Representations of Disability

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

Click here to read a breakdown of each of these stereotypes.

These are useful in relation to identifying the ways in which characters with disabilities are represented in television dramas.

For example, when we looked at the extract from 'Coming Down The Mountain', which of these stereotypical representations do you think would have been applicable to Ben? 

CLICK HERE to visit Reel Rundown's Top 10 TV Shows With Disabled Characters.

Sky recently aired a drama series called "The Smoke" which included a disabled character, Grace,  at the centre of some of the story lines - you can read an article discussing this character's representation by clicking here.

Here is the end of Episode 5 which features 2 different representations of disability:

The Smoke - Episode 5 THE END from jason savage on Vimeo.