Disability identity

Disability identity

1. Models of disability

   • The medical model of disability sees disability as a medical problem

2. Shakespeare

   • Disabled people are often socialised into seeing themeseleves as victims and that people with impairment may accept victim mentality use it as a reason for failure
   • Major obstacles to forming a positive disabled identity- lack of role models and the media

3. Barnes

   • Media portrays disabled people in a stereotyped way
   • Mass media representations of disability have generally been oppressive and negative
     • Several common media representations of people with disabilities
       • In need of pity and charity
         • Children in Need
       • As victims
         • Children in Need
       • As villains
         • Kingsman - Secret service
       • As super-cripples
         • As having special powers or as overcoming their impairment. In films the impaired male body is often visually represented as perfect physical specimen in a wheelchair.
           • Me before you
       • As a burdern
         • Love actually
       • As sexually abnormal
         • Undateables
       • As ordinary or normal
         • The media rarely portray people with disabilities as normal people who just happen to have a disability

4. Gill

   • learned helplessness

5. Murugami

   • self construct a self-identity that accepts their impairment

6. Interactionism

   • The label 'disabled' carries with a stigma
     • This affects all interactions between the disabled person and others
   • Master status
     • defining characteristics by which the individual is judged