In 2009, a young woman named Cerrie Burnell began co-hosting the BBCâs childrenâs network, CBeebies. Blonde haired and blue eyed, she sang and danced with the same âwide-eyed wonder at the world that young children haveâ (The Guardian 2011). However, she refused to use a prosthetic to obscure the fact she was born without the lower part of her right arm. Within a month, parents began complaining on the BBC website that Burnell was giving their children nightmares (Thomas 2009). Amid accusations it had âgone overboardâ in its attempt to include âminoritiesâ; the BBC suggested that these parents were projecting their own prejudices onto children. Burnell herself gave a number of interviews and, in the process secured widespread support from the media and other viewers (Business Disability Forum 2013). Despite the controversy, she remained a popular CBeebies presenter and in 2011 was named by The Guardian in their list of the 10 best childrenâs TV presenters (The Guardian 2011). She has gone on to report at the 2012 London Paralympics and write a number of popular childrenâs books and plays encouraging disability inclusion. Back in 2009 she reframed the negative reactions as an opportunity for education:
Later Burnell commented that she was not surprised people complained â she explained that as a drama student she would not bow to pressure to hide her impairment via a prosthetic arm in order to find work (Gilmour 2015).It can only be a good thing that parents are using me as a chance to talk about disability with their children. It just goes to show how important it is to have positive disabled role models on CBeebies and television in general. (Thomas 2009)
With OfCom arguing âincreasing on-screen representation of people with disabilities could decrease prejudice towards people with disabilities and increase employment levelsâ (OfCom 2005), Burnellâs experiences with both discriminatory attitudes and securing employment take on a particular significance. The issue of representation is compounded when we consider how many people with disability actually portray these disabled roles. When it comes to television drama, recent research puts the number of characters with disability being portrayed by disabled actors between less than 1 per cent (Breeden 2012) and 5 per cent (Woodburn and KopiÄ 2016) depending on the definition of disability used. A third study found that less than half of 1 per cent of dialogue spoken on television is by a person with disability (Raynor and Hayward 2005).
Yet while actors claim widespread industry prejudice against them, producers and casting agents protest they are unable to find suitably qualified people with disability for the roles. For example, when the popular American television programme Glee was criticised for casting non-disabled actor Kevin McHale in the role of Artie Abrams, who uses a wheelchair, Brad Falchuk, the executive producer of Glee claimed:
Putting to one side Gleeâs problematic representation of disability (see Smith 2009; Ellis and Goggin 2015; Broverman 2009), the lack of employment opportunities for actors with disability must be addressed. The ongoing protests surrounding Glee between 2009 and 2013 brought this issue into stark relief, particularly because during the same period R.J. Mitte, an actor with cerebral palsy, was cast in the role of Walt Jnr, a character with cerebral palsy, on Breaking Bad. Amid the Glee backlash, long-time actor Robert David Hall, famous for his role as medical examiner Albert Robbins on CSI, was often quoted as saying:We brought in anyone: white, black, Asian, in a wheelchair. It was very hard to find people who could really sing, really act, and have that charisma you need on TV. But McHale excels as an actor and singer and itâs hard to say no to someone that talented. (Brad Falchuk cited in Roth 2014)
Insurance costs are often cited as a reason not to hire people with disability as actors or as workers more broadly in media industries (Blake and Stevens 2004; Cavanagh et al. 2005). However, John Hockenberry, a journalist with disability, refutes the idea people with disability should be treated differently, or more carefully:I think thereâs a fear of litigation, that a person with disabilities might slow a production down, fear that viewers might be uncomfortableâŠ[but] Iâve made my living as an actor for 30 years and I walk on two artificial legs. (Robert David Hall cited on Media Smarts, no date)
Hockenberry, who has worked as a foreign correspondent all over the world, has spoken of his âwheelchair tacticsâ or the ways he was able to use his disability to his advantage while covering stories in war zones. For example, he states, âItâs shocking how invisible someone in a wheelchair can be. Soldiers just donât pay attention to you. In a curfew, when no one else is allowed on the street, I could just roll by. Itâs unnervingâ (John Hockenberry cited in Williams 1990). Also a disability activist Hockenberry initiated an important conversation about the representation of disability in film through his criticisms of Million Dollar Baby in 2005. Equally, his 2012 TED talk acknowledges the way disability is mainly associated with âtragedy and fear and misfortuneâ in such as a way that it obscures almost any other narrative. Indeed, this TED talk offers an important counter-narrative that recognises masculinity, humour and consumerism in its portrayal of disability (see Hockenberry 2012).I can tell you that you can send someone in a wheelchair â who is a paraplegic, for instance â to cover the funeral of Ayatollah Khomeini. You can do it. You can send him to cover the intifada and the West Bank and Gaza. You can send him or her to Bucharest (to cover the violent overthrow of the Ceausescu regime), and you do not have to worry about your reporter becoming a hostage, dead meat, or losing his or her nerve, any more than you have to worry about that with any other journalist. (John Hockenberry cited in Breisky 1994)
On one level, these three opening stories concern three individuals who made it in the media. However, we recognise Cerrie Burnell, Artie Abrams and John Hockenberry as disabled because they have impairments â indeed this is what is generally focused on in definitions of disability. Their stories also illustrate the ways disability is experienced beyond the impacts of impairments. Experiences related to disabling attitudes and lack of opportunities intersect with the experience of impairment. However, they also broadly illuminate the issues surrounding media representations of disability â who should do it and how it should be done. Within the media workforce, people with disability face challenges securing employment as a result of negative attitudes as well as a reluctance to implement workplace accommodations. The previous stories also illustrate a combination of the three most common fears around the employment of people with disability generally and in the media specifically â fears around job performance, costs and the reactions of others.
Unemployment
People with disability experience higher rates of unemployment than the non-disabled population. Employer attitude, and predominantly their fears, are a major factor in the low employment levels of people with disability (Peck and Kirkbride 2001; LengnickâHall et al. 2008; Ameri 2014). These fears have been grouped into three categories â job qualification /performance concerns; costs associated with hiring people with disabilities; and the reactions /responses of others (LengnickâHall et al. 2008).
Both disability and media are diverse categories, yet the three fears listed previously can be seen to exist across the full spectrum of media â from newspapers, to radio, to television, to cinema and in many ways online. These fears are not unique to specific impairments either, with people with both physical and mental impairments experiencing discrimination arising from concerns regarding job performance, cost and the reaction of others. This book takes a cross-disability, cross-media approach to the employment of people with disability in the media, drawing on examples from a variety of media forms and formats and from experiences of people with a variety of different impairment types. Two main aspects are introduced here â employer fear and pity and a lack of accommodation when employing people with disability.
Disability media studies have initiated an effective critique of media discourses of fear and pity surrounding people with disability and the disability experience. The cultural function of these discourses can also be seen in the lack of employment opportunities experienced by this group. Research both highlights the way potential employers fear additional costs associated with hiring a disabled employee (Peck and Kirkbride 2001) and the pity exhibited by other employers who wish to appear âkindlyâ (Hayes and Macan 1997). While there may be some extra costs, these are not typically onerous and in only 3 per cent of cases exceed $1000 (Clark 1995).
The workplace or educational context can be accommodated to enable people with disability to complete tasks in a different way. For example, a BBC-affiliated report recommends adjusting the workplace environment to be more accessible, allowing flexible work hours and encouraging the use of assistive technology (Blake and Stevens 2004). A study of actors with disability who were seeking roles identified simple accommodations such as âaccess to food; a nearby bathroom; large print scripts; having the director or production staff speak louder; assistance in walking long distances or climbing stairs; or a place to sit while w...