Media & Disability
Guide on media & disability
What is a Disability?
Definitions of disability vary from country to country. Many definitions are based on a medical model of disability, for example:
“ A physical or mental impairment, which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on a person’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.”
Unfortunately most definitions of disability do not take into consideration the social context or environment in which a person is living, and the attitudes they may encounter – all of which can be as disabling as an individual impairment.
The term “disabled” is far broader than you might think. Many people automatically think of a wheelchair user when they hear the term “disabled person”. In fact fewer than eight per cent of disabled people use wheelchairs continuously.
A disabled person might be someone with epilepsy, diabetes, a facial disfigurement, a mental illness (including depression), a visual impairment, a hearing impairment, arthritis, learning difficulties (including dyslexia), mobility difficulties, an amputation or a severe stutter.
Many people with disabilities are not generally recognised as such, because many disabilities are not visible (for example, mental illness, epilepsy, dyslexia or learning difficulties) and in addition people may not think of themselves as disabled.
Unfortunately, the term “disabled people” suggests that all disabled people are alike, embracing similar views, attitudes, and life experiences. However, disabled people are so numerous and their impairments so varied this is simply not the case. Obviously, life will be very different for an 18-year-old paralympian, a 38-year-old with multiple sclerosis, a 52-year-old with impaired sight and a 70-year-old person with dyslexia. Similarly, even though we refer to disabled people as though they were a unified group, don’t assume that all disabled people (or even all visually impaired people) agree with each other or have the same thoughts and ambitions.
It isn’t so long ago that having a disability was believed to be a punishment for being evil or bad. Disability has also been seen traditionally as a medical matter with disabled people viewed as ill or invalids, or as a charitable matter with disabled people considered pitiable or plucky. In some European countries there are still employers who are required to employ a quota of disabled people – and some employers would, unfortunately, prefer to pay a fine rather than do so. Quotas, when well used, can make a useful contribution. However, they often exclude certain disabilities, thus limiting our understanding of disabled people. Disabled people ought to be employed on the basis of their merits and capability, the same as everyone else.
Equality of opportunity in employment is a basic human right.
There is now a growing awareness that disability is a priority and should be seen in the same light as equality for other under-represented groups. In this interpretation of disability it is society which erects the barriers before disabled people and which makes it difficult for disabled people to achieve equality. These barriers include lack of awareness, negative attitudes, lack of opportunity and the lack of appropriate facilities including inaccessible buildings. By removing such barriers, society can ensure that disabled people are able to participate in the same way, or a similar way, to the wider community.