Media Portrayal of the Disabled

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The biggest problem with stereotypes being used to describe people with disabilities in the media is that most people do not even realize when stereotypes are being used, and are wrong. Throughout literature, disabilities have historically been used to symbolize evil or malicious intent.  This leads to people, even subconsciously, associating negative emotions with disabled people.  This stereotype has been common throughout history, and shows up in much classic literature, such as Captain Hook in Peter Pan.  Because we are exposed to this idea throughout our lives in movies and books, it is only natural that it seeps into our media.  The difference between stereotyping a particular race or gender and stereotyping people with disabilities is that many times people stereotype disabled people without even realizing it.  Most people are able to recognize gender and race stereotypes when they come across them in the media, and hopefully realize these are wrong and one must not rely on stereotypes of groups of people.  There is less attention paid, however, to the dangers that accompany putting people with disabilities into stereotypes.  There are even films based off of common stereotypes, such as the disabled person courageously overcoming their disability or the disabled person portrayed as a victim or burden.  A movie maker would be very unlikely to make a film with a storyline based off of a stereotype of women or minorities, yet it is socially acceptable, even common, for movies to use stereotypes of disabilities.  Until people learn to recognize these stereotypes and try to avoid using them, our culture will continue to be one that, perhaps unknowingly, portrays people with disabilities in the media by relying on a handful of stereotypes.