I admit that I don’t know a single person who doesn’t watch television. Sure, I don’t have cable, and many of my friends do not. We still watch television programs somehow, whether it be through various (legal or non) internet applications or Netflix. With that in mind, I don’t know a single person who hasn’t viewed a negative portrayal of a (dis)abled character, played by both (dis)abled actors and non (dis)abled actors. It seems as though these depictions are inescapable. Be that as it may, the authors of many of the articles I analyzed for this literature review suggest many ways that we, as a television audience and, some of us, educators can helped to change (dis)ability’s role on television or at least the way that it is perceived.
I believe the most salient piece of advice I found was from Byrd & Eliot (1984) who, by citing Bernotavicz (1979), recommend no longer being a passive member of the audience (p. 7). I think this activity of active participation can translate into classrooms as well. Many teachers share films and video clips during class time, and these video clips and videos can be used as teaching tools even if they contain negative portrayals. Educators can teach their students to critically analyze and interpret the images they see on the screen. Students then raise questions like, “Why do these images exist in the first place? What does this say about our society as a whole?” and, most importantly, “What can we do to change these images?”
Teachers need to be aware that, yes, we have present and future television audiences in our classrooms, but we also have future creators, actors, directors, and producers, of television sitting in the desks right in front of us. Numerous pieces I included in this review also offer guidance to those in the industry. For instance, Lynn Manning, during HBO’s (2007) “Written on the Body,” contributes this personal piece of wisdom:
Spend time researching characters… A friend of mine, Dan Murphy, in Los Angeles is working together with me, and some other performers and writers with disabilities, to provide free consultation to any writer who wants to write a disabled character, or who has a question about something that’s simple and easy enough to answer (2007, p. 39).
This service of consultation seems like an amazing opportunity for directors and producers to include accurate portrayals in their program. Yet, I wonder why many do not take this offer?
Perhaps, many fear that they do not have the time to do so, and obviously, money is not the issue. On the other hand, many may believe that their television program simply doesn’t have the place for a (dis)abled character. However, as Foss (2014) points out, “While most television programs cannot devote whole seasons to destigmatizing hearing loss and deafness, slight changes in the existing story lines could vastly improve public perception of hearing loss” (p. 897). I think that is true essence of this inequality that I have been trying to address in this review--small steps, small changes, can go along way to change the current situation.
Additionally, as Daryl 'Chill' Mitchell suggests during “Written on the Body,” “It’s about being open” (HBO, 2007, p. 41). In addition to filling a very apparent gap in the literature, this particular review and the future research that I plan on completing in the future is all about making others feel more open to the possibility of positive portrayals of (dis)ability on television and having those portrayals actually played by (dis)abled actors, the individuals who truly understand these roles. After all, they are the ones who have lived them.
So, I leave this multimedia review with the following in my mind, something I'd like to share with you as well:
Be open;
Think critically;
Ask questions. Seriously, question everything you see. As the research has proven, there’s more to what you see on the screen.
Works Cited
Byrd, E. K., & Elliott, T. R. (1984, March). Attitude Change toward Disability through Television Portrayals with Male College Students. Paper presented at Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Psychological Association, New Orleans, LA. Abstract received from ERIC.
Foss, K. A. (2014). (De)stigmatizing the silent epidemic: Representations of hearing loss in entertainment television. Health Communication, 29(9), 888-900.
HBO. (2007). A conversation about disability
written on the body: Part two. Dramatist,
9(5), 36-41.
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