Researching media participation by listening to people with disability

Abstract

A significant body of literature examines the under-representation of people with disability in the media. In news and fictional portrayals, people with disability are often defined by disability first, their personhood second, perpetuating stereotypes of people with disability as different. Activists attempt to change how media portray people with disability. Less well-considered are the challenges of media participation. This article argues that the presence of people with disability in the spaces that comprise media institutions is also a necessary condition for social change, not just improved representation and participation. However, even in Australian community broadcasting, a sector founded in a normative policy commitment to democratising media participation, people with disability encounter a range of barriers to accessing the resources and spaces of community broadcasting. The Australian case study reported here supports broad consideration of how listening to the views of community broadcasting participants with disability contributes to improving their media presence.