Recent Publications and Resources on Media & Disability

Disability in the Media in India: a study

Published 2001 by the World Association for Christian Communications, 357 Kensington Lane, London SE11 5QY, U.K www.wacc.org.uk

A 32 page summary and analysis of an empirical study of selected newspapers, television programs and Indian films. Articles were collected from 17 newspapers from 1 January to 31 March, 2000. Additionally 11 television channels were monitored for news and features concerning disability. The report presents findings about "the abysmally low coverage" within the context of the economic, social and cultural milieu of India. Anura Goonasekera provides an analytical introduction, comparing this study with similar ones conducted in the U.K., suggests that the findings reflect the actual weak situation of the disability population in India, commenting that "The disabled are seldom shown as ordinary people doing ordinary things," and outlines steps to be taken to expose the mass media to disability issues within a civil rights context.

Disabling Imagery: a teaching guide to disability and moving image media, by Richard Rieser

A book and 90 minute DVD with film clips, published as a package in 2003 by the UK's Disability Equality in Education ( www.diseed.org.uk ) in collaboration with the British Film Institute as a project of the European Year of Disabled People. The contents may also be accessed through the BFI website: www.bfi.org.uk/disablingimagery

"The approach is from a disability equality and human rights perspective,which draws on the collective thinking of the Disabled People's Movement."

Contents of the Book: introduction, ways of thinking about disability, teaching with moving image media, treatment of disabled people in moving image media, activities and student handouts, further resources including lesson plans, commercial films and DVDs.

The 90 minute DVD includes clips from Alison's Baby, Arko Ujyalo (Another Light), Cousin, Better or Worse, See the Person - not the Disability, Together, Black Dog, Blind Sensation, Raspberry Ripple Awards, Tell it Like it is, Sixth Happiness, the Chapeau Room, Rhythm of Survival, The Egg & Gallivant. Package available for L20 plus L5 postage from DEE, Unit Gl, Leroy House, 436 Essex Road, London Ni 3QP, UK

White Sticks, Wheels and Crutches: disability and the moving image

Produced in 2003 by the British Film Institute, written and researched by Dr. Paul Darke, 132 pages, illustrated. Large print text version available by writing to Films Marketing Dept., British Film Institute, 21 Stephens Street, London W1T 1LN, UK or email marketing.films@bfi.org.uk

This delightful catalogue highlights the BFI's holdings concerning disability and "serves as an introduction to the whole theme of disability and its representation on film and television. It contains a number of short essays exploring possible definitions of disability and the ways in which it can be depicted." As Dr. Darke writes in the introduction, "The aim is to stimulate and inform the film/TV/disability professional or researcher that disability is an exciting and culturally diverse element at the heart of moving image culture throughout its history."

Partial table of contents: the politics of disability; disability in early and silent film 1895-1928; alcoholism, AIDS and disability; where are the 'real' disabled; short films by or about disabled people; Genres (horror, melodrama, social realism, documentary); the cripple, the retard and the loony - bad language and the 'idiot comedy' genre; the big three - the blind, the deaf and the wheelchair user; gender, race and disability; disability and sexuality; euthanasia, eugenics and institutionalization; and discussions about contributions of Tod Browning, Mat Fraser, Nabil Shaban, Lionel Barrymore, Lon Chaney, and Herbert Marshall.

Catalogue concludes with valuable listings such as recommended readings, disability film festivals, subject and film indexes, and a disability film timeline of landmarks from 1890 to 2004.

Screening Disability: essays on cinema and disability

Edited by Anthony Enns and Christopher Smit, published 2001 by University Press of America, 4720 Boston Way, Lanham, Maryland 20706 USA and 12 Hid's Copse Rd, Cumnor Hill, Oxford OX2 9JJ, UK.

A 193 page anthology of essays by professors, assistant professors and researchers working on their dissertations, this volume is described by its publishers as: "... offering a concise overview of the work that has already been done in the field...and includes essays that mark a potentially new phase in the study of cinema and disability by incorporating elements of film theory."

In their introduction, the editors state their approach to the topic began in 1999 when scholars in both Film Studies and Disability Studies gathered at the University of Iowa for the first conference on cinema and disability to visualize where the study (of this topic) had come from and where it needed to go. Similarly, this book is intended to capture the past and explore the future, which explains why some of the material is reprinted from other sources (e.g., Longmore's 1985 seminal essay on "Screening Stereotypes"), while others appear here for the first time. One fascinating contribution is a reconsideration of his approach by Martin Norden, author of the now classic 1994 textbook, The Cinema of Isolation. Other essays include the requisite reflections on Tod Browning's film, Freaks ( four contributions); an intensely personal consideration of the suicidal state of mind, as exemplified by characters in the 1980 Academy Award winning film, Ordinary People and actors associated with the film; and some genre-reflections ( about disability depicted in recent horror and science fiction films. This is an interesting little volume with very diverse points of view: if only it were in a larger font.

Points of Contact: disability, art and culture

Edited by Susan Crutchfield and Marcy Epstein, first published in 2000 by the University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor. A 297 page collection of 28 contributions addressing the intersections of disability, culture and identity. Only a few selections are expressly about media, but many encompass mass media depictions and resulting complications of disability imagery in contemporary culture. Recommended in this regard are: The Dramaturgy of Disability by Victoria Ann Lewis, But Roosevelt Could Walk: Envisioning Disability in Germany and the United States by Carol Poore, The Beauty and the Freak by Rosemary Garland Thomson, Afterthoughts on the Making of the Disability Documentary "Vital Signs - Crip Culture Talks Back," by David Mitchell and Sharon Snyder, and Relatively Disabled by F.D. Reeve

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