You Gotta C It 2!

I would like to recommend visiting the following blogs created by my classmates, since they reflect some interesting opinions, ideas, viewpoints and creativity.


Social Networking

http://faltovam.blogspot.com/

Martina’s blog is concerned with world widely popular social networks such as Facebook or Myspace. Martina offers some entertaining videos, clips and jokes well familiar to all social networking users, and also sheds some light on potential risks connected to our online lives. Connected to Facebook? You want to check this out!


Celebrity Influence

http://vjanacko.blogspot.com/

Viktoria’s blog is dealing with the influence of celebrities on ordinary people and also with the ‘celebrity phenomenon’ as such. If interested how celebrities are ‘made’ by media, surely visit!



Depiction of Racial Minorities by Media

http://racialminorities.blogspot.com

Aziya’s blog is discussing media depiction of minorities, their under-representation and frequent misrepresentation. If interested in racial discrimination, Azia’s blog is the site you want to visit.


Pro-Social Advertising

http://prosocialadvertising.blogspot.com

Veronika’s blog explains the importance of pro-social advertising. It literally makes people to take an action! Very inspiring, sometimes shocking, straightforward, eyes opening. You don’t want to miss it!


Emosic

http://emosic.blogspot.com

Nicolai’s blog introduces recently more and more popular phenomenon, especially among teenagers. ‘EMO’ is not only about music. ‘EMO’ can become a pretty dangerous life philosophy which may subsequently lead to teenage suicides. Feeling depressed? Visit your physician rather than Nicolai’s blog. Otherwise click in for something quite shocking!

INTRODUCTION

Hello and welcome to my blog!

My name is Sona Gajova, I am 22 years old, and I am a second year Communication and Mass Media student at the University of New York in Prague.

This “Seen Equal” blog was created as a Media Literacy Project for the purposes of Media and Society class taught by UNYP professor T. Nesbitt.

I have decided to focus on representation of wheelchair users in the contemporary media. As a nurse (my original field of concentration), I have a personal experience with physically challenged people. Previously, I worked as a personal assistant to a disabled girl in the wheelchair. Thanks to this valuable one yearlong experience, I realized how difficult it actually is to be disabled in our society.

The truth is that the situation has significantly improved in the Czech Republic in the last two decades, especially services and work opportunities for physically challenged citizens, as well as their overall integration into society. However, there is still a long way to go for our society to perceive disabled people as “equal”, since many stereotypes concerning handicapped people still prevail in minds of the mainstream society.

Disabled people are still considered as dependant, pitiable, non-sexual, socially weak, and unable to participate in “normal” life. Such stereotypes prevail in our society largely due to contemporary media, since mass media have an enormous power to influence opinions of its viewers. Unfortunately, modern media tend to under represent and misrepresent disabled people; often using inappropriate and politically incorrect language in relation to physically challenged citizens.

Such media approach fuels stereotyping, reinforces discrimination, and helps create a negative self-image of disabled people.

This blog aims to:
· Make the reader familiar with the issue of disability.
· Analyze the main mistakes media do in representation of wheelchair users and the reason why such mistakes are made.
· Point out some interesting events and TV broadcasts related the topic.
· Recommend some other interesting links for further research of the topic.
· Promote discussion.


Thank you for your interest in the topic Wheelchair Users Representation in Contemporary Media, for visiting my blog, and for your contribution to discussion.

Enjoy reading! :)

Sona G.

picture source:
Fusion Dance. (2008). Kingswood Foundation. 01. 09. 2009. From
http://www.kfl.org.uk/Fusion_Dance.htm

Essay: Seen Equally

According to the available data, approximately 3% of the total Czech population is confined to the wheelchair (Pribyl, 2004). It means that out of the total 10 million population, approximately 300, 000 people are physically challenged, which is about the number of all permanent citizens in Ostrava, the third Czech largest city. The number is high, which indicates that disabled people form a substantial part of the Czech society. However, the media do not really seem to reflect this fact.

Generally, disabled people tend to be under represented and misrepresented in the media. If shown at all, physically challenged people are mostly one-dimensionally stereotyped. Paul Hunt (Qtd. in. Wood, 2006), a human rights expert and professor at the University of Essex, identified the most commonly used stereotypes of disabled people in media. Particularly, physically challenged people are depicted as pathetic or pitiable, unable to participate in everyday life, non-sexual, as an object of violence, curiosity or laughter, a burden or a “super cripple”. However, such media approach to disability is very inaccurate and simplistic. It fuels stereotyping, reinforces discrimination, expands the gap between disabled people and the mainstream population, and creates a negative self-image of disabled people.

