Disability In The Media Essay

The Media views the disabled in a negative perspective, whereas the able-bodied are normalized. Since the disabled are not in the media enough they are under represented. The able-bodied therefore judge the impaired population based on media messages. Due to the lack of exposure of the incapacitated in modernized media, especially television, views to challenge this ideology, are underdeveloped. The physically and mentally impaired are reduced to nothing but existing within their own disorder. The media, particularly television, tarnishes the representation of the disabled more than the people without disabilities because they’re portrayed negatively, they support offensive stereotypes, and they are made to feel different and not normal.
The disabled are depicted as a negative aspect throughout the media. The media focuses …show more content…
In a lot of cases the mentally ill are scared to reach out and get help because of the negative stereotypes that are put out in the media. Also, the disabled feel isolated and in most cases feel like they don’t exist. In Anaya’s essay “Mairs argues that the invisibility of physical disability in the media can cause people with disabilities to feel unattractive or inappropriate” (54). The media is only pushing out the negative stereotypes, therefore the society only has offensive opinions on the disabled. The media doesn’t want to put the incapacitated in the media because they don’t want the viewers to think the products are just for the disabled and that the able bodied can’t buy the product. For example, ’Mairs asked a local advertiser why he didn’t include disabled people in his spots and his response was’ “We don’t want to give people the idea that our product is just for the handicapped” (54). The media doesn’t want to alienate the able bodied but in doing so they isolate the impaired. The disabled are stereotyped in harsh ways or not shown in the media at