Engaging With People With Disabilities In The Media

In Nancy Mairs’ article for The New York Times, “Disability”, published in 1987, she expresses her distaste with the media's representation of handicapped people. Mairs, who struggled with multiple sclerosis herself, clearly and sharply conveys this disgust by stating, “I’m not, for instance, Ms. MS, a walking, talking embodiment of a chronic incurable degenerative disease.” (Mairs 13), and that she is actually, “the advertisers’ dream: Ms. Great American Consumer. And yet the advertisers, who determine nowadays who will get represented publicly and who will not, deny the existence of me and my kind absolutely”(Mairs 14). Mairs is greatly upset that disabled people are defined by their disabilities and, therefore, are underrepresented in public media. This might lead to one asking themselves, but why are they? And the answer, according to Mairs, is quite simple, “To depict disabled people in the ordinary activities of daily life is to admit that there is something ordinary about disability itself, that it may enter anybody’s life”(Mairs 14). Mairs concludes by pointing out how this effacement could have dangerous consequences for both disabled people and, as she called everyone else, TAPs (Temporarily Abled Persons) alike. Treating disabilities as an abnormal characteristic (as opposed to viewing them “as a normal characteristic, one that complicates but does not ruin human existence” (Mairs 15)) can cause one of these repercussions, as it makes the

In her essay, “On Being a Cripple”, Nancy Mairs, an essayist with multiple sclerosis, writes about her experiences with her disease. She wants her audience of able-bodied people to stop pitying towards disabled people and instead show acceptance. Mairs achieves her purpose by presenting herself as similar and relatable to her able-bodied audience with many anecdotes and a blunt tone. This discussion of her condition removes the discomfort about disabilities felt by her audience and allows for them to accept disabled people. While Maris’s primary audience is an able-bodied person who supports disabled people, other readers, like someone with her condition, may be drawn towards this essay as well. Unlike an able-bodied person, a disabled person

Author of disability Nancy Mairs who’s a feminist and a cripple, has accomplished a lot in writing and teaching. Her remarkable personality shows in many of her essays especially in Disability which was first published in 1987 in the New York Times. In this essay, Nancy Mairs shows how disabled people are constantly excluded, especially from the media. By giving out facts and including her personal experiences, Mairs aims for making some changes regarding the relationship between the media and people with disabilities. Mairs thesis is shown implicitly in the first

Unspeakable Conversations by Harriet McBryde Johnson is an article about her experience visiting Princeton University to exchange views and challenge Peter Singer, a professor who strongly believes that all disabled people, like herself, are “better off” not been born at all. The article provides an insight into Johnson’s life as a disabled person. She takes the readers on a journey that explores both sides of her own and Singer’s contrasting beliefs. She protests the prevalent stigma and prejudice of disabled people and gives voice to this marginalized community. Johnson challenges stereotypes of disability, uses her a personal experience to better understand the world and help others, and attempts to directly address oppression by arguing against Professor Singer’s theory and assemble a group of diverse and like-minded people for social change.

Nancy Mairs in her “disability” has done a good job in delivering her message. I believe she managed to persuade the audience that there is no reason to exclude disabled people from the media. Her information was clear and made sense, her examples were enough to support her thesis and her tone added a certain flavor to her essay. “Disability” can actually make certain changes if it is addressed to its right audience and I certainly recommend it to my friends and anyone who might be interested in this

The purpose of this work is to inform the public about what it is really like for people with disabilities both inside and outside the United States. For example he talks about how during research that the Human Rights Watch conducted, they “found that some school administrators refuse to admit children with disabilities because they believe these children are unable to learn, unsafe around other children, or engage in disruptive behavior” which is a harsh reality for disabled kids around the world because they are seen as inept, or unable to do the same as the kids without disabilities.