It is absolutely understandable that disabled people might feel offended by such biased media approach towards them, since a significant number of physically challenged people lead pleasant and relatively independent lives. Many of them have quite successful careers, university degrees, healthy children and working families. Many disabled people practice various sports on regular basis; quite a few physically challenged women are interested in the latest fashion trends, make-up and cosmetics. They also enjoy traveling, theatre performances, concerts and other social and cultural events. People confined to the wheelchairs do not give up sex either; many of them enjoy it and are more or less satisfied with their sex life just like the mainstream population. People with disability consider themselves simply equal to the rest of society. Therefore they expect to be seen equally as well as treated equally.

However, the mainstream society still tends to perceive disabled people in a stereotypical way, merely because of a lack of accurate information about disabilities as such. It is something that the contemporary media should be blamed for. Radio, television, press, films, books, Internet and advertising are an integral part of peoples’ everyday lives and have a great potential to inform, educate, and shape the viewers’ opinions. However, the Czech media still seem to fail in the field of this social marketing in relation to disabled citizens.

There are two main media approaches to disability, medical and social (Wood, 2006). In the history, the medial approach was commonly used. It means, that media had shown disabled people unable to participate in everyday life as a direct result of their impairment, and such people would survive only through the medical intervention. The social approach has started being used in the western democratic countries during the mid 1970’, when the community of disabled people started campaigning for their rights, equality, integration into the non-disabled community, changes in legislation, and started calling for the social responsibility (Wood, 2006).

Despite a significant progress in media approach to disabled people, it seems like media, especially those in post-communistic countries like the Czech Republic, still have a long way to go to apply a proper and sensitive social approach. In the Czech media, viewers may still encounter the medical approach to physically challenged people quite frequently. The first reason why media tend to be so reluctant to changes in the field of social marketing is a fear of a small group of decisions makers, such as producers, editors, programmers, and budget-controllers, that portraying disabled people in a non-stereotypical way is a risk of losing the audience and simultaneously money (Wood, 2006).

The second problem is the under-representation of physically challenged people in employment within media. Skillset, a company which supports skills and training for people working in or connected to the UK creative media industries, estimates that in the United Kingdom, as little as 2,3% out of all disabled working people have a job in media (Wood, 2006). This significant under-representation of physically challenged people in the workforce within media carries quite serious social implications, because disabled people have a very limited power to influence the way of portraying themselves in the media.

Another disservice done to the disabled people is surprisingly charity and its advertising campaigns and sponsorships (Wood, 2006). Despite charity are mainly seen as strong advocates of disabled people, in many cases they rather tend to reinforce stereotypes of disabled people being needy, poor, and dependant. Charities still use the medical approach to disabled people in a large scale. Advertising campaigns and sponsorship activities using commercial business strategies for their fundraising show the mainstream population that disabled people can be “saved” only by making minimal donations. Such campaigns are not promoting integration of physically challenged people, they rather reinforcing the feeling of inequality. The main reason for why this is happening is that disabled people themselves are mostly not running charities. Also, by being impairment specific, charities contribute to the segregation of physically challenged people, while charities themselves obtain a positive image (Wood, 2006).

In this essay, it was analyzed how misrepresentation and under-representation of disabled people in media influence negatively the opinion of the mainstream public towards the community of physically challenged people. Despite notable improvements over the past years, media still have a long way to go to treat all people equally. It seems a bit like a vicious circle.

Works Cited:

Pribyl, R., (2004). Kulatý stůl handicapovaných občanů se zástupci města a veřejnosti 12.2.2004. 01.08.2009. From http://www.ckrumlov.info/docs/cz/ad2004021801.xml

Wood, L., (2006). Media Representation of Disabled People. 01.08.2009. From http://www.disabilityplanet.co.uk/links.html

Interesting Links to Visit

There are many interesting web pages related to Disabilities & Media, and I would like to recommend three useful links in case of a deeper interest in the topic as a basis for further research.

First, I would like to recommend visiting Media Representation of Disabled People web sides created by Lucy Wood, a Sport Relief Development Manager who worked for Inclusive Fitness Initiative, making gyms available for disabled people in England (Wood, 2006). Her web contains a brief history of media development, deals with portraying disabled people by media, analyzes the most commonly used stereotypes offending physically challenged people, analyzes the role of charity, talks about two most frequently used approaches by media towards disabled people, and evaluates perspectives of handicapped children’s parents as well as accessibility of necessary information.

· For more info go to: http://www.disabilityplanet.co.uk/links.html

Second, it may be quite interesting to visit Taking Flight Theatre Company web sides (TFTC, 2008). It is a special non-building based theatre company from Cardiff, England. Their aim is to work with disabled people, a group which has traditionally been underrepresented in theatre, film and television. Their courses increase confidence, improve movement and wheelchair skills, train spatial awareness, create team identity and promote teamwork, and help to improve diction, tone and vocal techniques. It is already possible to book tickets for A Midsummer Night’s Dream by W. Shakespeare for their outdoor performances in summer 2009.

