The Tropes Trap:
Cultural (Mis)Representations of Disability
Why focus on media?
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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 Tropes
Rosemarie 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
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“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
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“Supercrip”, the ‘good cripple’
Triumph over tragedy/adversity
Overcoming disability
‘In spite of’ disability
Hero, warrior, inspiration
‘Can-do’ attitude
The Supercrip Trope
Inspiration 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 Trope
Inspiration Porn/Cripspiration
Common Disability Tropes
Inspiration Porn/Cripspiration
The Freak Trope
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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
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Sinister/Evil
‘Mad Scientist’, ‘Evil Genius’
Angry about being disabled
Incapable of love
Obsessed with world
domination/power/revenge
The Disability Superpower
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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 Enhancement
Challenges our false binary
categories of :
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abled/disabled
natural/unnatural
human/inhuman
biology/technology
advantage/disadvantage
Disability and Sex, Dating, Love
Non-sexual
Non-loveable
“Against all odds”
The Undateables
Disability and Sex, Dating, Love