1. Media representations of disability

2. What is disability?
Most commonly, we tend to think of disability as being unable to do something.
It is associated with the body (physical), mind (learning, mental).
The idea of disability may seem natural, however Tom Shakespeare takes the view it is socially constructed.
It is one difference that society treats as being a significant characteristic of a group of people.
Shakespeare prefers the use of the word impairment, as the term disability has negative connotations. He believes that disabled people are actually by society.

3. Key issues with representations of disability
Are disabled people involved in media productions & what images of disability are created?
How frequently is disability portrayed in the media & in what ways?
How do audiences interpret these representations & what effects do they have?

4. The view of disabled sociologists about media representations of disability
See disability as a social construct; that disabled people are actually disabled by society & its attitudes & practices.
General research findings indicate that the media present stereotypical & stigmatised representations of disabled people.
Evidence?
Barnes believes the media is partly responsible for the dissemination of negative stereotypes & portrayals of disabled people.

5. Negative portrayals of disabled people
Cumberbatch & Negrine found disabled people were predominantly seen as figures we should pity.
Roper agrees with this in relation to media representations of the disabled via telethons which often feature ‘cute kids’.
She found these telethons enable the public to alleviate their guilt & relief that they are not disabled by donating money.
Karpf says telethons act to keep the audience in the position of givers & disabled recipients as grateful & dependent.
Telethons are basically a way of entertaining the public.
Consequently, these media representations affect the audience by backing up prejudices about the disabled – that they are dependent on the help of able-bodied people.

6. Barnes has identified a number of recurring media stereotypes of disabled people:
Pitiable & pathetic (Children in Need)
Victims of violence
Sinister & evil (James Bond movies)
Super cripples (My Left Foot, Paralympics coverage)
Object of ridicule (Little Britain)
Burden (documentaries on carers)
Sexually abnormal (no sexual relationships)
Incapable of participating fully in normal life
* Barnes argues the media rarely portray disabled people as ordinary, normal human beings who just happen to have an impairment.

7. It is quite obvious that the media represents disabled people in a negative, stereotypical way.
It is also important to note that the disabled do not appear in the media very often.
1999 Broadcasting Standards Commission found the disabled only appeared in 7% of programmes in their sample.
It seems the disabled are a group the media would prefer not to publicise; there is a denial of their existence.

8. Conclusion Unrealistic presentations of disability.
These representations affect the audience negatively in that they transmit stereotypical ideas.
Sociologists like Cumberbatch argue that the audience have the power to reject media messages, but if this is the audiences only experience of disability them media messages are often accepted.

9. Question
Assess sociological explanations of the ways in which the mass media represent disability.