Abstract
The public develops interpretations of physical and mental disabilities through a variety of resources, most notably representations presented by the news media. While disability scholars have long lamented negative portrayals of disabilities in the mass media (e.g., movies, fictional television programs, songs) as dehumanizing and devaluing, studies of news media depictions have been scant. The present study focuses on a salient mental disability—autism—to advance current scholarship about representations of disabilities in the news. Stigmatizing cues and framing techniques from news coverage of autism over a period of approximately 15 years suggest that journalists may be creating a threatening space for autism, particularly through the perpetuation of stigmatic cues in more than two-thirds of news coverage of autism, coupled with the selection of certain news frames. Implications for media and disabilities practice and scholarship are discussed.
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