Blog 6

Disability Representation in Media

When considering multiculturalism we have to think about every facet of what makes us unique. Last blog talked about gender representation in media, and this time we’ll be taking a look at how disabilities are represented in the media.

In a study done by Dr. Katie Ellis, they dive into how people with disabilities navigate a complex identify that involves combating both physically differential and social stigma. Media representation has been a strong source of empowerment for many minorities and is a streamlined way of introducing foreign concepts to a wide audience. While this is a reputable way to combat stigma, those who have disabilities makes it difficult to fit into identity-based societies. People with these disabilities don’t always fit neatly into these groups which leaves the individual feeling neglected by other marginalized groups of people and are marked as weaker.

While unintentional, we all feed into demoralizing this group of people. When we think of the word normal in the context of humans, we identify it as a person of either gender or ethnicity who is similar to us in the way that we can function on our own fruition. In media, almost every main character we witness is as we would expect them, strong, agile, and capable. While on the surface this might be insignificant but it subtly forces the agenda onto us on what is considered and deemed normal.

Thinking about the group of people who do endure various disabilities, they can’t help but to feel alienated as the mainstream definition of normal doesn’t match with them. It’s difficult to find the right mix; the reality of things is that those with disabilities have to work harder to reach an end goal than most of us.

These hard implications set boundaries in a way, showing those people with disabilities why they can’t be like everyone else. These are the negative aspects of the representation of disabilities in media, yet even with this representation comes a lot of positive representation . Just because one has a disability doesn’t mean that they are hopeless, there are a lot of positive examples of people with disabilities facing the odds and preforming better than most people considered “normal”.  Stories focused around a person who has some sort of disability whether it is mental or physical are usually seen as positive stories of determination and never giving up. Even those who aren’t disabled can find motivation from stories such as this, and in the end shows how much power those who are considered weak have over us.

---

References: Katie Ellis, (2009). Beyond the Aww Factor