productive members of the community; as students, teachers, as parts of the workforce, or parents’
What does Roper(2003) argue about telethons and their representation of the disabled?
- telethons such as Children in Need, rely too heavily on ‘cute’ children who aren’t representative of the range of disabled people in the UK
- telethons are about entertaining the public rather than helping able-bodied society to understand the everyday realities of what it’s like to be disabled
What does Shakespeare(1999) argue about the media stereotypes of the disabled?
- media stereotypes of the disabled on film and TV are ‘crude, one-dimensional and simplistic’
- the use of disability as a character trait, plot device or as atmosphere is a lazy short-cut
- such stereotypes reinforce negative attitudes towards disabled people
What methodology did Williams-Findlay(2009) use to research newspaper representations of the disabled?
- examined the output of two broadsheet newspapers, The Times and The Guardian, to see whether their coverage of the disabled had changed between 1989-2009
What did Williams-Findlay find?
- there was a steep decline in the use of stereotypical words such as brave
- BUT both negative and stereotypical representations of the disabled were still present - disability as ‘tragic’
What did Watson, Philo and Briant(2011) argue about the newspaper representations of the disabled?
- the found that there had been a significant increase in the reporting of disability
What is meant by the social model of disability?
- distinguishes between the impairment and the disability
- disability is caused by society, which fails to provide for people with impairments and puts obstacles in their way e.g. the built environment often doesn’t allow for access for people with mobility problems
What do pluralists argue about the representation of the disabled?
- media representations of the disabled reflect the dominant medical view that disability is dysfunctional for both the individual and society
What do Oliver(1998) and Barnes and Mercer(2003) argue about the representation of the disabled?
- its important to understand the social condition and experience of disability
- there are three reasons why mass media representations of disability take the form that they do
What are the three reasons explaining the representation of disability according to Oliver and Barnes and Mercer?
- medical professionals set the agenda
- they reflect the prejudice that able-bodied people feel
- disabled people are rarely consulted by journalists
