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The depiction of disability in the media plays a major role in molding the public perception of disability. [1] Perceptions portrayed in the media directly influence the way people with disabilities are treated in current society. "[Media platforms] have been cited as a key site for the reinforcement of negative images and ideas in regard to people with disabilities." [2]
As a direct response, there have been increasing examples worldwide of people with disabilities pursuing their own media projects, such as creating film series centered on disability issues, radio programs and podcasts designed around and marketed towards those with disabilities, and so on.
The media generally depicts people with disabilities according to common stereotypes such as pity and heroism. Disability advocates often call this type of societal situation the "pity/heroism trap" or "pity/heroism dichotomy" and call instead for its supporters to "Piss On Pity" and push forward with inclusion instead. [3]
When reports are about the "plight of the disabled" they rely on the pity or medical model of disability. Telethons are an example of this, such as the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon which has been heavily criticized and sometimes even physically protested by disability rights advocates. [4] [5]
Negative day-to-day reporting may occur chiefly by depicting a given person or people with a disability as a burden or drain on society. [6]
The "super-crip" model, in which subjects are portrayed as heroically overcoming their conditions, is also often used when reporting on people with disabilities. [7]
The social model tends to be used for reporting on the activities of disability rights activists if the report is positive. [8]
The term "inspiration porn" was coined in 2012 by disability rights activist Stella Young in an editorial in Australian Broadcasting Corporation's webzine Ramp Up. [9] The term describes when people with disabilities are called inspirational solely or in part on the basis of their disability. [10] [11]
Researchers note that information is prioritized for people with disabilities, with communication as a hard distinct second and entertainment is framed as a luxury [12]
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Stereotypical depictions of disability that originate in the arts, film, literature, television, and other mass media fiction works, are frequently normalized through repetition to the general audience. Once such a stereotype is absorbed and accepted by the mainstream public, it continues to be repeated in the media, in many slightly varied forms, but staying close to the stereotype. Many media stereotypes about disability have been identified. They are sometimes referred to as "tropes", meaning a recurring image or representation in the mainstream culture that is widely recognizable. [13] Tropes repeated in works of fiction have an influence on how society at large perceives people with disabilities. Other forms of media, in turn, then portray people with disabilities in ways that conform with tropes and repeat them. [14]
Some of these disability tropes that have been identified in popular culture include:
Sometimes, characters that are given a disability are only seen as their disability. Through the medical model, their disability is explained and narrated in a WebMD style. This disability stereotype or myth as Jay Dolmage describes it can be known as the "Disability as Pathology" myth. It is a common stereotype that proves to be harmful because it feeds society the idea that disabled people are their disability first before a person. [16]
Other disability stereotypes that have been identified in popular culture include: [17]
While there are con artists who fake a disability such as Belle Gibson, they are rare, while people with genuine disabilities are relatively common. Media, and especially current affairs reporting, that focuses on the few fraudulent fake-disabled people while ignoring or systematically under-representing the many genuinely disabled people creates a misperception of disabled people which encourages negative stereotyping. This is especially problematic for people with hidden disabilities, who may be disbelieved and abused by members of the public for "faking it," as they believe that disability fakers are more common than genuine disabilities. One example is wheelchair users not being able to walk. [22] [ citation needed ]
The existence of disability tropes in mass media is related to other stereotypes, or tropes, that have developed when other marginalized groups in society are depicted, [23] such as the Magical Negro trope identified, and criticized, by film director Spike Lee. The mocking names often given to these tropes when they are identified indicates a rejection of the harmful stereotypes that they propagate.
Stereotypes may endure in a culture for several reasons: they are constantly reinforced in the culture, which mass media does easily and effectively; they reflect a common human need to organize people and categorize them; they reinforce discrimination that allows one group of society to exploit and marginalize another group. [17] Several studies of mass media in Britain and the United States have identified common stereotypes, such as "noble warrior", "charity cripple", "curio", "freak", and "Pollyanna", where the researchers identified a position of "disapproval", on the part of the media, of some aspect of the disability. [24] It has been shown that media portrayals of disability became more normalizing and accepting in the years immediately after World War II, when returning veterans with war-related disabilities were being reintegrated into society. A backlash of intolerance towards disability followed during the mid-20th century, with some researchers speculating that this may have been related to society's reaction against any identifiable "difference" as a result of Cold War tensions. Depictions of disability in media soon reverted to emphasizing the "freakish" nature of disability. [25]
Broadcast media has in recent years begun to recognize the large audience of people with disabilities that it reaches. Programming dedicated to disability issues is increasing.
