This PowerPoint goes over how physical ability and physical disability has been represented in the media in the past, and how it is now, including specific examples of how disabled actors and actresses are represented.

2. PHYSICAL ABILITY AND DISABILITY
Physical ability – the ability to perform a physical act.
Physical disability - a limitation on a person's
physical functioning, mobility, dexterity or stamina.

3. DISABILITY IN THE MEDIA
The depiction of disability in the media goes a long way in contributing towards
our perception of disability. You could even go as far as to say that the media
shapes the way that people with disabilities are treated within society
because the media has such a big impact on society.

4. HOW WAS PHYSICAL ABILITY / DISABILITY
REPRESENTED BY THE MEDIA IN THE PAST?
The media have typically portrayed those with disabilities according to common
stereotypes such as pity, heroism and being an outsider. Disability rights activists
have called this the ‘pity/heroism trap’ and called for their supporters to push
forward with the social inclusion of those with disabilities in the media.
Contrastingly, those who are able bodied have usually been represented being
‘normal’ and ‘ideal’.
Furthermore, negative representations of disabled people have been particularly used
in film. In films with a villain, the villain was often given a physical disability or
deformity to make them come across as more scary, or more evil. An example of
this is Dr. Evil in Austin Powers who has a growth condition.
Another way in which the media commonly portrayed disability is as a burden to
society, as those with a physical disability typically require more assistance from
others, particularly medical assistance from doctors, which is paid for through
taxes. These negative portrayals were often found in newspapers, and disability
rights activists have been pushing to move away from these stereotypes.
The "super-crip" model, in which subjects are portrayed as heroically overcoming their
afflictions, is also often used when reporting on sport.

5. IS PHYSICAL ABILITY / DISABILITY
REPRESENTED DIFFERENTLY IN THE MEDIA
TODAY?
There have been some developments in the way that those with physical abilities
and disabilities are represented by the media, although a lot of the negative
stereotypes are still used. For instance, newspapers still use the “super-crip
model” in their stories, and characters in television programmes and films are
still often represented as being outsiders, heroes or people that we should
pity.
However, ‘political correctness’ has meant that more disabled actors and
actresses are being cast in ‘normal’ roles, especially on TV soap operas, and
that villains no longer use a physical disability or deformity to make them
come across as more scary or more evil (in the main).
On the next few slides there are some examples of disabled actors and actresses
and some analysis of how they are represented by the media.

6. LIAM BAIRSTOW IN CORONATION STREET
In August 2015, Coronation Street cast its first down syndrome actor in the show’s
history of 55 years. His name is Liam Bairstow and he plays the role of Cathy
Matthew’s nephew, Alex. Producer Stuart Blackburn said the casting decision was
not “some politically correct thing” and that Bairstow has “a brilliant sense of
timing”. He was discovered and recruited through ITVs “Breaking Through Talent”
disability workshop. “We ran a workshop for actors with disabilities. We recognise
that they get so few auditions and we found Liam was just brilliant,” Blackburn
said.
Bairstow has previously acted with disability theatre company, Mind the Gap, which he
joined in 2009. This is one of the factors which pushed him to take part in ITVs
disability workshop and got him the part.
However, this isn’t the first time that a disabled person has featured in Coronation
Street. In April 2015, the show featured a guest appearance from disabled actor
Peter Mitchell, and Cherylee Houston has played Isobel (‘Izzy) Armstrong, the
disabled ex girlfriend of Gary Windass, since 2010.
Liam
Bairstow
Cherylee
Houston
Peter
Mitchell

7. MIND THE GAP
Mind the Gap is an acting group geared towards those with disabilities. It offers a
wide range of courses, particularly courses training actors and actresses in
theatre acting, rather than on-screen acting. This is the company through
which Liam Bairstow got his break on Coronation Street.

8. LISA HAMMOND IN EASTENDERS
Lisa Hammond was cast as market trader Donna Yates in EastEnders during
2014. Lisa began her career at the age of 13 and has also starred in
Pyschoville, Bleak House , Grange Hill and Max and Paddy's Road to
Nowhere. She has a growth condition, which is why she uses her wheelchair.
Donna wasn't originally written as a wheelchair-bound character, but Lisa
Hammond won over producers with her audition, and show boss Dominic
Treadwell-Collins says he is delighted to have her on board as the 'flinty,
aggressive and difficult' stall holder. Donna is the second regular disabled
character to appear on Albert Square, following Adam Best (David Proud),
who appeared from 2009 to 2010. Her audition goes to show how the media
industry is moving with the times, as before 2009 (when Adam Best first
appeared on EastEnders), there hadn’t been a regularly featured disabled
character, whereas now Lisa Hammond is adapting roles written by the
screenwriters of EastEnders to fit her condition.
Playing Denny
in Grange Hill

