Disability representation

Dramas featuring people with disabilities:

Silent Witness- Clarissa Mullery

Breaking Bad- Walter JR

Glee- Artie Abrams

The Walking Dead- Herschel


Game of Thrones- Hodor, Bran and Tyrion





















90210- Riley, Dixon and Silva







The 100- Raven Reyes


Disability information
Almost 1/5 people of the British population are disabled (7 million or 18.6%)

Paul Hunt (1991) 10 disability stereotypes
1.  The disabled person as pitiable or pathetic.
2.  An object of curiosity or violence.
3.  Sinister or evil.
4.  The super cripple.
5.  An atmosphere (glamouous assistant)
6.  Laughable.
7.  His/her own worst enemy.
8.  As a burden.
9.  As non-sexual.
10.  Being unable to participate in everyday life.

The Medical Model: Shakespeare (1999)
The media throughout history has depicted disability through the use of impairment, Shakespeare points out in his article about disability in film.
-"Impairment is made the most important thing" and disabled characters are "objectified and distracted from the audience".

The Inbetweeners- Disability frisbee
1.  The clip is really funny because of the failure of the protagonists and the fact that it hit a member of the public.
2.  The disabled girl is presented as pitiable, laughable and unable to participate.
3.  We are not supposed to be laughing at the disabled person we should be laughing at the failure of the protagonist.
4.  No the protagonists are the "butt" of the joke.
5.  Disabled people may be offended as they are regularly used as the "butt" of the joke however offence is not always intended.
6.
7.  The lack of self reliance of the disabled in media cultivates the idea that we should pity the disabled.

Warwick Davis- Life's too short
1.  This clip is funny due to the fact that it depicts the struggles of modern humanity.
2.  Warwick Davis is presented in a funny manner however this is simply due to his characters struggles, the humour is not focused around his disability.
3.  We are not supposed to be laughing at the disabled person as the clip would be funny even with a non-disabled person.
4.  Warwick was the "butt" of the joke however this was due to the detrimental effect which the other character has on him.
5.  This clip complies with the idea that the disabled are laughable and pitiable to a degree due to the situations which he enters into.
6.  This clip does not comply with Shakespeare's stereotype as Warwick's impairment is not the most important thing.
7.  This clip does not cultivate society to pity disability as Warwick would have been able to solve his problem's more effectively without the aid of his "helpers".