Attitude Research
Media’s Portrayal of People with Intellectual Disabilities
Popular media has a well-documented ability to both influence national perceptions and reflect the prevailing attitudes of an era. The recent trends in media portrayals of people with intellectual disabilities reinforce inaccurate and limiting notions of these individuals’ lives. Too often, the variety and complexity of people with intellectual disabilities’ lives are reduced to one-dimensional typecasts.
Did you know?
- Over 80% of U.S. adults feel that media portrayals are an obstacle to the acceptance and inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities.
- This study determined that over time entertainment media depictions of persons with intellectual disabilities focused more often on pity than on strength and achievements.
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The Media's Portrayal of People with Intellectual Disabilities (Adobe PDF, 380K) reports on a study conducted by Dr. Carol J. Pardun at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, considered the most comprehensive examination of its kind ever conducted. In order to gain a baseline measure of the media’s treatment of persons with intellectual disabilities, Pardun traced depictions of people with intellectual disabilities in movies, television and newspapers from the United States over several decades. Specifically, the study examined nearly 3,900 items (television and film scenes and newspaper articles).
The study determined that over time media depictions of persons with intellectual disabilities focused more often on pity than on strength and achievements. Specifically, the research found in film and television:
- Super hero portrayals, showing stories of great achievement despite obstacles, declined significantly, particularly from the 1990s onward.
- Portrayals designed to elicit pity increased significantly, with
- Victim portrayals significantly increased in 2000–2004.
- Vulnerable depictions increased from the 1980s onward.
While the portrayal of unrealistically heroic types has declined, which is consistent with portraying people with intellectual disabilities more realistically, their increasing portrayal as vulnerable, pitiable and as victims demonstrates that progress overall is not being made. Despite greater scientific knowledge, policy and societal changes, and the establishment of high-profile events such as the Special Olympics World Games, media accounts have continued to portray persons with intellectual disabilities in stereotypical, one-dimensional ways. Often, characters with intellectual disabilities were nearly “invisible” presences (not complex), even if they were the main characters.
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