PHYSICAL

ABILITY/D

ISABILITY IN

THE

MEDIA

W I TH R

E F E R E N C E TO T

V DR A M A

PHYSICAL ABILITY AND DISABILITYPhysical ability – the ability to perform a

physical act.

Physical disability - a limitation on a person's physical functioning, mobility, dexterity or stamina.

DISABILITY IN THE MEDIAThe depiction of disability in the media goes a long way in contributing

towards our perception of disability. You could even go as far as to say that the media shapes the way that people with disabilities are treated within society because the media has such a big impact on society.

HOW WAS PHYSICAL ABILITY / DISABILITY REPRESENTED BY THE MEDIA IN THE PAST?The media have typically portrayed those with disabilities according to common

stereotypes such as pity, heroism and being an outsider. Disability rights activists have called this the ‘pity/heroism trap’ and called for their supporters to push forward with the social inclusion of those with disabilities in the media. Contrastingly, those who are able bodied have usually been represented being ‘normal’ and ‘ideal’.

Furthermore, negative representations of disabled people have been particularly used in film. In films with a villain, the villain was often given a physical disability or deformity to make them come across as more scary, or more evil. An example of this is Dr. Evil in Austin Powers who has a growth condition.

Another way in which the media commonly portrayed disability is as a burden to society, as those with a physical disability typically require more assistance from others, particularly medical assistance from doctors, which is paid for through taxes. These negative portrayals were often found in newspapers, and disability rights activists have been pushing to move away from these stereotypes.

The "super-crip" model, in which subjects are portrayed as heroically overcoming their afflictions, is also often used when reporting on sport.

IS PHYSICAL ABILITY / DISABILITY REPRESENTED DIFFERENTLY IN THE MEDIA TODAY?There have been some developments in the way that those with

physical abilities and disabilities are represented by the media, although a lot of the negative stereotypes are still used. For instance, newspapers still use the “super-crip model” in their stories, and characters in television programmes and films are still often represented as being outsiders, heroes or people that we should pity.

However, ‘political correctness’ has meant that more disabled actors and actresses are being cast in ‘normal’ roles, especially on TV soap operas, and that villains no longer use a physical disability or deformity to make them come across as more scary or more evil (in the main).

On the next few slides there are some examples of disabled actors and actresses and some analysis of how they are represented by the media.

LIAM BAIRSTOW IN CORONATION STREETIn August 2015, Coronation Street cast its first down syndrome actor in the

show’s history of 55 years. His name is Liam Bairstow and he plays the role of Cathy Matthew’s nephew, Alex. Producer Stuart Blackburn said the casting decision was not “some politically correct thing” and that Bairstow has “a brilliant sense of timing”. He was discovered and recruited through ITVs “Breaking Through Talent” disability workshop. “We ran a workshop for actors with disabilities. We recognise that they get so few auditions and we found Liam was just brilliant,” Blackburn said.

Bairstow has previously acted with disability theatre company, Mind the Gap, which he joined in 2009. This is one of the factors which pushed him to take part in ITVs disability workshop and got him the part.

However, this isn’t the first time that a disabled person has featured in Coronation Street. In April 2015, the show featured a guest appearance from disabled actor Peter Mitchell, and Cherylee Houston has played Isobel (‘Izzy) Armstrong, the disabled ex girlfriend of Gary Windass, since 2010.

Liam Bairstow

Cherylee Houston

Peter Mitchell

MIND THE GAPMind the Gap is an acting group geared towards those with disabilities.

It offers a wide range of courses, particularly courses training actors and actresses in theatre acting, rather than on-screen acting. This is the company through which Liam Bairstow got his break on Coronation Street.

LISA HAMMOND IN EASTENDERSLisa Hammond was cast as market trader Donna Yates in EastEnders

during 2014. Lisa began her career at the age of 13 and has also starred in Pyschoville, Bleak House , Grange Hill and Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere. She has a growth condition, which is why she uses her wheelchair.

Donna wasn't originally written as a wheelchair-bound character, but Lisa Hammond won over producers with her audition, and show boss Dominic Treadwell-Collins says he is delighted to have her on board as the 'flinty, aggressive and difficult' stall holder. Donna is the second regular disabled character to appear on Albert Square, following Adam Best (David Proud), who appeared from 2009 to 2010. Her audition goes to show how the media industry is moving with the times, as before 2009 (when Adam Best first appeared on EastEnders), there hadn’t been a regularly featured disabled character, whereas now Lisa Hammond is adapting roles written by the screenwriters of EastEnders to fit her condition.

