Disability within TV dramas

Dramas that feature characters with disabilities:

• Eastenders- Stacey (Bipolar)
• Hollyoaks- Patrick (Motor neurone disease-in a wheelchair)
• Criminal minds- Spencer Reid (Aspergers syndrome)
• Breaking Bad- Walter White Jr (Cerebral Palsy)

Paul  Hunt (1991)- 10 stereotypes of disabled people:

• The disabled person as pitiable or pathetic
• An object of curiosity or violence
• Sinister or evil
• The super cripple
• An atmosphere
• Laughable
• His/her own enemy
• As a burden
• As non-sexual
• Being unable to participate in everyday life

The Medical Model: Shakespeare (1999)

The media through history has depicted disability through the use of impairment. "impairment is made the most important thing" and disabled characters are "objectified and distanced from the audience" 

The Inbetweeners clip 

1. Why is this clip funny? It is funny because, in an attempt to impress a group of girls, Will throws a frisbee at them but it takes an unexpected turn as it hits a girl in a wheelchair.
2. How is the disabled girl represented? The girl is represented to be pitied and vulnerable as the girl with her has to speak to her and stick up for her when the frisbee hits her.
3. Are we meant to be laughing at the disabled person? No we are not because she is the victim of the scene, we are laughing at the mistake that Will made and his reaction to it.
4. Are they the 'butt' of the joke? I believe that Will is the butt of the joke as he is represented as awkward and we are supposed to laugh at his uncomfortable, awkward characteristics. There may be a small possibility that the intention of the disabled person was to be laughed at as they were cast for a reason.
5. How do you think disabled people responded to this? I think they would have responded negatively as the disabled person is represented as helpless and it could be seen by some as a negative stereotype of disabled people.
6. In what way does the representation comply with Shakespeare's stereotype? I think that the disabled girl is objectified because we don't really get to hear her speak for herself or know anything about her, other than she's in a wheelchair. 
7. Are we as a society being cultivated to think that we should pity the disabled? I personally think we are taught to treat disabled people differently, with extra care and as though they need help. This can be seen as patronising and objectifying.

Warwick Davis- Life's Too Short

1. Why is the clip funny? It is funny because Warwick needed his new washing machine by saturday but he ended up throwing out his new one because his friend had switched them over without him knowing. 
2. How is Warwick Davis represented? He is represented as being independent, not needed any help and being quite intelligent. 
3. Are we meant to be laughing at the disabled person? No, we are meant to be laughing at the situation he is in.
4. Are they the 'butt' of the joke? Yes he is the butt of the joke but not because of his disability, just because of how he reacts to the situation and the jokes he makes throughout the clip. 
5. How many of Paul Hunt's stereotypes comply with this clips? possibly one, seen as non-sexual, however this would not be portrayed in this genre of programme. Apart from that non of the stereotypes apply here. 
6. In what does the representation comply with Shakespeare's stereotype? Warwick is not objectified, we get to know him and the show is centred around him.