Disability and the media
Subtitle: prescriptions for change
By: Charles A. Riley II.
Publisher: University Press of New England
Published: 2005
Place of publication: Hanover, NH
Language: eng
Number of pages: 258
Subjects: People with disabilities in mass media; People with disabilities -- United States
Description: "In the past decade, the mass media discovered disability. Yet depictions of disability have remained largely unchanged since the 1920s: Focusing almost exclusively on the medical aspect of injury or illness, the disability profile leads inevitably to an inspiring moment of "overcoming." According to Riley, this cliche plays well with a general audience, but such narratives, driven by prejudice and pity, are deeply offensive to persons with disabilities. Equally important, misguided coverage has adverse effects on crucial aspects of public policy, such as employment, social services, and health care." "Riley's inside investigation illuminates the extent of the problem while pinpointing how writers, editors, directors, producers, filmmakers, advertisers and the executives who give their marching orders go wrong, or occasionally get it right. Through a close analysis of the technical means of representation, in conjunction with the commentary of leading voices in the disability community, Riley guides future coverage to a more fair and accurate way of putting the disability story on screen or paper."--BOOK JACKET
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [237]-244) and index.
Table of contents: title: Heroes of assimilation : or how the media transform disability; title: Whose life is it anyway? : the use and abuse of the disability memoir; title: Getting it on paper : revising the disability story for the print media; title: I'd like to thank the academy : losing focus on disability in movies and television; title: And here's the pitch : how advertising uses disability; title: Milestones, mixed messages, and missed opportunities : the unfinished business of the disability media; title: We : the short happy life of an independent magazine; title: "On the Web we're all equal" and other myths about disability and multimedia.