In 1990, the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) became the first news story on disability issues to become a lead story on cable news broadcaster CNN. News Director Ed Turner contacted the Washington bureau of CNN to have the signing of the ADA by President Bush broadcast live. The next day, the signing of the ADA was covered as the top headline in The New York Times , The Washington Post , and every other major U.S. newspaper. Disability rights activist Lex Frieden has stated, "That was the first time that millions of people were exposed to disability rights as the number one story". [26] These milestones were a major change in reducing exclusion and invisibility for people with disabilities.
Ouch! [27] by the British Broadcasting Corporation, The Largest Minority [28] broadcast in New York City, and Dtv [29] presented in sign language on SABC television in South Africa, are examples of programming produced for, and usually also by, people with disabilities.
Radio reading services are radio stations that broadcast readings from newspapers, magazines and books to mainly blind or partially sighted audiences.
In recent years, some mainstream publications and broadcasters have added writing and programming about disability-related topics. The Creative Diversity Network in the United Kingdom is an organization that advocates increased cultural and disability-related programming. Clare Morrow, the organization's Network Manager, states that "Disability is now at the heart of the diversity agenda for all of the UK's main television companies, thanks to their collective work". [30] The BBC Website includes Ouch!, a disability news and discussion blog and internet talk show program. [31]
Many activist and charitable organisations have websites and publish their own magazines or newsletters.
Disability has been shown to audiences since the early days of documentary film. Educational silent films showing hospital patients with various disabling conditions were shown to medical and nursing students. Films of schizophrenia patients with symptoms of catatonia, World War I veterans with extreme posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (shell-shock) symptoms, and many other such films survive today. Michael J. Dowling (1866-1921) was a prominent Minnesota politician and newspaper publisher, who was also a quadruple amputee. World War I inspired him to further the cause of veterans with disabilities. Dowling had himself filmed performing routine tasks on his own, and had the films screened for groups such as the American Medical Association in 1918. His efforts promoted the rehabilitation of physically disabled people. [32]
Documentary films sometimes had a tone that was a reflection of the public's morbid curiosity about visible disabilities that were considered shameful and ordinarily were hidden from public view. Nazi propagandists exploited this fear and prejudice to push the public to accept their euthanasia policies, including forcible sterilization, by screening films showing people with intellectual and physical disabilities living in squalid conditions. [33] At the same time, American President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his White House staff made a great effort to disguise his disability (Roosevelt became paraplegic after contracting polio as an adult). Roosevelt was photographed and filmed only from positions that would hide his disability from the public, for fear that he would be perceived as weak. [33]
More recently, documentary films about disability have been widely viewed on both public and cable television programming. The Channel 5 (UK) program Extraordinary Lives, and Channel 4 program Body Shock in the United Kingdom, broadcast much documentary material about disability. Titles of some documentary programming includes: "The Boy Who Sees Without Eyes — the 14-year-old American boy who navigates by sound; The Twin Within the Twin — the 34-year-old Bengali who carries his foetal twin within his abdomen; and The Twins Who Share a Body — Abby and Brittany Hensel, the world's only known dicephalus twins, ie. two heads with one body". [34] Some of the documentaries, perceived to be in the "shock doc" (shock documentary) genre, have been denounced by critics with disabilities. Although the documentary programming contains educational and scientific information, the sensationalized, overt emotional appeal of the "tabloid tone" of the programming has raised objections. Laurence Clark has written in the BBC Website's disability blog Ouch!:
During these programs I often find myself screaming at the TV: 'Where the hell do they find these people?!' I suspect that someone somewhere has set up an agency called Rent-a-Freak, specifically to supply the most bizarre, eccentric disabled people they can find to budding documentary makers. But unlike today's documentary subjects, the freaks of old were at least paid to take part — and had some say over their performances. [34]
The first photographer to become widely known for depicting the visibly disabled was Diane Arbus, active in the 1950s and 1960s. [35] Her photographs, which are in fact art photographs, have been, and remain, highly controversial. [36]
