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Home » Critical Disability Studies: Theory and Practice » Critical Disability Studies: Theory and Practice 2016 » Communicating Culture: What Neuroscientists Need to Know about the Neurodiversity Movement » Ads and Inspiration Porn: Media representation of disability

Ads and Inspiration Porn: Media representation of disability

By kefio05
March 6, 2016 - 22:34
kefio05's picture
Sharing Projects, Looking Back

Here is my paper! (sorry the images are in the word file)

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File Media enforcing normalcy.docx1.73 MB

Comments

Chewy Charis's picture

Submitted by Chewy Charis on March 11, 2016 - 16:44

In your paper, you mentioned, "Disability research does not need to be funded solely on the fear that one day someone you know will develop a disability." This sentence immediately raised the questions for me: Then on what basis should it be funded on?

The problem with funding is that the research needs to be beneficial to the majority of taxpayers. Since everyone will become disabled at some stage, the purpose of improving the experience of living with disablity should be sufficient. However, because of the false idea of people with disability being a static “minority," some might not set this type of research as a priority without scare-tatics. More and more, I am reminded of how disability is seen as the ultimate unwanted thing upon which our value system is built. 

mheffern's picture

Submitted by mheffern on March 14, 2016 - 15:30

I found your thesis very intriguing, especially the comparisons you draw between modern day society and the Greeks. Also, this is a fantastic sentence: "Progression refers to the technology and creation of urban centers during this time, but does not account for the increased discrimination and further implementation of normalcy that became ingrained into the foundation of our current society."  The term "progression" connotes positivity and, though there have been advances in matters such as technology, as you mentioned, the discrimination and "further implementation of normalcy" that has ensued in no way fits within a mode of "progression."
 
I wish you would have gone into a bit more detail about some of the characters, like Artie from Glee, that you mention in the beginning to give us a better sense of how and why they are used in television shows (I think you could have used Stella Young's concept of "inspiration porn" to explain why individuals with disabilities are sometimes put in television shows). 
 
Also, I found your note about smiling as a societal norm of happiness very thought-provoking. I've never really thought about that in-depth before. Makes me rethink the whole notion of a "resting bitch face." Some people naturally don't--and others can't--smile to show that they are happy, and they thus have other, less "normalized" ways of conveying their happiness.