1.
REPRESENTATION OF
DISABILITY

2.
TO START: WHAT IS YOUR RESPONSE TO THIS
STATEMENT?:

3.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• To be able to understand depths of field and how focus can
contribute to meaning
• To be able to understand some of the ways disability is presented
in TV Drama

4.
HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=YTCPH5LJ3KY

5.
HOW DOES DEPTH OF FIELD PLAY AN IMPORTANT
PART IN THE REPRESENTATION OF DISABILITY?
Example analysis – The
technical code of an
establishing shot of a barbed
wire fence in shallow focus
(See image above) connotes
a potential enigma clue
(Barthes) to the audience
that the male character, who
appears facially disfigured, is
imprisoned, feels trapped
and frustrated.

6.
HOW DOES DEPTH OF FIELD PLAY AN IMPORTANT
PART IN THE REPRESENTATION OF DISABILITY?
Example analysis – The
technical code of a multi
shot provides a deep focus
in order to equally
accentuate the men in the
shot where the disability is
hidden. The message being
that if disability is hidden
then no discrimination will
take place; they are equals.
But what happens next
shows that once disability is
apparent prejudice creeps in

7.
HOW DOES DEPTH OF FIELD PLAY AN IMPORTANT
PART IN THE REPRESENTATION OF DISABILITY?

8.
PHYSICAL ABILITY/DISABILITY
• Who are we talking about?
• Those who are physically disabled (paralysed, deaf, blind,
amputees).
• Those who are limited in how much they can do due to
morbidly obese, cancer, aids, etc).
• Those who are in good shape i.e. star athletes, superheroes,
average person, one with special abilities.

9.
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER
• Are there any disabled people represented within the show? Why or
why not?
• How are these people being represented? Are they victims? Does
everyone have pity on them? Are they treated like everyone else?
• What part do they have within the show, is it a crucial role?
• What message are you getting about this specific disability or ability
being represented in the clip?
• Are the actors within the show actually disabled? If not why do you
suppose they chose not to use an actor with a disability? - Is it right for
actors to pretend to be something they are not?

10.
IN A 1991 STUDY, PAUL HUNT IDENTIFIED 10 STEREOTYPES
THE MEDIA USE TO PORTRAY DISABLED PEOPLE:
• Can you think of
any examples or
COUNTERTYPES?
• The disabled person as pitiable or pathetic
• An object of curiosity or violence
• Sinister or evil
• The super cripple
• As atmosphere
• Laughable
• His/her own worst enemy
• As a burden
• As Non-sexual
• Being unable to participate in daily life

11.
WHY DO THE MEDIA USE THESE STEREOTYPES?
• Shakespeare (1999) presents a potential reason behind the use of one of these stereotypes:
"The use of disability as character trait, plot device, or as atmosphere is a lazy short-cut. These
representations are not accurate or fair reflections of the actual experience of disabled people. Such
stereotypes reinforce negative attitudes towards disabled people, and ignorance about the nature of
disability"
In other words, the disability itself is often used as a hook by writers and film-makers to draw
audiences into the story. These one-dimensional stereotypes are often distanced from the audience -
where characters are only viewed through their impairment, and not valued as people.
Shakespeare (1999) continues:
"Above all, the dominant images [of disabled people] are crude, one-dimensional and simplistic."

12.
DOMINANT NOTIONS OF DISABILITY: THE INDIVIDUAL
MODEL
• The societal view of disability generally conforms to the individual or overcoming or medical model of
disability. This holds that disability is inherent in the individual,
whose responsibility it is to ‘overcome’ her or his ‘tragic’
disability.
Often this ‘overcoming’ is achieved through medical intervention, such as attempts at ‘cures’. For
example, top wheelchair athlete Tanni Grey-Thompson was forced as a child to wear heavy leg
callipers which gave her blisters, rather than being offered the simple and practical option of using a
wheelchair.
This approach to disability aims for the normalisation of disabled people, often through the
medicalisation of their condition.

13.
THE SOCIAL MODEL OF DISABILITY
• This distinguishes between impairment (the physical or mental 'problem') and disability (the way society
views it as being a negative). It holds that impairments are not inherently disabling,
but that disability is caused by society which fails to provide for people
with impairments, and which puts obstacles in their way.
Examples include access: the built environment often does not allow access for people with mobility
problems. Discriminatory attitudes are also disabling: for example, the idea that disability is a personal
tragedy for the ‘sufferer’ impinges upon disabled people in a variety of negative ways, from their social
relationships to their ability to get jobs.
"Disability is produced in different forms, and in different proportions, in different cultures" (Oliver, 1996).

14.
DIFFERENCE
• It has been argued that dominant notions of ‘normality’ and beauty do not
allow for the natural range of difference in human form. These notions are
not only prejudicial to the acceptance of disabled people, but also increasingly impact on non-disabled
people.
• Charlotte Cooper, for example, applies the social model to obesity, and concludes that there are some
important categories through which obesity can be defined as a disability:
• A slender body is ‘normal’
• Fatness is a deviation from the norm.
• Fat and disabled people share low social status.
• Fatness is medicalised (e.g. jaw-wiring and stomach-stapling).
• Fat people are blamed for their greed and lack of control over their bodies.
 Consider why it is that fat people or disabled people are rarely portrayed as sexually attractive.

15.
DONNA IN ‘EASTENDERS’
How is disability represented through the character of Donna?
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b06j62yb/eastenders-15102015
• 02.58 the morning after
• 05.50 in public
• 12.05 with Nancy
• 22.10 mate or date?

16.
CASUALTY CLIP:
HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=NOIFQO5JQK8
• CAMERA WORK
• EDITING
• MISE EN SCENE
• SOUND