American documentary photographers Tom Olin and Harvey Finkle, known for documenting the disability rights movement since the 1980s, have exhibited at many venues including the National Constitution Center Museum. [37]
Members of the public with disabilities have criticized media depictions of disability on the grounds that stereotypes are commonly repeated. Media coverage that is "negative", "unrealistic", or displays a preference for the "pitiful" and "sensationalistic" over the "everyday and human side of disability" [38] are identified at the root of the dissatisfaction. Journalist Leye Jeannette Chrzanowski, who uses a wheelchair, has written:
Many people with disabilities believe mainstream journalists are incapable of accurately covering stories about them. Generally, journalists either portray us as pitiful cripples, super achievers, or insane mental patients. These erroneous media stereotypes of people with disabilities are perpetuated because journalists consistently fail to understand or learn about people with disabilities and the issues that are important to us. [38]
Various organisations and programmes have been established to try to positively influence the frequency and quality of reporting on disability issues. [39] [40] [41] By 2000, it was estimated that in the United States, there were between 3000 and 3500 newsletters, 200 magazines, and 50 to 60 newspapers regularly published that focussed on disability issues. [26]
Social media is a tool used to connect disabled individuals with similar interests and experiences. [42] Online forums and chat rooms therefore work as a connector for example people with impaired hearing are able to connect with those who many not know how American Sign Language. Social media has also been used as an educational tool to teach others about the disabled community, how to better accommodate and find treatment or aid. In these cases social media has been a way to reduce isolation and reduce stereotypes made about disabled individuals.
These examples provide a sample of contemporary representations of disability in the media. This is not an exhaustive list.
Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, sensory, or a combination of multiple factors. Disabilities can be present from birth or can be acquired during a person's lifetime. Historically, disabilities have only been recognized based on a narrow set of criteria—however, disabilities are not binary and can be present in unique characteristics depending on the individual. A disability may be readily visible, or invisible in nature.
The hooker with a heart of gold is a stock character involving a courtesan or prostitute who possesses virtues such as integrity, generosity and kindness.
Disability studies is an academic discipline that examines the meaning, nature, and consequences of disability. Initially, the field focused on the division between "impairment" and "disability", where impairment was an impairment of an individual's mind or body, while disability was considered a social construct. This premise gave rise to two distinct models of disability: the social and medical models of disability. In 1999 the social model was universally accepted as the model preferred by the field. However, in recent years, the division between the social and medical models has been challenged. Additionally, there has been an increased focus on interdisciplinary research. For example, recent investigations suggest using "cross-sectional markers of stratification" may help provide new insights on the non-random distribution of risk factors capable of acerbating disablement processes.
Judith Ellen Heumann was an American disability rights activist, known as the "Mother of the Disability Rights Movement". She was recognized internationally as a leader in the disability community. Heumann was a lifelong civil rights advocate for people with disabilities. Her work with governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), non-profits, and various other disability interest groups, produced significant contributions since the 1970s to the development of human rights legislation and policies benefiting children and adults with disabilities. Through her work in the World Bank and the State Department, Heumann led the mainstreaming of disability rights into international development. Her contributions extended the international reach of the independent living movement.
There are many references to stuttering in popular culture. Because of the unusual-sounding speech that is produced, as well as the behaviors and attitudes that accompany a stutter, stuttering has been a subject of scientific interest, curiosity, discrimination, and ridicule.
Disability in the arts is an aspect within various arts disciplines of inclusive practices involving disability. It manifests itself in the output and mission of some stage and modern dance performing-arts companies, and as the subject matter of individual works of art, such as the work of specific painters and those who draw.
