Charles Riley Mobility And The Media Summary

Media's Portrayal of Disability

The article "Disability and the Media: Prescription for Change", was written by the author Charles. A. Riley. He is a critic, curator, journalist and a professor of the English language at the City University in New York. He has penned over twenty books on arts, modernism, language, literature and modern policies. He continues to provide reviews on current affairs and writes articles in popular magazines and websites. This article was published by the Hanover: University Press of New England on the 13th of April, 2005. This article highlights the negative stereotype that media portrays about the people with disabilities and demands for a change initiation.
The author proposes to change the way people with
disabilities are portrayed in modern media; be it TV, movies, books or papers.
He claims that the way they are being portrayed currently creates a completely prejudiced view of them and has created a stereotype. "The aim of this content analysis of journalism, film, advertising, and web publishing is to cut accumulated clichés" (Riley, 2005). The author emphasizes that change can begin only when people start to realize how clichéd and repeated the stories have been. This essay shall ponder upon the proposal made by Riley and on what basis does he do it in the article. It shall further bolster his case by considering the real-world examples mentioned by Riley.
The proposal aims to change the mind of people in the media so that they can understand the negative impacts felt by the people with disabilities. Riley takes the example of many celebrities in the media who have been stripped of their humanity and have been made into media puppets who are portrayed either as saints
who can do no wrong or are mentally challenged villains who cannot see the right from wrong. If the person doesn't belong to any of the two categories, he or she surely is defined to be a miracle worker in the society who fought impossible odds to be where they are. His strengthens his proposal by explain the need which falls to be, that the people with disabilities are also ordinary people and such portrayal has shadowed that fact. They have been cornered to be the people we have been defining them to be rather than being of their own personality. Riley then follows through with a way of handling this and claims it to be a probable solution to remedy the effects caused by the media; he puts forth a few guidelines on how to speak and understand the reality of the people with disabilities so that they can be portrayed accurately. He pens everything from how to report on people with disabilities and what sort of words should be used for it. He also insists on portraying the normal achievers and not just those who make it famous in the real world. The biggest issue according to Riley is that, the disability almost always shadows the person and makes them to be viewed in a biased angle. The solution as he proposes is to try and not mention the disability unless and until the content or the situation calls for it as this would make the people with disabilities to be viewed as any other ordinary person.
Aimee Mullens who was amputed below the knee but went on to become a successful Paralympian; She is a famous example of a person with a disability who eventually became a posterchild of stereotypes. Mullens represents how negative the media represent her without any care of who she was before she became a success story or when they don't mention any other part of her life not connected to her disability. Riley takes the examples of Christopher Reeve and Michael Fox who are now represented as the hero figures who are now sympathized as below tier despite them really well in life and even taking care of the society they live in. The media loves to represent them attached to their disability and sees them as imperfect people who are being perfect. Riley thus concludes that Media and pop culture should reinforce a belief in disable people by not only representing them in successful and motivational stories but also in regular ones where the disability is not highlighted instead of the person. This shall bring our more people with disabilities where they see the world like any normal person does and are also regarded as the same and equal.
To summarize, Riley's proposal is that people and not their disability should be recognized by the Media. A person's disability hinders a person's progress but does not necessarily make them completely unable to do their tasks. The misguided portrayal is shunned by Riley and requests the reader to open up to the reality. The steps to be followed by the Media are provided by Riley which needs to be undertaken to bridge the gap between reality and portrayal. Riley proposes the world to recognize this and truly understand the realities faced by a person with disabilities to better understand and assist them in the future.