The Tropes Trap:Cultural (Mis)Representations of Disability

Why focus on media?• Media forms public perception• Perception affects actions and treatment• Media is absorbed and replicated• Stereotypes are normalized through repetition• Stigma relies upon reinforcement and repetition• Media has been a key reinforcer of negative

stereotypes about disability

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U

Common Disability TropesRosemarie Garland-Thomson’s Visual Rhetoric of Disability (photography) Staring: How We Look (2010) , Extraordinary Bodies (1997), Freakery (1996)

• The sentimental• Pathetic, evokes pity, “poster child”, sentimental

cuteness• Empowers viewer by containing threat of disability• Motivates viewer to action and to feel good about

themselves • The wondrous

• Amazement and adoration, courageous overcoming• Secures the ordinariness of the viewer

• The exotic• Fascinates, sensationalizes, distances from viewer• Positions viewer as uninvolved ‘tourist’

• The realistic• Downplays the disability, diminishes points of difference• Positions viewer as equal

Common Representations of Disability

SC

FR

SN

DSP

The Victim Trope• “The Pity Trope”• Pity/Plight, “cure” focused• Eternal Innocence, angelic• The sentimental• “Plucky”, courageous, long-suffering

The Victim/Pity Trope

Miracle League Baseball

“If I were to tell you about an organized youth baseball league, you might call it ordinary.

If I were to tell you the athletes are physically and mentally challenged, you might call it touching.

If you were to see them play, you would call it a Miracle.”

http://www.miracleleague.com/

The Victim/Pity Trope

Deeply Embedded Pity Narrative

• Laurence Clark – comedian with CP• Fake Charity Collection Buckets • Pay Off My Mortgage• Please DON’T put money in here – I will get a

criminal record if you do• This is a SCAM, sucker!• I am NOT a charity case• KILL THE PUPPIES!• Top Up Heather Mills’ $50 Million Settlement

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_U_byvTzW4w

The Supercrip Trope• “Supercrip”, the ‘good

cripple’• Triumph over

tragedy/adversity• Overcoming disability• ‘In spite of’ disability• Hero, warrior, inspiration• ‘Can-do’ attitude

The Supercrip TropeInspiration Porn/Cripspiration

“’Cripspiration’ does nothing at all to advance the cause of disabled people. We do not exist to be living, breathing models of inspiration, and presenting us in this way is objectifying and reductive”

Philippa Willitts• Assumes that people with disabilities are not expected to be

capable of everyday activities; pity underlies the admiration• Sets the bar very low for people with disabilities• Victim-blaming, “shames” people with disabilities who voice

discontent• Help allay fears of non-disabled people about becoming

disabled

The Supercrip TropeInspiration Porn/Cripspiration

Common Disability Tropes Inspiration Porn/Cripspiration

The Freak Trope• Freak• Object of Curiosity – Curio• Medical curiosities• Exotic• ‘Freak Shows’ to ‘Shock Docs’

The Freak Trope

• From ‘Freak Shows’ to ‘Shock Docs’

The Freak Trope

The Sinister Trope• Sinister/Evil• ‘Mad Scientist’, ‘Evil Genius’• Angry about being disabled• Incapable of love• Obsessed with world

domination/power/revenge

The Disability Superpower • Disability

Superpower• Superabled• Cyborg• Border-Crossers• Transhumanists• Unfair advantage?

Human Enhancement

As an athlete yourself, do you sometimes identify with Pistorius? I’ve been accused of cheating. I loved the accusation because the day before, I was a cripple, and they were tapping me on top of my head — “Oh, you’re just so courageous.” That’s so demeaning. Then the moment a person with an unusual mind or body becomes competitive, it goes from “Aren’t you courageous?” to “You’re cheating!” The difference is performance.

Hugh Herr – MIT Engineer, Biophysicist, inventor of bionic legs

Human EnhancementChallenges our false binary categories of :

• abled/disabled• natural/unnatural• human/inhuman• biology/technology• advantage/disadvantage

Disability and Sex, Dating, Love

Non-sexualNon-loveable

“Against all odds”The Undateables

Disability and Sex, Dating, Love