Disability is not Inability

:: Status of Disability and the media:

The world over various issues are of importance in relation to media portrayal of disability. As a country develops so does social and media expressions of persons with disabilities change. In the developed world the issues are significantly different for the issues that cause differences in the developing world.

In the developed world where the population of persons with disability is a large market in its own right media portrayal of disability is widely negotiated among the players with equal stakes. The media in its entraety from television, radio, film to advertising have had their share of adjustments after making efforts at some sort of inclusion.

Guilty as charged...

The issues are more in relation to how it is done, what is expressed and what such and such expression means to the culturalisation of disability in society. While society fights to accept racial and tribal diversity, it has refused to accept diversity related to disability. The media worldwide stands guilty as charged.

In the developing world, value is given to access on an as is basis. Organisations of persons with disabilities still fight to see more inclusion in the media while they do not have much control over discriminating editorial aspects of various media products. Most media however, prefer to shun disability altogether after finding it too politicised without firm principles of engagement.

In Kenya for example, the leading daily newspaper would write a story about a person with hearing impairment and use words like "deaf and dumb" without rasing eyebrows. Actually the Disability ACT in Kenya is silent on the role the media plays in perpetuating social discrimination of the persons with disabilities.

Exclusion is more comfortable for many editors and producers do not see the market value of disability community. They are poor and without much economic nor do their umbrella organisations strong enough to articulate such issues. In South Africa where disability movement is said to be most advanced in Africa, media will name a person on a wheelchair of with physical disability "invalid" with ease of print.

Theories about imagery the media uses or should use are awash in the North and South alike. But in the South where pictures of persons with disabilities are only allowed on national TV if a sympathy is being sought from the viewers or is "mordernised".

In the developed economies, they have started arguing with the role persons with disability are given in movies, peradventure they perpetuate discrimination.

The disability community in both developed and developing countries is differ on how the media should express them. Depending on the understanding levels of education, levels of legal awareness, levels of media relations, and levels of economic status in the countries they live, the strength of their national organisations etc.

There is still a major contention weather persons with disabilities should only be portrayed as the needy members of community therefore in need of resources and must thus present in the media sympathy perpetuating imagery. The strength of the fundraising organisations of organisations working with persons with disabilities in say the UK or many developing countries have perfected.

The other school believes in equity and the normalisation. Integration into social and economic mainstream with equal recognition of their identity. This school has not presented its case effectively and still seems to be shunned by the media due to its low economic strength apart from the US.

Representation in a statutory regulating authority should be the best way to which the media in a developing country like Kenya would present the best interests of the disability community. United Disabled people of Kenya (UDPK) were chosen as one of the board members in the Media Bill 2007 drafted by the Ministry of Information and Communication.

In the developed countries the media have built netwroks which self regulate to ensure they are able to serve the disability clientele effectively. This is the case especially in the UK and EU in general. In developing countries like Kenya the disability community is at the bottom of the poverty pit.

Private media and unfortunately capitalist government has not seen the sense in effectively empowering the disability community apart from throwing pennies once a while. UDPK seating on that board would not change this tomorrow, but surely it would provide an opportunity for the media to be cultures on inclusion that empowers acceptance as equal citizens.

Sample these:

:: disability and Media in the UK

:: disability in Ghanian Media

:: EACA report on disability and the Media.