· To find out more about Taking Flight Theatre or to book tickets go to: http://www.takingflighttheatre.com/index.html

A Midsummer Nights Dream - Taking Flight Theatre. (2008). YouTube: Broadcast Yourself . 01.08.2009. From http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5aOR95E5yU

And third, in case you are interested in watching movies and would like to deepen your knowledge about different kinds of disabilities, I recommend going to Films Involving Disabilities web (FID, 2007). There you can find an extensive database of more than 3,000 movies involving various disabilities. Films and documentaries are sorted into 15 subcategories representing 15 various disabilities. Every movie in the database contains a short summary and links to further information.

· To get into the movies database go to: http://www.disabilityfilms.co.uk/

Films Involving Disabilities. (2007). 01. 08. 2009. From http://www.disabilityfilms.co.uk/

Taking Flight Theatre Company. (2008). 01. 08. 2009. From http://www.takingflighttheatre.com/index.html

Wood, L., (2006). Media Representation of Disabled People. 01.08.2009. From http://www.disabilityplanet.co.uk/links.html

Experiment: Life on the Wheels

(Article written based on a Czech Article ‘Zivot na koleckach’ and a short documentary film‘Experiment’)

In January 2009, the Czech TV 2 Station has decided to broadcast a series of short documentaries called ‘Experiment’. The aim of this project is to focus on existing prejudices and prevailing stereotypes towards people who are considered by the mainstream society as “different”. ‘Experiment’ is here to open the viewer’s eyes. People often do not even realize that they treat “different” people inappropriately or offensively. ‘Experiment’ brings a unique testimony of a randomly chosen person (often a celebrity) who was to try himself/herself for 48 hours what is it like to become an ‘outsider’ in the 21st century.

In the first part of the series ‘Experiment’, a tough motorbike driver Vaclav tries himself what it is like to be confined to a wheelchair. In a role of a wheelchair user, Vaclav encounters problems and situations of everyday life, such as traveling alone by train, meeting his girlfriend and seeing her reaction, visiting the Prague’s Municipal Office trying to register for barrier-free housing, and going to his current job. All these tasks are recorded on a hidden camera.

Vaclav realizes very soon that being disabled is not particularly easy. It is quite problematic to travel by a public transport, since most of Prague’s trams are not barrier-free and thus suitable for use by a disabled person. On his way to Prague by an allegedly barrier-free train, Vaclav needs to use a bathroom, however Vaclav cannot use it because of very narrow aisle and several stairs leading to the toilet. A disobliged conductor recommends leaving the train and using a bathroom at the nearby train station. Of course, train leaves without Vaclav, and he has to wait for the next one.

At the begging of this 48-hour experiment, Vaclav was introduced to Jan Potmesil, a film and theatre Czech actor who has been confined to the wheelchair for more than 18 years. Despite his post- car-accident paralysis of his legs, Potmesil is a very active man; he works for TV and the Theatre in Celetna, he is married to a journalist with whom he has got two children. Jan Potmesil is to provide first-hand consultancy to Vaclav during the experiment.

During the experiment, Vaclav also finds out how complicated it is to deal with a bureaucracy related to finding a barrier-free housing. He realizes that it is impossible to work at his current job, since the excursion boat he works on is simply not “wheelchair users friendly”. He also experiences quite constrained reactions of people around, which do not make him feel very comfortable. And last but not least, he tries what a terrible feeling is to fall back on the pavement while trying to overcome a barrier. Without help, Vaclav would not be able to get back on his wheelchair.

At the end, Vaclav is very happy free his legs and leave his temporary wheelchair. He admits that being a wheelchair user is extremely difficult and self-demanding. However, there are many people in the Czech Republic, who are much less fortunate than Vaclav. Their impairments are permanent, and they have to deal with such uncomfortable situations on everyday basis. Seeing this experiment, viewers may reconsider their attitudes towards disabled people.

Experiment: Zivot na koleckach. (2009). 01. 08. 2009. Ceska Televize. From http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/program/detail.php?idp=10211487240

To watch the movie online (Czech language) go to: http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/ivysilani/208572233190001-experiment/

Show Must Go On in London’s WheelieChix-Chic Fashion Exhibition

WheelieChix-Chic is an exclusive and absolutely unique fashion company concentrated on sophisticated women who happen to use wheelchair. WheelieChix-Chic was established in London, England, and it is the first company of its kind in the world. Louisa Summerfield, the Managing Director, founder of the company, busy mother of two, and wheelchair user herself is convinced that, “There is a huge gap in the market and I feel very confident that WheelieChix-Chic will fill it” (WC-C PR, 2007).

