Hi, I'm Marianne! Can you give me your thoughts on disability representation in media? — Scope | Disability forum
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Hi, I'm Marianne! Can you give me your thoughts on disability representation in media?

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MarianneM
MarianneM Community member Posts: 2 Listener
edited April 2021 in Research and opportunities
Hello everyone!
I wanted to join this community to see if I could get people's opinions on something.
I was part-time disabled throughout my child-and-teen-hood and still face some minor mobility issues today. Disability issues are important to me, and I wanted to focus on this in the final year of my university degree. I was originally planning on creating a fantasy anthology of short stories written by disabled people, with disabled protagonists, though this unfortunately has fallen through.
Instead, I am writing a research essay about the effects of representation, specifically disability representation, for young people in literature. I would love to hear people's opinions on representation in modern media, and specifically in books and novels, if possible. Any comments are welcome! 
Please be aware I may use your comments in my research essay though it will be anonymised and will only ever be shared with my university tutors. If you are unhappy with this, please let me know as you make your comment. 
Thank you so much!
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  • Cher_Alumni
    Cher_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 5,741 Disability Gamechanger
    edited April 2021
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    Hi @MarianneM and welcome to our community,

    It's great that you thought of us when researching for your essay and I think our members will have lots of opinions on this.  I'm not sure if you've heard of David Mitchell and Sharon Snyder before, but they are academics who specialise in Critical Disability Studies and their work covers the representation of disabled people in literature, so maybe give them a read.  Also, we recently had a fab guest blog about representation of disability in Channel 4's It's a sin so do check that out.

    As you've made it clear how the data you collate will be handled, we're happy to verify this opportunity as safe for our members to participate in and, as is routine, our disclaimer is below :) I've almost moved your thread into our News and opportunities category which is home to research requests. Good luck!


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  • MarianneM
    MarianneM Community member Posts: 2 Listener
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    @Cher_Scope
    Thank you so much for your support! And for those recommendations too - I have no doubt they will be incredibly helpful and I'm excited to explore them further. And for moving my discussion post to where it can reach the most people. I'm eager to hear what people have to say! 
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  • adamscott0719
    adamscott0719 Community member Posts: 1 Listener
    edited November 2021
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    When characters with disabilities are portrayed as inspirational or overcoming obstacles just for living their daily lives, it sends a message that a life with a disability is a burden, on the individual and on the family, and just surviving is an accomplishment. What message does that send to young people? Don’t we want to hold them to the same standards as their peers?  Studies have shown that one of the greatest indicators of success for young people is expectations.  If fiction is setting up the expectation that just getting out of bed is an accomplishment then we are doing these youth a disservice. (Removed by moderator, advertising)
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  • jinnty
    jinnty Community member Posts: 57 Courageous
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    Hello, to me a lot of disabled people are usually shown as being in wheelchairs, or at the other end of their scale mentally disabled. As far as I have seen, none are shown as being on crutches/sticks, or other things. And again, none are shown as disabled physically and mentally at the same time. These are often shown as separate, which a lot of people will verify that a lot of the times, people have both disability. To me, media seems to put everyone in 1 category, rather than several. 
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