Do you think representation of disabled people in the media has improved?

Artistic_Mew21

The portrayal of disability in books, film and TV for uni dissertation 

Cher_Alumni

Hi @Artistic_Mew21

I've answered 'A little bit' because although we seem to have slightly more authentic representation of disabled life in media, written/acted by disabled actors, there's still a long way to go before achieving equality.  We've had some guest blogs about this topic recently, that you might like to have a read of while you're here.  

Just to check, am I right in thinking you aren't collating any data from your survey or the responses you get to this thread, but it's informing the direction of your dissertation?  If you are using the data you collect, please email us at community@scope.org.uk so we can run through some checks to ensure our members' data is safe   Thank you.

Just to add, I've moved your survey to our 'News and opportunities' category which is our home for all research-y threads.

innocent21

Well the charity Mind got successfully achieved what they wanted as the negative stereotypes associated with disability that were present in advertising and the media in the 1980s and 90s, they don't exist any more. So it's definitely improved.

However for hollywood television and movies which is designed to make money and cliché rather than be artsy and original, they are not designed to show a realistic representation of disability and be natural and realistic, the tv show is designed to be contrived, farfetched and an exaggeration to only show the most extreme cases for shock value and amateur dramatics. It's designed to make money and be commercial, not be an exhibition of artistic expression and to be artsy. Why spend money on something that's original if that's risky and could cause huge losses, if you can just keep repeating the same franchises, tropes, genre and formulas and make big profits? Some genres and styles within that don't make money.

Artistic_Mew21

Hi @Cher_Scope I won’t be collating any data from here, it was just to help inform the direction for the dissertation and to hear people’s thoughts on the topic. 

Cher_Alumni

@Artistic_Mew21 Thanks for confirming that    I hope the dissertation goes well.

Artistic_Mew21

Thank you. ?