SECOND SECTION

A Critical Analysis of Media Representations of the Disabled People 

  It is true to say that the media is an extremely important part of our everyday life and as an industry has been critical in the dissemination of information to the mass population. However the influence that the media holds over society has not always been used to society's benefit, particularly in relation to disability, where the media has continued to add to the discrimination of disabled people. The media's contribution to disabled people's discrimination will be discussed through the following areas:
 -The media reinforcement of impairment and the use of the medical model of disability
 -The media's creation and underpinning use of disabled stereotypes
-The role of media influences: media organisations and their employees, political agendas, the intended audience and current societal trends.
-The use of images, language and terminology related to disability.
-The under-representation of disabled people in the media.
-The effect of media on disabled people.  

Use of Disabled Stereotypes

The media continue to enforce disability stereotypes portraying disabled individuals in a negative un-empowering way.

In his 1991 study, Paul Hunt identified 10 stereotypes that the media use to portray disabled people:

1. The disabled person as pitiable or pathetic
2. An object of curiosity or violence
3. Sinister or evil
4. The super cripple
5. As atmosphere
6. Laughable
7. His/her own worst enemy
8. As a burden
9. As Non-sexual
10. Being unable to participate in daily life

In 2006, the British Film Institute breaks down this list into a series of film character examples for each stereotype, from the 1920s up to the present day. The BFI's examples include:
 -The character of Colin from the Secret Garden - a character who falls into the stereotype of "Pitiable and pathetic; sweet and innocent; a miracle cure".
-The "sinister or evil" Dr No, with his two false hands, from the Bond film of the same name.
-Ron Kovic, the disabled war veteran in Born on the Fourth of July, who is portrayed as "non-sexual or incapable of a worthwhile relationship" .


Shakespeare (1999) presents a potential reason behind the use of one of these stereotypes:

"The use of disability as character trait, plot device, or as atmosphere is a lazy short-cut,these representations are not accurate or fair reflections of the actual experience of disabled people. Such stereotypes reinforce negative attitudes towards disabled people,and ignorance about the nature of disability.Above all, the dominant images [of disabled people] are crude, one-dimensional and simplistic.".

jDisability Movement in America

In America a group of students at Berkeley in California started to hold demonstrations about rights for disabled people early in the 1970s. They also

did some very practical things, like building their own ramps out of concrete to make buildings accessible. Joined by newly disabled soldiers at the end of theVietnam War, they put a lot of pressure on the government. In 1990, the US government passed the Americans with Disabilities Act. This Act gives disabled people real and enforceable rights, unlike our own Disability Discrimination Act which still allows people to treat us unequally in certain circumstances.  

Statement

• "I wish abled people put same amount of effort and enthusiasm into making sure we have equal access to everything as they put into trying to 'cure' us.

  They have fundraisers and marathons to raise money for research for finding cures the conditions that may never be successfully cured, but not a single activity to fight for accomodations or non-discrimination or accessibility, things that could become realities in a matter of months if the effort was made"