Ableism is discrimination and social prejudice against people with physical or mental disabilities. Ableism characterizes people as they are defined by their disabilities and it also classifies disabled people as people who are inferior to non-disabled people. On this basis, people are assigned or denied certain perceived abilities, skills, or character orientations.
Lives Worth Living is a 2011 documentary film directed by Eric Neudel and produced by Alison Gilkey, and broadcast by PBS through ITVS, as part of the Independent Lens series. The film is the first television chronicle of the history of the American disability rights movement from the post-World War II era until the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990.
The representation of disability in children's literature is a matter of scholarly research, and has been a relevant subject particularly since the 1970s. However, disability representation is still a modern issue. A 2011 World Report on Disability conducted by the World Health Organization found that around 15% of the global population, 1 billion people, have a disability, yet in 2019 only 3.4% of children's books had disabled main characters. The quality of disability representation can vary depending on the specific disability portrayed. Even though society has included more diverse characters with disabilities, this representation must be handled with care to avoid promoting existing negative stereotypes.
Inspiration porn is the portrayal of people with disabilities as being inspirational to able-bodied people, on the basis of their life circumstances. The term "inspiration porn" is by analogy with pornography, in that the material is perceived as objectifying disabled people for the benefit or gratification of the able-bodied. Inspiration porn may be seen as a form of ableism. An example of inspiration porn might be photo of a child with a disability taking part in an ordinary activity, with captions targeted towards able-bodied people such as "your excuse is invalid", "before you quit, try" or "they didn't let their disability stop them".
Sins Invalid is a disability justice-based performance project that focuses on artists with disabilities, artists of color, and LGBTQ / gender-variant artists. Led by disabled people of color, Sins Invalid's performance work explores the themes of sexuality, embodiment and the disabled body. In addition to multidisciplinary performances by people with disabilities, Sins Invalid organizes visual art exhibitions, readings, and a bi-monthly educational video series. Sins Invalid collaborates with other movement-building projects and provides disability justice training.
Depictions of race in horror films has been the subject of commentary. Critics have discussed the representation of race in horror films in relation to the presence of racist ideas, stereotypes and tropes within them. The horror genre has conversely also been used to explore social issues including race, particularly following popularization of social thrillers in the 2010s.
The We Care Film Festival is an effort by the Indian organization Brotherhood, in partnership with UNESCO, to raise awareness and to dispel stereotypes about people with disabilities.
Crip, slang for cripple, is a term in the process of being reclaimed by disabled people. Wright State University suggests that the current community definition of crip includes people who experience any form of disability, such as one or more impairments with physical, mental, learning, and sensory, though the term primarily targets physical and mobility impairment. People might identify as a crip for many reasons. Some of these reasons are to show pride, to talk about disability rights, or avoid ranking types of disability.
The cripple punk movement, also known as cpunk,crippunk, or cr*pple punk, is a social movement regarding physical disability rights that rejects inspirational portrayals of those with physical disabilities on the sole basis of their physical disability.
Camp Jened was a summer camp for disabled people in the state of New York that became a springboard for the disability rights movement and independent living movement in the United States. Many campers and counselors became disability rights activists, such as Judith Heumann, James LeBrecht, and Bobbi Linn.
Then Barbara Met Alan is a 2022 British television drama film about Barbara Lisicki and Alan Holdsworth, the founders of DAN, a disability activism group. It is written by Jack Thorne and Genevieve Barr and stars Ruth Madeley and Arthur Hughes. It broadcast on BBC Two on 21 March 2022.
Barbara Lisicki is a British disability rights activist, comedian, and equality trainer. She is a founder of the Disabled People's Direct Action Network (DAN), an organization that engaged in nonviolent civil disobedience to raise awareness and to advocate for the rights of disabled people. She is a featured subject of the 2022 BBC docudrama Then Barbara Met Alan, and appeared in The Disabled Century on BBC2 in 1999.
Horror films have frequently featured disability, dating to the genre's earliest origins in the 1930s. Various disabilities have been used in the genre to create or augment horror in audiences, which has attracted commentary from some critics and disability activists.