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- All Subjects: Impact
- Creators: Walter Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Comm
- Member of: Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
- Resource Type: Text
Description
News outlets frequently portray people with disabilities as either helpless victims or objects of motivation. Portrayal of people with disabilities has improved over the years, but there is still room to grow. News outlets tend to make disability the center of the story. A story about a disabled person is primarily about their disability, with their other accomplishments framed by it.
As one example of the victimhood narrative, ABC News used to run a special called My Extreme Affliction as part of 20/20 until 2012. As the name implies, the specials covered people with disabilities, specifically extreme versions. One 2008 episode on Tourette’s syndrome described Tourette’s like it was some sort of demonic possession. The narrator talked about children who were “prisoners in their own bodies” and a family that was at risk of being “torn apart by Tourette’s.” I have Tourette’s syndrome myself, which made ABC’s special especially uncomfortable to watch. When not wringing their metaphorical hands over the “victims” of disability, many news outlets fall into the “supercrip” narrative. They refer to people as “heroes” who “overcome” their disabilities to achieve something that ranges from impressive to utterly mundane. The main emphasis is on the disability rather than the person who has it. These articles then exploit that disability to make readers feel good. As a person with a disability, I am aware that it impacts my life, but it is not the center of my life. The tics from my Tourette’s syndrome made it difficult to speak to people when I was younger, but even then they did not rule me.
Disability coverage, however, is still incredibly important for promoting acceptance and giving people with disabilities a voice. A little over a fifth of adults in the United States have a disability (CDC: 53 million adults in the US live with a disability), so poor coverage means marginalizing or even excluding a large amount of people. Journalists should try to reach their entire audience. The news helps shape public opinion with the stories it features. Therefore, it should provide visibility for people with disabilities in order to increase acceptance. This is a matter of civil rights. People with disabilities deserve fair and accurate representation.
My personal experience with ABC’s Tourette’s special leads me to believe that the media, especially the news, needs to be more responsible in their reporting. Even the name “My Extreme Affliction” paints a poor picture of what to expect. A show that focuses on sensationalist portrayals in pursuit of views further ostracizes people with disabilities. The emphasis should be on a person and not their condition. The National Center for Disability Journalism tells reporters to “Focus on the person you are interviewing, not the disability” (Tips for interviewing people with disabilities). This people-first approach is the way to improve disability coverage: Treat people with disabilities with the same respect as any other minority group.
As one example of the victimhood narrative, ABC News used to run a special called My Extreme Affliction as part of 20/20 until 2012. As the name implies, the specials covered people with disabilities, specifically extreme versions. One 2008 episode on Tourette’s syndrome described Tourette’s like it was some sort of demonic possession. The narrator talked about children who were “prisoners in their own bodies” and a family that was at risk of being “torn apart by Tourette’s.” I have Tourette’s syndrome myself, which made ABC’s special especially uncomfortable to watch. When not wringing their metaphorical hands over the “victims” of disability, many news outlets fall into the “supercrip” narrative. They refer to people as “heroes” who “overcome” their disabilities to achieve something that ranges from impressive to utterly mundane. The main emphasis is on the disability rather than the person who has it. These articles then exploit that disability to make readers feel good. As a person with a disability, I am aware that it impacts my life, but it is not the center of my life. The tics from my Tourette’s syndrome made it difficult to speak to people when I was younger, but even then they did not rule me.
Disability coverage, however, is still incredibly important for promoting acceptance and giving people with disabilities a voice. A little over a fifth of adults in the United States have a disability (CDC: 53 million adults in the US live with a disability), so poor coverage means marginalizing or even excluding a large amount of people. Journalists should try to reach their entire audience. The news helps shape public opinion with the stories it features. Therefore, it should provide visibility for people with disabilities in order to increase acceptance. This is a matter of civil rights. People with disabilities deserve fair and accurate representation.
My personal experience with ABC’s Tourette’s special leads me to believe that the media, especially the news, needs to be more responsible in their reporting. Even the name “My Extreme Affliction” paints a poor picture of what to expect. A show that focuses on sensationalist portrayals in pursuit of views further ostracizes people with disabilities. The emphasis should be on a person and not their condition. The National Center for Disability Journalism tells reporters to “Focus on the person you are interviewing, not the disability” (Tips for interviewing people with disabilities). This people-first approach is the way to improve disability coverage: Treat people with disabilities with the same respect as any other minority group.
ContributorsMackrell, Marguerite (Author) / Gilger, Kristin (Thesis director) / Doig, Steve (Committee member) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Comm (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Our thesis project, blanknationalpark.com, asked one question : how is climate change impacting National Parks in America? We decided to travel to three different areas: Joshua Tree, Glacier and Everglades National Park. It didn’t take long to discover that there was never a definitive answer. The effects of climate change looked different in every park we visited. Joshua Tree was struggling with changes in temperature, climate regime and an increase in fires. The U.S Geological Survey predicted that all of the glaciers in Glacier National Park could be gone by 2030. Everglades National Park was facing the constant threat of sea-level rise, invasive species and stronger hurricanes. However, in every park, one thing was certain - they all would not have their iconic features in the future due to climate change. For our thesis, we created blanknationalpark.com to emphasize the fact that Joshua Tree National Park won’t have Joshua Trees in the coming centuries, glaciers would cease to exist in Glacier National Park and the entire Everglades ecosystem itself will be underwater in the next century and a half. Thus, our project name, “Blank National Park”, pays tribute to the uncertainty of what these famous landscapes could look like in the future. Our main goal was to provide the public with a visual experience that is not only informative but engaging so that we could provide an educational experience about a critical situation without appearing too dismal. We chose to include our last page, ‘Solutions’, to establish hope for the future, and encourage people to take action to help preserve National Parks and the world we live in.
ContributorsCutler, Alison Jane (Co-author) / Nagaishi, Ayano (Co-author) / White, Dave (Thesis director) / Muench, Sarah (Committee member) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Comm (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, the dance industry has exponentially grown in its population and representation. As dance studios, companies, media platforms and films, dance industry continue to expand, there has been a substantial increase in the number of dancers around the world. Dancers are becoming more diverse with the styles they perform and how they perform a piece. One major factor to the growth of the dance industry is the ever-growing field of digital media and social platforms. These platforms expose people to different dance styles while also allowing dancers to showcase their art. Additionally, dance television shows and films contributed to this growth in the dance industry by developing a reputation and awareness of what dance is to the public. This project will analyze how certain aspects of the media influenced the modern dance industry, and whether this created a positive or negative impact.
ContributorsGodbehere, Amber (Author) / Schmidtke, Lisa (Thesis director) / Caldwell, Christina (Committee member) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Comm (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05