Using Media to Influence our Communities

BethHaller,Ph.D.,TowsonUniversity,MarylandEmail:bhaller@towson.edu

“A society that values people with disabilities will also value people without disabilities.”— Arthur Blaser, stroke survivor

with a speech disability who is a political science professor at Chapman University in California

Why the larger world is significant for people with disabilities = the Social

Model

Social model of Disability •  TheSocialModelofDisabilityfocusesonremovingthesocialandphysicalbarriersintheenvironmentthatblockpeoplewithdisabiliEesfromacEvelyparEcipaEnginsociety.

•  TheSocialModelisaboutfixingsociety,morethan“fixing”disabledpeople.Itsgoalsaretochangesociety’snegaEveaLtudesandpercepEonsaboutdisability,tomakethebuiltenvironmentmoreaccessible,tomakesurelawsandpoliciessupportthefullparEcipaEonofpeoplewithdisabiliEes,andtohaltdiscriminatorypracEcesagainstpeoplewithdisabiliEes.

•  IntheSocialModel,theproblemsresideinanableistsociety,notwithinadisabledperson.

AbleismisaformofdiscriminaEonorsocialprejudiceagainstpeoplewithdisabiliEes.The"ableist"societalworld-viewisthatable-bodiedpeoplearethenorminsociety,andthatpeoplewhohavedisabiliEesmusteitherstrivetobecomethatnormorshouldkeeptheirdistancefromnon-disabledpeople.Adisabilityisthus,inherently,a"bad"thingthatmustbeovercome.Theableistworldviewholdsthatdisabilityisanerror,amistake,orafailing,ratherthanasimpleconsequenceofhumandiversity,akintorace,ethnicity,sexualorientaEonorgender.

Example of a media story informed by the social model:

Web “designers can reach over 1 billion people just by keeping accessibility in mind, says Google's

Astrid Weber and Jen Devins.”

Unfortunately, most news coverage of people with disabilities is still

stigmatizing • StoriesthatpresentpeoplewithdisabiliEesasa“medicalproblem,”notasaperson

• Storiesthatmakereadersorviewerspitythem• StoriesthatpresentthemasinspiraEonalheroes,knownas“Supercrips”

• StoriesthatmakedisabilityrightsandgeLngaccesstosocietylikeeveryoneelseseemlikeaproblemoras“tooexpensive”

• NewsstoriesrarelyacknowledgethatphysicalbarriersandnegaEveaLtudesaretheREALproblem,morethansomeone’sdisability.

This problematic news coverage is why we should care about media

representations “Armedwithanunderstandingofdisabilityinnews,wecanbeUerunderstand,decipher,andconfrontstereotypes,mythsandimagesofdisability.”(Ellis&Goggin,2015,p.57)

From the International Labour Organization

“HowpeoplewithdisabiliEesareportrayedandthefrequencywithwhichtheyappearinthemediahasenormousimpactonhowtheyareregardedinsociety.PortrayingpeoplewithdisabiliEeswithdignityandrespectinthemediacanhelppromotemoreinclusiveandtolerantsocieEesandsEmulateaclimateofnon-discriminaEonandequalopportunity”(ILO,2015).

Let’s look at some stigmatizing media examples first

Manystorieshaveatoneofblamingdisabilityrightslaws.

Disabled people represented as charity cases

Stories that focus on societal leaders who oppose accessibility for monetary

reasons

“Nothing about us without us” This is how the disability rights community wants the media (and

society) to behave

How empowering news about disability works: -- interviews actual people with disabilities as sources

-- looks at broader societal issues -- doesn’t present stereotypes of tragedy, pity or heroic

accomplishments

How do we empower people with aphasia to tell their stories?

My research on North American news media coverage of technology for people with

communication disabilities found: • Themediadidfewstoriesthatincludedolderadultswhohaveage-relatedcommunicaEondisabiliEeslikeaphasia.

• ThestoriesrarelymenEonedadultswithintellectualdisabiliEeswhoalsohavecommunicaEondisabiliEes.

• OnlyafewstoriesfocusedonpeoplewithcommunicaEondisabiliEesforwhomtabletsandsmartphonesdonotprovideanymeaningfulassistance.

Main themes found in news stories (qualitative analysis of 98 news articles)

•  iTechnologyisportrayedasallowingthepersonto“overcome”thedisabilityoranaspectofthedisability(57stories).

•  iTechnologyispresentedasasuperiorreplacementofpreviousforms/aUemptsatcommunicaEon(30stories).

• PeoplewithdisabiliEesarepresentedasneedingseparateservices/educaEon/programsratherthanbeingincludedintheprogramsinwhicheveryoneparEcipates(27stories).

So what’s the problem? Thenewsmediaareframingdisabilityasaproblem

andtechnologyasasoluEon.Indoingso,themediaarediscounEngtheroleofpeoplewithdisabiliEesinassimilaEngandadapEngthesenewtechnologiesintotheirlivesandcommunicaEonmethods.

InaddiEon,fewmediastoriesdiscussedthehighcostofhelpfulcommunicaEontechnology,whichmanyadultswithcommunicaEondisabiliEescan’tafford.

Finally,nostoriesmenEonedthatoldercommunicaEonmethodsareverylowcost,i.e.homemadebooksofimages.

Access issues

• ThereasonchildrenwithdisabiliEesdominatedthenewsstoriesisbecauseassisEvetechnologycanbemoreeasilyobtainedinaneducaEonalseLng.

• AdultswithcommunicaEondisabiliEescannoteasilyaccessiTechnologyunlesstheyhavefinancialmeans,andworking-ageNorthAmericanswithdisabiliEeshavehighunemploymentrates.

Some people with communication disabilities are leading the way in adapting new technology, and the media should

cover that story

ArtBlaserpreparesforhisFall2015coursesbycheckingtheclassroomconsolethatoperatesTextAloud,aso@warethatconvertsscreenwordsintospokenwords.BlaserusesassisDvetechnologytoteachatChapmanUniversity.

People with aphasia are redefining how we communicate: example from SCALE Baltimore

Multiple communication styles that the media don’t acknowledge

MaHhewWangeman,whohasaspeechdisabilityduetoCP,isaDisabilityStudiesinstructoratNorthernArizonaUniversity:

“IamodenaskedhowdidIovercomemydisability,andIusuallyrespondbysayingthatIhaven’tovercomemydisability,becausemydisabilityisjustapartofwhoIam.Theword‘overcome’impliesdisabilityisabadthing,whichIandotheradvocatestotallyreject.Tous,disabilityjustmeansdifferentoratypical.WeargueitisoursocietythatputsthenegaEveconnotaEonondisabilityassomethingthatmustbe‘overcome.’”

Social media has become the way disability advocates now get their

information out

Why people with disabilities are using Facebook

NY disability activist Mike Volkman says:

“WhatwearedoingnowwithFacebookreallyshowsthetruepotenEalofwhattheInternetcandototransformoursociety.WeareseeingchangesthatrivalhistoricallytheinvenEonoftheprinEngpress.”

Deaf actress Marlee Matlin: “In Twitter there were no barriers.”

World, meet disability Twitter

Resources about media and disability

Questions for you

• WhatarewaysthatyoucaninfluenceyourcommunityorworkplacesopeoplegainmoreaccurateinformaEonaboutaphasia?

• Howmightthemedia’srepresentaEonofpeoplewithdisabiliEesaffectpeoplewithaphasia?PleasegivebothposiEveandnegaEveexamples.

• Howcanweempowerpeoplewithaphasiathemselvestotelltheirownstories?

Questions for me?