What are the effects that the Media has had on Disabled Peoples lives?

Disability in the media has always played an important role in shaping the lives of disabled people. For many years the only stories shown were that of sob stories and those who have achieved great things against the odds. 

There are two main areas of Disability and the media that I would like to cover. Firstly that of the effect the media has on disabled sport and secondly that of the news and the limited coverage of disabled people's issues. 

 Media and the effect that it has on disability is a hot topic for many at the moment, due to much of the media that is portrayed being of the negative persuasion. Disability is often in the media eye for many of the wrong reasons, and if not directly wrong reasons, it is usually for something like that of Oscar Pistorius where the discussion was around his ability and whether it would be fair for him to join mainstream sport (there has also been other negative press unrelated to the sport of him but that's another story altogether). Unfortunately, there was a controversial thought that he would have an unfair advantage over his fellow able-bodied athletes. His prosthetic limbs that are designed for running are done so in such a way to make it easier for him to move, so in some respects, I can understand the idea that he will get an unfair advantage. On the flip side, I would like to point out the difference in running style that he has to adapt to be able to use these limbs which is much harder for him than for his able-bodied counterparts. To go the same distance, at the same speed he would have to go twice as hard. The way the media portrayed this story led to negative opinions about such inclusion and on a more general note just reiterates the lack of inclusion and how it's acceptable. In the end, it was decided that he would be able to run with his fellow able-bodied athletes but not before he had to fight for the right to be equal. 

 

I would like to add at this point, how disability is portrayed in the media in one of two ways, either there is the need for sensational television or the polar opposite of the pitied disabled person, who is unable to look after themselves. 

 

Keeping on the subject of sport, there are many aspects that I feel the media fails at miserably when thinking about disability sport in the media. For many years, disability sport has not been taken seriously. The first year I genuinely feel this started to change was in 2012 and the coverage of the Paralympics was far greater than it had ever been. Initially, I felt that the coverage was going to be mediocre and yet again the Paralympics would be seen as a poor relation. The media was slow at the advertising of the Paralympics in particular relation to ticket sales. Ticket sales were being heavily advertised for the Olympics but it took a while for the same level of advertising of the Paralympics and as such, it looked like they were going to fail disabled people once more. As it got closer the coverage did improve and I am happy to say that Channel 4 (who had the rights) did a much better job than that which had been previously. 

 

Also, for those that are unaware, the name Paralympics comes from running parallel to the Olympic games which, although well-intended is it is far from the truth. The Paralympics is the Olympics poor relation which is exactly how many disabled people are made to feel daily when they are compared to their able-bodied peers. This is also shown concerning the coverage that other disabled sporting events have received in the past. All over the papers and television, footballers will be shown being reported for their personal and professional lives. There are several events throughout the year that disabled athletes participate in but rarely is this advertised. If there is any coverage it might be 2 hours on a Sunday afternoon for a competition that has been running for the last 2 weeks. The reason provided is that there isn't the demand, I would say they need to make the demand. The majority of able-bodied sport participation that is shown on television has the demand because of all the promotional hype that it is provided. If disabled sport was given the same level of advertising and was made to be part of normal life then perhaps it might be of interest to people. 

 

People need to be educated about many different aspects of disability and the only way that this can be done is if it becomes a normal part of the able-bodied society. As mentioned above, Channel 4 were the broadcasters for the Paralympics in the UK and admittedly they are trying to raise the profile of disability sport and promote positive views on disabled people. However, when you look at what was done for the Olympics, with endless hours of back-to-back coverage, multichannel output, interactive services the coverage still fell short compared to the Olympics.

 

There is still a long way to go before disability and in particular, disability sport becomes the norm, with people showing the right kind of interest. How disability sport has been portrayed in the media up to now has added to the idea of pitying disabled people, regularly having the emphasis put on sob stories rather than the actual sport that they are participating in and are the best in their field. Once again to their credit Channel 4 worked to improve this but in reality, they divided the disabled community with the campaign of 'Super Human' leading to many disabled people feeling inadequate and the divide between Sensational 'Super Human' people with disabilities and those that live normal mundane lives and who are pitied by society. 

 Disabled people living normal lives, with normal struggles are not represented in the media coverage and when they are it is done in such a way that we are pitied and misunderstood. Why should I have to do anything amazing to be listened to? I should have the same rights as the next person. An example of this inequality was that of the Hardest Hit March and the Rally Against Debt. Around 8000 disabled people joined the Hardest Hit March in London (it would have been more if disabled people weren't scared their benefits would be taken away if they went), whereas a measly 300 people joined the Rally Against Debt. Unfortunately, the number of people who supported these two protests was not representative of the amount of media coverage that was given to this issue. Although the Rally Against Debt received little coverage it still received some. The Hardest Hit March received very little in comparison and if there had only been a few hundred people there would have been no coverage for this big issue. 

 

Media coverage is regularly biased and although there was some coverage of the March, the coverage it received was limited and bias. On the day of the Hardest Hit March The Minister for Disabled People at the time, Maria Miller MP, was interviewed on the BBC and she went on to talk about the 'changes' to benefits for disabled people to decrease the supposed abuse of the system. She spoke about drug addicts and alcoholic scroungers as though they were the main people to claim these benefits, this would be fair enough if it happened to be true. The sad fact is that this could not be further from the truth and has not given a fair insight into people living with disabilities. They face financial hardships due to it being more expensive for them to live because of increased fuel bills and the need for specialist equipment. Disability benefits, especially DLA or PIP are hard to receive as it is and the number of abusers is so minimal that it can hardly be said that these benefits are widely abused. To make the news report that I am referring to less biased there should have been a disabled person discussing why they were protesting and what these changes mean to them and many other disabled people, but as usual, disabled people weren't given a voice. 

 

Unfortunately, this type of coverage is shown a lot and does not help disabled people to be part of society. It just adds to the false opinion that all disabled people are scroungers or they need to be pitied. It has led to an increase in hate crime and generally disabled people feeling less of society than they ever have. To make disability normal and give disabled people the chance to be heard the media needs to help to make it possible. 

 

The media need to be part of the solution not part of the problem. While disabled people are seen as the able-bodied person's poor relation that is exactly what we will be. It's time for a change in attitudes but we can't do it alone.