5. Media representations of disability

Question 1

Outlines barness study on representations of disability

Answer 1

Barness(1992) identified 12 reoccuring representations /stereotypes of disability in the media

• Pathetic-argues disabed people are presented as in need of pity & dependant on good will & charity of others -used in dramas to make non disabled characters more relatable & likeable-images of disabled people are used to elicit an emotional response
• Object of violence-disabled people experience violence-media presents disabled people as incapable & dependeanyt
• Sinister/evil- Villans in dramas often have a disability
• “supper cripple”-Barness uses this term to refer to how disabled people are seen as hugely brave & determined to be able to cope with their disability.-this view is oversentimental & ignores the social nature of disability viewing it only as an individual struggle