Publication
Title
I am not your metaphor : frames and counter-frames in the representation of disability
Author
Abstract
When it comes to disability, powerful ideas are articulated in and circulated through the media. Through framing analysis, this study examines how the media portray disability and people with disabilities in a sample of Flemish print news and entertainment magazines. The study aims to understand the dominant and alternative frames related to disability by scrutinising which aspects of reality are selected, rejected, emphasised or modified in the production of a media text. Participatory analysis of articles from 16 Belgian magazines over one year (n = 184) reveals a number of frames and counter-frames. Results indicate that the media tend to perpetuate and reinforce the stigma of those categorised as disabled as 'Other' and disability as one of the most frightful obstructions in one's life, while counter-frames underlining the notion of persons with disabilities being different but not 'abnormal' are relatively absent. Points of interest This study offers insights into dominant and alternative frames related to disability in the Flemish print media. Frames can be described as the angles or perspectives from which a media story is told. Media texts from different media magazines were analysed by means of a framing analysis. The research reported here was 'inclusive' research, thereby combining and equally valuing experiential knowledge as well as academic knowledge from different contexts and disciplines. In this article, an inventory of dominant frames was developed, together with alternative counter-frames that may offer 'new' perspectives regarding disability. This type of research covers academic research in the intersecting fields of Media Studies and Disability Studies, and makes a contribution on both an empirical and a methodological level.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Disability and society : the leading journal in disability studies. - Sheffield, 1994, currens
Publication
Abingdon : Routledge journals, taylor & francis ltd , 2022
ISSN
0968-7599 [print]
1360-0508 [online]
DOI
10.1080/09687599.2020.1836478
Volume/pages
37 :5 (2022) , p. 746-764
ISI
000586141200001
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (open access)
Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 06.11.2020
Last edited 25.12.2024
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