Media labelingversusthe US disability community identity: a study of shifting cultural language

Abstract

This study examines disability terminology to explore how the news media frame cultural representations of the disability community. More specifically, the paper examines the impact of the Americans with Disabilities Act on journalist's language choices about disability topics. A content analysis of news stories using disability terms in The Washington Post and The New York Times during the past decade was conducted. The paper illustrates that disability community identity continues to be formed, transformed and maintained through news media presentations of disability terminology. The paper argues that the US Disability Rights Movement had some success during the 1990s in putting forth language that advances its aims, though the study also suggests that some journalists continue to use terms that perpetuate limiting, narrow stereotypes about people with disabilities.

Dispelling stereotypes: promoting disability equality through film

“…These portrayals of real people provided a way of dispelling stereotypes. Just as 'disability language use within the media can signal a new paradigm in the way people with disabilities will be framed in the future', realistic filmmaking can do the same (Haller, Dorries, and Rahn 2006).…”

Discourse of segregation and inclusion: a discourse analysis of a Russian newspaper for teachers

“…A great deal of research has attended to the representation of people with disabilities in mass media (for example, Auslander and Gold 1999;EnglandKennedy 2008;Farnall and Smith 1999;Haller, Dorries, and Rahn 2006;Jones and Harwood 2009;Nairn 2007;Shakespeare 1994). The analysis of the above-mentioned studies indicates that representation of people with disabilities in various media outlets has been changing over time.…”

The ICF: International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) – A Swiss army knife? Accessibility and disability in a Scandinavian disability magazine (SDM) – A quantitative content analysis

“…A number of studies has drawn attention to more general media coverage, or focused on specific disabilities as well as progressed disabilities [31,33,41]. In injury research, the media include the importance of both prevention aspects and long-term follow-ups reported in several international studies.…”