Though excelling in means of pathos and ethos, the argument has a shortage of strong logical evidence such as statistics to convince wavering readers. The paper also lacks a strong thesis and structural argument, which is necessary when writing to both a wavering and hostile audience. Bauer's unique position as the mother of a daughter who has down syndrome would potentially allow her to exploit the emotion of readers specifically those in a wavering audience, though her stories are deficient of an in depth description of the pain and hardships contributed directly to the term retard. The argument contains factors that would allow it to be fully effective such as a touching personal experience and connection to both the media and the United States dilemma of discrimination and derogatory language. Despite including these positive aspects for a strong argument the author fails to seek a solution, take a fighting stand, and deliver a passionate

The mainstream press today when discussing a disabled celebrity disregards many of the persons accomplishments throughout their life, but instead focuses and finds themselves becoming more and more susceptible to drawing attention to their disability alone. Charles A. Riley II enlightens the able-bodied community on many issue’s throughout his book, “Disability and the Media: Prescriptions for Change.” He argues that the media is inaccurately depicting the disabled community throughout the use of advertisements, but may also be unintentionally disrespecting the community as well in face-to-face contact. Riley is a professor of journalism at Baruch College, and throughout his career, has received multiple awards for his writing’s on issues relating to disability. In Charles A. Riley II excerpt from “Disability and the Media: Prescriptions for Change”, Riley argues for a change from the media’s perception of disabled people, as a whole, due to how they are portraying celebrities within today’s media throughout the use of ethos, logos, and pathos.

Did you know that over 2 million kids have a disabilities just in the United States. It is sad because some of these kids they don’t get to have a normal life like us. It is sad for some kids because they don’t get a normal life, it is hard for them to make friends, and a daily task for us is difficult task for them. Throughout history the treatment of disabilities has been since the early 1800s .

Society’s ideological constructs and attitudes towards minority groups are created and reinforced through media imagery. Although negative associations that maintain inequities with regard to race, gender and homophobia (Conner & Bejoian, 2006) have been somewhat relieved, disability is still immersed in harmful connotations that restrict and inhibit the life of people with disabilities in our society.

I choose to write my journal reflection on the presentation about Disability Identity Development Model. In as much as I learned and enjoyed all of the other presentations, this one made an impact. From the videos to the conversation, each piece made me more aware of how unaware I am about people with disabilities. I was surprised by the impact of the presentation and realized how little attention I pay to my surroundings when it comes to what assistance are out there for people with disability. I was not aware of the struggle people had to go through in order to have the ADA law pass in 1990. Today I see disability signs in parking lots of places I go and now I understand the struggle that people when through to get those assigned parking.

of those with disabilities by allowing them opportunities they may not have had otherwise. It has

However, people started to recognize that people with disabilities didn’t gain them because they deserved them, but simply were out of luck, and it is not their fault to born with or gain later in their lives. People without disabilities grew more compassionate about the people with disabilities, and nowadays they even started fundraising for the children with disabilities. Still, the focus was only centered at the children with disabilities, who are able to be helped by adults without disabilities. Adults with disabilities were not considered as the targets for helps, benefits, and cures, and they were still out of consideration from being cured. The campaigns and fundraising also only included the children who could be excused and be protected by adults, and the older people with disabilities were never included in the programs. MDA telethon, started by Jerry Lewis, showed the children with Muscular Dystrophy and plead for help from the people in America. It is an annual concert held for fundraising the money for the people with Muscular Dystrophy. Children are one of the best icons for fundraising, especially the children with disabilities but with bright smiles and hoping eyes. However, not many people would be moved by the adults with disabilities, who past that states of their lives, and are demanded to work as an independent person in the society.

With all the programs and events I took part in, I believe that I was able to change some of my views and preconceived ideas of students and children with disabilities.

When people with disabilities are included in the making of media content, they are able to “debate the societal issues related to them that rarely make the mainstream press” (Haller, 2010, p.117). This means that they can bring up problems that they have personally experienced and help educate society on how those problems can be resolved. News about disabilities should be included in the media more often in order to help able-bodied people become aware of disabilities and avoid the stereotypes that have been created. If a person with a disability helps make a story about someone with a disability, they can make sure the story explains the necessary issue and disregards any stigmas. Beth Haller describes in her book Representing Disabilities in an Ableist World: Essays on Mass Media that “historically, articles about people with disabilities rarely made it into the news, and, when the articles were written, that they were misrepresentative and stigmatizing” (2010, p. 119). In addition, an individual with disability can