9. JOSEPH ‘JOE’ SWANSON IN FAMILY GUY
Joe Swanson is a police officer who suffered an on the job accident while tracking
some criminals, severing his spine and leaving him paraplegic. He is an over-
aggressive with alcoholic and abusive tendencies lingering close under the
surface, yet he remains an active police officer as well as one of four of Peter
Griffins closest circle of friends.
Although Family Guy is a cartoon, the way Joe is portrayed still has a big impact
on the way in which society responds to the disabled because Family Guy
incorporates many features of real life in order to make the cartoon relatable.
Joe’s character fits with a stereotype which the media often uses to portray
people and characters with disabilities – pity. He lost the use of his legs in an
accident, which creates the initial pity, and it’s then topped up by the fact that
he’s an alcoholic, as it leads the audience to assume that this is his coping
mechanism to help him come to terms with the accident and his disability.

10. TOMMY IN COMING DOWN THE MOUNTAIN
Coming Down the Mountain is TV drama film which was aired on BBC One. It
was written by Mark Haddon and directed by Julie Anne Robinson, based on
a radio play which was also written by Mark Haddon.
The plot is based around two brothers who live in London, David and Ben
Phillips. Ben has Down’s Syndrome and David resents the protective
attention his parents lavish on his younger brother, and also how much they
rely on him to look after Ben. The family make the move from London to
Derbyshire so that Ben can attend special school, but this means that David
has to leave his girlfriend behind. Ben ends up settling in at his new school
and making friends, and even getting a girlfriend but David struggles to fit in.
David finds out that his girlfriend has moved on almost immediately, and he
decides to kill his brother.
The film challenges typical stereotypes by showing Ben to be ‘normal’, and David
to be ‘abnormal’ even though Ben is the one with a disability.

11. THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN WATCHING THE
CLIP IF DISABILITY COMES UP IN THE EXAM:
• Can you identify who is able / disabled in the clip?
• Are people with disabilities shown to be different than those who don’t have
disabilities? If so, how?
• Is their disability represented as being important in their life?
• Are people without disabilities represented stereotypically as being ‘normal’ /
better / more powerful? If so, how?
• Are people with disabilities stereotypically represented as being abnormal /
weak / pathetic? If so, how?
• How do other characters in the clip treat people with a disability?
• Remember to analyse the able bodied characters as well as the disabled
characters!

12. HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=T0M
6PUDE7KQ
This is a clip from ‘Coming Down the Mountain’ which was featured in a previous
AS Media Studies exam. The question for that year was on the representation
of physical ability and disability.
The clip features two brothers, Ben, who has Downs Syndrome, and David, who’s
physically able. David is the narrator of the clip, and his voice features as
non-diegtic sound throughout the clip as he explains his thoughts and
feelings. At the beginning of the clip, David lets on how he plans to kill his
brother, and then goes on to explain that it’s because Ben is a burden to him,
because he takes a lot of looking after, which fits with the common stereotype
of those with disabilities being a burden, which I discussed earlier.
In the following slides I will discuss representations from a couple of important
scenes from the clip.

13. This is the establishing shot of the clip which features the boys in the room that
they share from a birds eye view. The mise en scene clearly creates a divide
in between the siblings, although they are sharing the same room. Their
possessions are placed on separate sides of the room and stop in the middle,
creating a dividing line. Also, the possessions that they own are completely
different to each other. Ben’s things are very colourful and more child-like to
represent how his disability means that he has to be treated much like a
young child, whereas David’s things are much more dark in colour and
mature, for instance he has striped duvet colours instead of ones with
animals on, to represent how he is treated much more like an adult. The dark
colours also represent his dark personality which becomes evident when he
admits that he plans to kill his brother. The birds eye view means that the
dividing line and the mise en scene can be shown clearly.
David is watching Ben as he sleeps, this could be interpreted by the audience as
a caring action, as David always has to look out for Ben, or sinister as David
admits that he’s plotting to kill Ben.

14. The next shot is a close-up of David, where the camera moves slowly around his
head as he narrates his thoughts and feelings. This is done so that the
audience feel like they have an insight into his mind as he explains what he’s
thinking. The camera movement feels odd because it is circling his head,
although it never breaks the 180 degree rule to keep the diegesis feeling real
for the audience. This is done to represent David as strange, because he
plans to kill his brother, which clearly isn’t considered normal behaviour. The
camera is hand-held and this means that the shot is slightly shaky which
represents David as being unstable, even though he is portrayed to be
physically able, unlike his brother. He enforces this representation by saying,
“but I guess when you’re planning to kill someone, you’re not thinking
straight.”