We analysed discourse produced in the Spanish press on a number of issues relating to disability (accessibility, education, employment, sport and institutionalisation). The aim was to identify the underlying paradigm: that of rehabilitation or personal autonomy. The analysis was based on 435 units of analysis including news, editorials, opinion articles, reports and letters to the editor, selected from two national newspapers (ABC and El País) published between 1978 and 2012. Discourses generally evolved from reflecting a medical-rehabilitation concept of disability to a more social perspective on disability. It was necessary, however, to examine discourses and practices in different domains separately, as this evolution was not reflected in equal measure in all of them.

This article presents the results of research into the treatment of physical functional diversity in the Spanish press. The research has involved the analysis of news items referring to functional diversity in two high-circulation newspapers in Spain (ABC and El País) between 1978 and 2012. The results show that the number of news items on functional diversity has risen over this period, with an evolution in the terminology and approach to the information. The creation of communication departments in some of the organizations in the sector, the production of style guides and/or norms and the recommendations of international organizations may have encouraged these changes. Even so, news items still appear in which the news is the functional diversity in itself, which does not help to deconstruct the stereotyped image that has accompanied this group for many years.