As she describes, her goal was to “create a designer collection specially tailored for the independent, sexy and confident wheelchair woman” (WC-C PR, 2007). To fulfill her goal, Louisa had to choose out of 100’s willing designers the really best one. So she started to cooperate with Amelia Ursache, who established her professional name in Stockholm, Sweden. Amelia earned her degree at the Academy of fine arts in Bucharest, in 1998 she was awarded designer of the year by London’s Elle magazine, and boosted her popularity by participating in a reality show “Fashion House” along with such fashion icons like Valentino or Donatella Versace.

Louisa Summerfield was surprised to be refused by the British Fashion Council to exhibit WheelieChix-Chic line on the catwalk at London Fashion Week. However, Louisa never gives up and had decided to take the action and organize her own fashion show held on September 19th, 2007 during London Fashion Week. WheelieChix-Chic fashion event was hosted by Jan Ravens from the BBC comedy ‘Dead Ringers’, and £10 of every £20 ticket sold was donated to the charity Motability. “All our models are genuine wheelchair users and are absolutely stunning. I am a big believer in that fashion should be for everyone and not just the standing up body beautiful,” concludes Louisa Summerfield (WC-C PR, 2007).

The show in London must go on!

• Check out for more info about a wheelchair fashion: http://www.wheeliechix-chic.com/

WheelieChix-Chic News Press Release July 2007. (2007). WheelieChix-Chic. 01.08.2009. From http://www.wheeliechix-chic.com/news/pr_july_2007.php

Picture Source:
WheelieChix-Chic. (2009). 01. 09. 2009. From: http://www.wheeliechix-chic.com/contact_us/

An Initiative to Create a Database of Disabled Experts

It has already been mentioned several times that disabled people tend to be disgracefully underrepresented in the contemporary media. The Disability Now, an online magazine targeting people with disability, is calling for a change in the article “Breaking into News” (2009). A reader is questioned when s/he last saw a disabled person on a news bulletin, and also whether it is common to see a disabled person on the news talking about something apart her/his impairment.

Very rarely, if ever, people can see on TV an interview with a disabled professional giving his opinion on a current issue. However, there is an effort to bring some fresh changes into the stiff old-fashioned media environment. Clare Morrow, a network manager of the Broadcasting and Creative Industries Disability Network (BCIDN), which is a part of the Employer’s Forum on Disability, introduces an initiative which aims to introduce a change. “I thought we could assist journalists by pulling together details of people who happen to have a disability but are experts in something else,” explains Morrow (BiN, 2009). “One of the things I’ve been talking to BBC and Sky about is how they do newspaper reviews. Often they use journalist from other papers but it’s an area where you could see vocal disabled people who have a contribution to make,” concludes Morrow on how such database of disabled experts could work (BiN, 2009).

Breaking into News. (2009). Disability Now. 01.08.2009. From

http://www.disabilitynow.org.uk/latest-news2/media-watch-section-test/breaking-into-news/

Exciting Contest Destroying Stereotypes

An absolutely unique contest Ms. Wheelchair America destroys stereotypical prejudices and negative perception of women who “happen to use wheelchairs”. It is an outstanding stunning contest which gives power to more than 52 million Americans who live with a disability (MWA, 2009).

The 2009 Ms. Wheelchair America winner is a beautiful and smart blond Michelle Colvard from Houston, Texas. Michelle, the Ms. Wheelchair Texas 2008, was crowned Ms. Wheelchair America on July 2008 at the gala ceremony at the Hilton Hotel in Rockville, Maryland. She obtained her award symbolically on the 18^th anniversary of signing of the American with Disability Act (MWA, 2009).

Michelle who is confined to the wheelchair since the 6^th grade due to her inborn spina bifida emphasis the importance for people of all abilities to take care of their health and wellness. She earned her Master’s degree in Health and Promotion from the University of Texas School of Public Health. Michelle is a very active young woman, as she keeps herself fit through daily-based gym exercise and recreational activities such as snow skiing, basketball, traveling, and kayaking. She also enjoys MINI Cooper autocross competition racing. Michelle works as the Executive Director of Houston’s Mayor’s Office for people with Disabilities, and she works hard to integrate disabled people well in the society. She stands behind the successful project “Playgrounds without Limits”, which aims to build inclusive playgrounds for all children (MWA, 2009). Despite her handicap, Michell Colvard proves to be an exceptional woman.

Congratulations MWA 2009 Michelle Colvard!. (2008). Ms. Wheelchair America. 01.08.2009. From http://www.mswheelchairamerica.org/news/congratulations-mwa-2009-michelle-colvard/




MWA09 Crowning. (2008). YouTube: Broadcast Yourself. 01.08.2009. From

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXZ2ozlVJck