Representations of Teenagers & Collective Identity

Discuss how one or more groups of people are represented through the media.

With the recent Paralympic games fresh in the minds of the public, issues surrounding disability are currently in the media spotlight. Never have people with disability been so represented on our TV screens, and never have they been so praised for their acheivements. However, there is debate as to whether the impact of the Paralympic games will be as positive as first thought.

Before the Paralympics, many disabled people thought that the public had a negative impression of them. The media focus on welfare cuts means that a majority of the coverage of disability on TV was linked to benefit fraud, causing a stereotype that disabled people are too lazy to work. Peter White, the BBC’s disability correspondant, points out that ‘They cite government plans to cut welfare benefits, and the media coverage accompanying it which often allies "disabled" to "benefit scrounger"’.

However, with the Paralympics being so highly covered in the media, it was hoped that this negative public opinion could be transformed into a positive one. The International Paralympic Commitee recently revealed that the 2012 Paralympics had broke online records, with 2 million people visiting their website during the event and a 50% increase in Twitter followers. There is no doubt the Paralympics were a huge success, but will they have a lasting impact on media representation and public perception of people with disabilities?

Alice Maynard, the chairwoman of the disability charity Scope, has said that she thinks that not only the athletes, but the many disabled pundits and presenters are a positive representation of disability. She is quoted as saying "They'll be seen as authority figures; the ones doing the explaining, teasing out the technicalities". This kind of representation is one that we are not used to seeing in the media, usually disabled people are portrayed as simply victims of their disability - people to be pitied, or people who can't do things for themselves. In the respect, Paralympic coverage was definitely a positive example of media representation and I think it will make a different to how disabled people are viewed by society.

However, there are also dangers that come with coverage of such a specific event. Not all disabled people are able to, or would want to, take part in events like the Paralympic. Just as Olympic athletes do not represent the general population, Paralympic athletes do not represent everybody with a disability. Baroness Grey Thompson has pointed out that 'The Paralympics is the fairy-dust we sprinkle on life as a disabled person, it shows a snapshot in time of some extraordinary people who train very hard, who are good at sport'. There is a worry that the amazing Paralympic athletes may further the myth that disabled people who are unable to work are actually just 'lazy' or 'benefit scroungers'. In this way, the coverage of the Paralympics may not be as valuable as first though, unless it is followed by more disability coverage in the media; one that includes a variety of different people with different situations.

I think that the Paralympics were a very positive representation of people with disabilities, however as I previously stated, they only represented a minority of disabled people. On the other hand, I think that the coverage has removed some of the stigma as far as talking about disability goes, and this may open a door for more open conversation and therefore a better understanding of the issue. Overall, I hope that the Paralympic coverage has brought about a change in media representation of disability. I would like to see disabled people featured in media programmes across the board, not just on those that are about disability. This may help to remove the 'them and us' attitude that I think has dominated media coverage of disability in the past.