A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of - Etheses - Queen Margaret ...

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with me, because the very first time that that happened, I remember that all of our
family and different relatives and some close friends packed into the house to see
these disabled kids on TV of which I was one… but I remember being struck by
how much of an impact this was having, in terms of striking at peoples‟ emotions
and everybody saying how amazing this was and these poor disabled children … and
it was so wonderful to see them on TV and that they were getting this money…
(l.2:28ff)
Jennie argues that it is never as simple as saying that people just believe and do what they
are told by the media (l.2:690ff.). She is concerned, however, in relation to disability about
the impact when only a certain type of representation is portrayed:
...the impact of seeing it again and again… of seeing it in several different forms of
media… I think that‟s more problematic... it would be nice to think that people could
make all their decisions independently of the media, but really people make their
decisions based on how different media interact with each other… someone might
think well, that was only in a film… but when they see something on the news that
shores it up a bit, and they see things in magazines… it just… things seem to be
everywhere then and you get a sense of normalisation of a particular attitude… and
it‟s normalisation which is really the issue… (l.2:698ff.)
The sense that it is impossible to escape the charity model of disability is expressed by Mary:
I mean, just in the Co-op, which should know better but, say no more … erm … we
have people dressed up for Red Nose Day, you know… where was I… I was in TK
Maxx on … last week, right … and they‟re running two things simultaneously
now… one is for … erm … initiatives in the majority world, right … I‟m not sure
which it is … it‟s clean water, I think … but, the other thing is … erm … … oh, it
was … erm … I think it was MacMillan or Sue Ryder, right … and I was asked
…would I want to give a pound from my change to whichever one it was that they
were collecting for that day…it‟s all-pervasive … (l.2:597ff.)
Celebrities, Charities and Children
I‟ve just come out of a meeting with a voluntary organisation I‟m on the board for, and
we need figureheads… it‟s one way of getting instant media attention and therefore
getting into other people‟s consciousness… ( l.2:167ff.)