1983. In some ways it was just another year that passed all too quickly.
But
for folks with disabilities keeping an eye on "the tube" some very
interesting things began to happen.
CBS was broadcasting promotions for its new season. One showed a paraplegic
wheelchair racer. Another showed a deaf couple signing, "I love you,
I love
you, too." People with disabilities in TV promotions! It was something
we had
never seen before!
Oddly enough, some of the greatest media advances have come in television
commercials, the most conservative of all the entertainment industry
fields.
Following CBS's 1983 season came TV commercials showing wheelchair
users in
Levi's jeans, children with disabilities clapping away in McDonald's,
we've
seen employees in wheelchairs in Wal-Mart commercials and in ads for
cars and
many other products.
Before the mid-80's many product sponsors feared the presence of individuals
with visible handicaps would alienate consumers from their products.
Now, all
that's changed. Not only are people with disabilities used in commercials,
it's become almost commonplace. And that's the great thing about it.
People
with disabilities showcased for what they are ... kids who go to McDonald's
just like other kids, adults with disabilities who work at the local
store
and shop for their cars just like anyone else would. Normalcy... people
with
disabilities being just "regular folks".
There are still many media barriers that need breaking down. And that's
where
people with disabilities need to make sure their voices are heard.
As an
anchorwoman, who also happens to be paraplegic, I have the insider/outsider
view on how the media portray people with disabilities.
Perhaps the area that could use some extra attention to detail is the
vocabulary of disability. I know the reporters at WIS try to be very
thoughtful when it comes to portraying the hardships and barriers faced
by
citizens who are disabled. But unless the person being interviewed
speaks up
and offers suggestions for appropriate ways to describe people with
disabilities, the reporter may never know she or he has described someone
in
a way that may make the person with the disability feel uncomfortable.
I know when stories have been done about me, I cringe a little when
the TV or
newspaper reporter says I'm "confined" to a wheelchair or "wheelchair
bound".
Sure I have to use a wheelchair, but my wheelchair is my mobility,
my
liberation, my freedom to do my job, to go to the grocery store or
library...
to be just "regular folks". The words "bound" and "confined"... sound
just
that: bound and confined! That's not me, and that's not most people
with
disabilities I know. I'd think to myself too late, "Why didn't I suggest
to the
reporter that I prefer to think of myself not as "wheelchair bound
or
confined" but as a person who uses a wheelchair as a result of an automobile
accident.
Actually, that's in keeping with Associated Press Guidelines prepared
for
media professionals. They are invaluable to anyone who speaks, writes,
or
thinks about people with disabilities. A few examples from the guidelines
are:
1. Do not focus on a disability unless it is crucial to a story.
2. Do not portray people with disabilities who succeed as superhuman.
Even
though the public tends to admire superachievers, portraying people
with
disabilities as superstars raises false expectations that all people
with
disabilities should achieve at this level.
3. Do not sensationalize a disability by saying afflicted with, crippled
with, suffers from, victim of, and so on. Instead, say person who has
multiple sclerosis, man who had (or contracted) polio.
4. Do not label people as part of a disability group, such as the retarded.
Instead, say people with mental retardation.
5. Put people first, not their disability. Say woman with arthritis,
children
who are deaf, people with disabilities. This puts the focus on the
individual, not on a particular functional limitation.
These are just a few examples that the person who has a disability can
suggest as a preferable way of being "described" if they're the subject
of a
TV story or newspaper article. Most reporters will probably welcome
suggestions: they want to be not only accurate, but sensitive as well.
If you object to the way a person with a disability is portrayed in
the
media, let that TV station or magazine or newspaper know about it!
A
thoughtful letter, e-mail or phone call will have a much bigger impact
than a
hasty or angry one.
It will take a long time to break down all the stereotypes that surround
people with disabilities and guess who has to do most of the work?
You
guessed it.... people with disabilities.
Susan Aude Fisher
Susan Aude Fisher has been with WIS-TV in Columbia for 22 years. She
anchors WIS News at
Six and WIS News Nightcast. She has used a wheelchair since 1974 when
she was
hurt in a car wreck that resulted in paraplegia.
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