Inclusion of Disability Issues in News Reporting Textbooks

Abstract

Although mass media images hardly reflect this reality, one in six Americans - about 50 million people - have some type of disability. Every year, about 750,000 Americans join the ranks of the disabled (often through accidents), making disability the open door (Edwards, 1992). People with disabilities are a significant minority group that fits any definition of diversity or multiculturalism, especially in light of their status as a group (such as racial minorities or gays and lesbians) that resides outside the dominant mainstream culture (Johnson, 1993; Dickson, 1994). The numbers of those directly affected by how this minority group fares is significant-nearly 120 million (Edwards, 1992). Yet, journalists have generally resisted considering people with disabilities as a minority group, ignoring routinely covered in regard to other groups, such as those on employment, housing, transportation, and discrimination. In many ways, journalists have not afforded people with disabilities nearly the same amount of attention that they have for other minorities; Edwards (1992) reports that even after announcement of the ADA in 1990, less than one percent of in major daily newspapers covered disability issues. One journalist reported that he was told by his editor to hold disability-related to one a year (Johnson, 1993). This sparse coverage of people with disabilities and disability issues allows the worst stereotypes to persist (Strothers, 1992). Those stereotypes have generally allowed disabled individuals to be framed as either dangerous or pathetic; disabled people are either tragic cases constantly bemoaning their fate, or courageous supercrips, somehow overcoming their natural condition (Yoshida, Wasilewski, & Friedman, 1990; Johnson, 1993). These are framed in terms of tragedy, charity, pity, or struggle and accomplishment (Biklen, 1987). Cripple at either end of the spectrum have been the primary glimpse media consumers have gotten of those with disabilities. Critics argue that these types of great human interest stories are nothing more than backhanded slaps at people with disabilities (Johnson, 1993). Overall, coverage of the disabled community has been deemed negative (Antrim, 1997; Yoshida, 1990). One example of the media's reliance on stereotypical images is coverage of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990. Reporters used the gee-whiz tone common to articles on issues that aren't clearly understood ... The lead of [a] Los Angeles Times article came straight from the How Amazing! school of disability reporting (Johnson, 1993, p. 107). These types of depictions, based on lack of sensitivity by reporters, have the power to influence the way media consumers think about and treat individuals with disabilities, potentially promoting intolerance (Antrim, 1997; Yoshida, 1990; Creno, 1992; Starck, 1990). Ultimately, it could be argued that these depictions affect development of public policy, the allocation of social resources and the common understanding of civil rights (Berube, 1997). Conversely, inclusive coverage and the routinization of coverage can alert the public and policymakers of the needs and contributions of people with disabilities; it can also promote a more inclusive social environment (Manning-- Miller, 1993). Journalists - and journalism students - need to be better informed and sensitized about how to report on people with disabilities and disability issues (Martindale, 1993). Without the same type of awareness that journalists have developed in regard to coverage of other minority groups, their own personal misunderstandings and prejudice will continue to bias coverage of the disabled community (Starck, 1990; Stocking & Gross, 1989). Journalism educators have made efforts to help future reporters and editors become more aware of the issues surrounding coverage of the disability community (Burd, 1988; Dickson, 1994). …