Disability and athletics media representation

Athletics and disability, not two categories that people would think to look at together with regards to misrepresentation in the media, however I think they should be as they are both considered to be at opposite end of the ability spectrum. They are complete opposites yet they both are equally misrepresented in the media. These social groups share some same themes with regards to media, these include: misconceived stereotypes, lack of point of view of the insider, and lack of communication by the insider and outsider.
Both social groups are shown through misconceived stereotypes that are perpetuated by the media, through the use of cultivation theory media changes a persons reality with regards to athletes personality and behavior and what it means to be disabled. This is shown by the way that African American athletes physical strength is often emphasized over their intellect; thus reinforcing the stereotype to audiences that African American individual's are 'all brawn and no brains'. This is also shown by disability in the media, by the way that the themes of homogeneity in the group, victimization (weakness, pity, sympathy, etc.), supercrip (overcoming the disability) and being a villain because of the disability; are all the themes that are shown by the media.


These themes emphasize to the audience how individuals with disabilities are not 'normal' individuals, but just seen in these contexts. Individuals with disabilities are seen rather one dimensionality and not as a rounded individual (as though showing a persons negative traits would be a bad thing). Also because a lot of disabled characters in media are played by able – bodied actors, it leads to a slightly incorrect view of what it is like to have a disability, and so might lead to audiences not knowing how to react to real disabilities when they see them (e.g. Daniel Day Lewis in My Left Foot vs the real Christy Brown).



Also because the views perpetuated by the media are often produced by outsiders to the event
(e.g. able – bodied, non – sports people, etc.) there is a lack of full understanding and representation of what it is like from an insiders point of view. This is shown by the way that female athletes are portrayed in a sexual, feminine way because it reinforces the gender/sex stereotypes in society. Yet there is no realization that their athletic ability and skill is really what needs to be discussed and focused on. The outsider point of view also disregards the importance of changing the misrepresentation of athletes in media and what effect this has on the society as a whole. This is also seen by the way that Native American mascots of sports teams are sometimes seen as emphasizing honor, bravery, etc by the non – Native American community, yet they fail to realize how these representations can be seen as offensive and disregarding the social/historical context of the situation.

There is obvious lack of communication by all parties with regards to disability and athletics and the media. This lack of communication is emphasized by the way that there is a lack of disabled individuals in media, because many individuals with disabilities are unaware of the opportunities available to them as some companies, etc are reluctant to hire individuals with disabilities. Also this lack of communication is shown by the inaccurate representation of disabilities that is sometimes shown in the media (all bad or all good). This lack of communication is shown by the misrepresentations of women and African Americans in media, yet is is also emphasized in athletics through the lack of discussion around the issue of Native American mascots. If both sides of the issue were to discuss together, there would be greater understanding of both sides and perhaps a realization that the conversation extends past mascots to the larger topic of racial representation.