Playing Denny in Grange Hill

JOSEPH ‘JOE’ SWANSON IN FAMILY GUYJoe Swanson is a police officer who suffered an on the job accident

while tracking some criminals, severing his spine and leaving him paraplegic. He is an over-aggressive with alcoholic and abusive tendencies lingering close under the surface, yet he remains an active police officer as well as one of four of Peter Griffins closest circle of friends.

Although Family Guy is a cartoon, the way Joe is portrayed still has a big impact on the way in which society responds to the disabled because Family Guy incorporates many features of real life in order to make the cartoon relatable.

Joe’s character fits with a stereotype which the media often uses to portray people and characters with disabilities – pity. He lost the use of his legs in an accident, which creates the initial pity, and it’s then topped up by the fact that he’s an alcoholic, as it leads the audience to assume that this is his coping mechanism to help him come to terms with the accident and his disability.

TOMMY IN COMING DOWN THE MOUNTAINComing Down the Mountain is TV drama film which was aired on BBC

One. It was written by Mark Haddon and directed by Julie Anne Robinson, based on a radio play which was also written by Mark Haddon.

The plot is based around two brothers who live in London, David and Ben Phillips. Ben has Down’s Syndrome and David resents the protective attention his parents lavish on his younger brother, and also how much they rely on him to look after Ben. The family make the move from London to Derbyshire so that Ben can attend special school, but this means that David has to leave his girlfriend behind. Ben ends up settling in at his new school and making friends, and even getting a girlfriend but David struggles to fit in. David finds out that his girlfriend has moved on almost immediately, and he decides to kill his brother.

The film challenges typical stereotypes by showing Ben to be ‘normal’, and David to be ‘abnormal’ even though Ben is the one with a disability.

THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN WATCHING THE CLIP IF DISABILITY COMES UP IN THE EXAM:• Can you identify who is able / disabled in the clip?• Are people with disabilities shown to be different than those who

don’t have disabilities? If so, how?• Is their disability represented as being important in their life?• Are people without disabilities represented stereotypically as being

‘normal’ / better / more powerful? If so, how?• Are people with disabilities stereotypically represented as being

abnormal / weak / pathetic? If so, how?• How do other characters in the clip treat people with a disability?• Remember to analyse the able bodied characters as well as the

disabled characters!

HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=T0M6PUDE7KQ This is a clip from ‘Coming Down the Mountain’ which was featured in a

previous AS Media Studies exam. The question for that year was on the representation of physical ability and disability.

The clip features two brothers, Ben, who has Downs Syndrome, and David, who’s physically able. David is the narrator of the clip, and his voice features as non-diegtic sound throughout the clip as he explains his thoughts and feelings. At the beginning of the clip, David lets on how he plans to kill his brother, and then goes on to explain that it’s because Ben is a burden to him, because he takes a lot of looking after, which fits with the common stereotype of those with disabilities being a burden, which I discussed earlier.

In the following slides I will discuss representations from a couple of important scenes from the clip.

This is the establishing shot of the clip which features the boys in the room that they share from a birds eye view. The mise en scene clearly creates a divide in between the siblings, although they are sharing the same room. Their possessions are placed on separate sides of the room and stop in the middle, creating a dividing line. Also, the possessions that they own are completely different to each other. Ben’s things are very colourful and more child-like to represent how his disability means that he has to be treated much like a young child, whereas David’s things are much more dark in colour and mature, for instance he has striped duvet colours instead of ones with animals on, to represent how he is treated much more like an adult. The dark colours also represent his dark personality which becomes evident when he admits that he plans to kill his brother. The birds eye view means that the dividing line and the mise en scene can be shown clearly.

David is watching Ben as he sleeps, this could be interpreted by the audience as a caring action, as David always has to look out for Ben, or sinister as David admits that he’s plotting to kill Ben.

The next shot is a close-up of David, where the camera moves slowly around his head as he narrates his thoughts and feelings. This is done so that the audience feel like they have an insight into his mind as he explains what he’s thinking. The camera movement feels odd because it is circling his head, although it never breaks the 180 degree rule to keep the diegesis feeling real for the audience. This is done to represent David as strange, because he plans to kill his brother, which clearly isn’t considered normal behaviour. The camera is hand-held and this means that the shot is slightly shaky which represents David as being unstable, even though he is portrayed to be physically able, unlike his brother. He enforces this representation by saying, “but I guess when you’re planning to kill someone, you’re not thinking straight.”